Title: Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018
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, minorities, and veterans; and (2) by small businesses owned by women, minorities, and veterans.
The USPTO must provide legislative recommendations to increase the number of women, minorities, and veterans 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]
[S. 3483 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3483

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 conduct a study and provide recommendations to 
    promote the participation of women, minorities, and veterans in 
entrepreneurship activities and the patent system, to extend by 8 years 
 the authority of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to set 
    the amounts for the fees that the Office charges, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 24, 2018

  Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Hatch) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and 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 conduct a study and provide recommendations to 
    promote the participation of women, minorities, and veterans in 
entrepreneurship activities and the patent system, to extend by 8 years 
 the authority of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to set 
    the amounts for the fees that the Office charges, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 more 
        than 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 
Government of 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 of the United States and continue to promote leadership by 
the United States in the global economy.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (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.
    (b) 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, minorities, and veterans and small businesses owned 
        by women, minorities, and veterans; and
            (2) provides legislative recommendations for how to--
                    (A) promote the participation of women, minorities, 
                and veterans in entrepreneurship activities; and
                    (B) increase the number of women, minorities, and 
                veterans who apply for and obtain patents.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Director shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 
of the Senate, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 
the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives, and the Committee on Small Business of the House of 
Representatives a report on the results of the study conducted under 
subsection (b).

SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF FEE-SETTING AUTHORITY.

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