,,ii ,calendar ,no4 #eeh #aahth ,,congress #b;d ,session ,s4 #dgac ,,in ,,the ,,senate ,,of ,,the ,,united ,,states ,july #aa 7legislative day1 ,july #aj71 #bjbd,ms4 ,hirono 7for herself1 ,mr4 ,tillis1 ,mr4 ,durbin1 ,mr4 ,coons1 ,mr4 ,blumenthal1 ,mr4 ,padilla1 ,ms4 ,klobuchar1 and ,mr4 ,grassley7 introduced the following bill2 which was read twice and referred to the ,committee on the ,judiciary ,november #ah1 #bjbd,reported by ,mr4 ,durbin1 without amendment ,a ,,bill ,to amend chapter #aa of title #ce1 ,united ,states ,code1 to require the voluntary collection of demographic information for patent inventors1 and for other purposes4 #a4 ,short title ,this ,act may be cited as the ,inventor ,diversity for ,economic ,advancement ,act of #bjbd or the ,,idea ,act4 #b4 ,collection of demographic information for patent inventors 7a7 ,amendment ,chapter #aa of title #ce1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended by adding at the end the following3 #abd4 ,collection of demographic information for patent inventors 7a7 ,voluntary collection ,the ,director shall provide for the collection of demographic information1 including gender1 race1 military or veteran status1 and any other demographic category that the ,director determines appropriate1 related to each inventor residing in the ,united ,states who is listed with an application for patent1 that may be submitted voluntarily by that inventor4 7b7 ,protection of information ,the ,director shall-- 7#a7 keep any information submitted under subsection 7a7 confidential and separate from the application for patent2 and 7#b7 establish appropriate procedures to ensure-- 7,a7 the confidentiality of any information submitted under subsection 7a72 and 7,b7 that demographic information is not made available to examiners or considered in the examination of any application for patent4 7c7 ,direct submission by inventors 7#a7 ,in general ,in carrying out subsection 7a71 the ,director is authorized to implement a system to collect demographic information directly from an inventor on a voluntary basis4 7#b7 ,avoiding repeated collection ,in implementing a system under paragraph 7#a71 the ,director shall make reasonable efforts to design the system to avoid repeated collection of the same information from each inventor on subsequent applications for patents4 7#c7 ,collection of contact information ,in implementing a system under paragraph 7#a71 the ,director shall design the system to capture the information necessary to directly reach inventors4 7d7 ,relation to other laws 7#a7 ,freedom of ,information ,act ,any demographic information submitted under subsection 7a7 shall be exempt from disclosure under section #eeb7;b77#c7 of title #e4 7#b7 ,federal information policy law ,subchapter ,i of chapter #ce of title #dd shall not apply to the collection of demographic information under subsection 7a74 7e7 ,publication of demographic information 7#a7 ,report required ,not later than #ah months after the date on which the ,director publishes in the ,federal ,register a notice relating to the demographic information described in subsection 7a71 in accordance with section #eeb;a7e77#d7 of title #e1 and not later than ,january #ca of each year thereafter1 the ,director shall make publicly available a report that1 except as provided in paragraph 7#c7-- 7,a7 includes the total number of patent applications filed during the previous year disaggregated-- 7i7 by demographic information described in subsection 7a72 and 7ii7 by technology class number1 technology class title1 and ,state of residence of the inventor in the ,united ,states2 7,b7 includes the total number of patents issued during the previous year disaggregated-- 7i7 by demographic information described in subsection 7a72 and 7ii7 by technology class number1 technology class title1 and ,state of residence of the inventor in the ,united ,states2 and 7,c7 includes a discussion of the data collection methodology and summaries of the aggregate responses4 7#b7 ,data availability ,in conjunction with issuance of the report under paragraph 7#a71 the ,director shall make publicly available data based on the demographic information collected under subsection 7a7 that1 except as provided in paragraph 7#c71 allows the information to be cross-tabulated to review subgroups4 7#c7 ,privacy ,the ,director1 in making publicly available the report under paragraph 7#a7 and the data under paragraph 7#b7-- 7,a7 subject to subparagraph 7,b7 of this paragraph1 shall anonymize any personally identifying information related to the demographic information collected under subsection 7a72 and 7,b7 may omit any personally identifying information that cannot reasonably be anonymized4 7f7 ,biennial report ,not later than #b years after the date on which the ,director publishes in the ,federal ,register a notice relating to the demographic information described in subsection 7a71 in accordance with section #eeb;a7e77#d7 of title #e1 and not later than ,march #ca of every other year thereafter1 the ,director shall submit to ,congress a biennial report that evaluates the data collection process under this section1 ease of access to the information by the public1 and recommendations on how to improve data collection4 4 7b7 ,technical and conforming amendment ,the table of sections at the beginning of chapter #aa of title #ce1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended by adding at the end the following3 #abd4 ,collection of demographic information for patent inventors4 4 ,november #ah1 #bjbd,reported without amendment