Title: SUCCESS Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018 or the SUCCESS Act
This bill directs the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to study and report to Congress on the number of patents applied for and obtained: (1) by women and minorities, and (2) by small businesses owned by women and minorities. The USPTO must provide legislative recommendations to increase the number of women and minorities who participate in entrepreneurship activities and apply for patents.
Additionally, the bill amends the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to extend for eight years the authority of the USPTO to set and adjust patent fees.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6758 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6758

To direct the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and 
     Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in 
       consultation with the Administrator of the Small Business 
  Administration, to study and provide recommendations to promote the 
 participation of women and minorities in entrepreneurship activities 
 and the patent system, to extend by 8 years the Patent and Trademark 
Office's authority to set the amounts for the fees it charges, and for 
                            other purposess.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 10, 2018

  Mr. Chabot (for himself, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. 
 Nadler, Mrs. Comstock, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. Wagner, Ms. 
   Adams, and Mrs. Handel) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and 
     Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in 
       consultation with the Administrator of the Small Business 
  Administration, to study and provide recommendations to promote the 
 participation of women and minorities in entrepreneurship activities 
 and the patent system, to extend by 8 years the Patent and Trademark 
Office's authority to set the amounts for the fees it charges, and for 
                            other purposess.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Study of Underrepresented Classes 
Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018'' or the ``SUCCESS 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Patents and other forms of intellectual property are 
        important engines of innovation, invention, and economic 
        growth.
            (2) Many innovative small businesses, which create over 20 
        percent of the total number of new jobs created in the United 
        States each year, depend on patent protections to commercialize 
        new technologies.
            (3) Universities and their industry partners also rely on 
        patent protections to transfer innovative new technologies from 
        the laboratory or classroom to commercial use.
            (4) Recent studies have shown that there is a significant 
        gap in the number of patents applied for and obtained by women 
        and minorities.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States has the responsibility to work with the private sector to close 
the gap in the number of patents applied for and obtained by women and 
minorities to harness the maximum innovative potential and continue to 
promote United States leadership in the global economy.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    (a) Study.--The Director, in consultation with the Administrator 
and any other head of an appropriate agency, shall conduct a study 
that--
            (1) identifies publicly available data on the number of 
        patents annually applied for and obtained by, and the benefits 
        of increasing the number of patents applied for and obtained by 
        women and minorities and small businesses owned by women and 
        minorities; and
            (2) provides legislative recommendations for how to--
                    (A) promote the participation of women and 
                minorities in entrepreneurship activities; and
                    (B) increase the number of women and minorities who 
                apply for and obtain patents.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Director shall submit to the Committees on the 
Judiciary and Small Business of the House of Representatives and the 
Committees on the Judiciary and Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 
the Senate a report on the results of the study conducted under 
subsection (a).

SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF FEE-SETTING AUTHORITY.

    Section 10(i)(2) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Public Law 
112-29; 125 Stat. 319; 35 U.S.C. 41 note) is amended by striking ``7-
year'' and inserting ``15-year''.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
            (2) Agency.--The term ``agency'' means a department, 
        agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government.
            (3) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Under 
        Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
        the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
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