Title: Patents for Humanity Act of 2022
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Patents for Humanity Act of 2021
This bill provides statutory authority for a program to award certificates that may be used to accelerate certain proceedings and applications at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The program established under this bill shall be treated as the successor to the existing Patents for Humanity program.
Under this bill, the PTO must hold a competition at least once every two years to award certificates to eligible entities that submit a patent application that addresses a humanitarian issue.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5796 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5796

 To amend title 35, United States Code, to establish a competition to 
 award certificates that can be redeemed to accelerate certain matters 
      at the Patent and Trademark Office, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 1, 2021

  Mr. Jeffries (for himself and Mrs. Spartz) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 35, United States Code, to establish a competition to 
 award certificates that can be redeemed to accelerate certain matters 
      at the Patent and Trademark Office, 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 ``Patents for Humanity Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. AWARD OF CERTIFICATES TO ACCELERATE CERTAIN MATTERS AT THE 
              PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.

    (a) Award.--Chapter 2 of title 35, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 28. Award of certificates to accelerate certain matters at the 
              Patent and Trademark Office
    ``(a) Establishment.--There is established a competition, to be 
held not less frequently than biennially, to award eligible entities 
certificates that can be redeemed to accelerate one of the following 
matters:
            ``(1) An ex parte reexamination proceeding, including one 
        appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board from that 
        proceeding.
            ``(2) An application for a patent, including one appeal to 
        the Patent Trial and Appeal Board from that application.
            ``(3) An appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of a 
        claim twice rejected in a patent application or reissue 
        application or finally rejected in an ex parte reexamination, 
        without accelerating the underlying matter which generated the 
        appeal.
            ``(4) A matter identified under the rulemaking conducted 
        under subsection (d)(4).
    ``(b) Administration.--The Director shall administer the 
competition established by subsection (a).
    ``(c) Application.--An eligible entity seeking an award under 
subsection (a) shall submit to the Director an application, at such 
time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Director 
may require.
    ``(d) Rulemaking Authority.--With respect to the competition 
established by subsection (a), the Director shall conduct a rulemaking 
proceeding to promulgate rules on the--
            ``(1) entities eligible to receive an award;
            ``(2) process and metrics by which applications are judged, 
        including the criteria for selecting judges for the 
        competition;
            ``(3) factors that will be considered in selecting the 
        eligible entities that receive an award; and
            ``(4) additional matters for which a certificate described 
        under subsection (a) may be awarded.
    ``(e) Promotion of Competition.--The Director shall promote the 
competition through the satellite offices established pursuant to 
section 1 of title 35, United States Code.
    ``(f) Treatment as Successor.--The competition established under 
subsection (a) shall be treated as a successor to the Patents for 
Humanity Program (established in the notice entitled `Humanitarian 
Awards Pilot Program', published at 77 Fed. Reg. 6544 (February 8, 
2012)).
    ``(g) Eligible Entity Defined.--In this section, the term `eligible 
entity' means a entity that--
            ``(1) submits an application under subsection (b) for a 
        patent that addresses a humanitarian issue; and
            ``(2) is eligible to receive an award under subsection 
        (d)(1).''.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section, or the 
amendments made by this section, may be construed as prohibiting the 
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
the United States Patent and Trademark Office from administering the 
competition established by section 28 of title 35, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a), before the date on which all rules are 
promulgated under the rulemaking proceeding required by subsection (d) 
of such section.
    (c) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections at 
the beginning of chapter 2 of title 35, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following:

``Sec. 28. Award of certificates to accelerate certain matters at the 
                            Patent and Trademark Office.''.
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