H. R. 6758
One Hundred Fifteenth Congress of the
United States of America AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen
An Act 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 rec- ommendations to promote the participation of women, minorities, and veterans 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 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 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 innova- tive potential and continue to promote United States leadership in the global economy.
SEC. 3. REPORT.
(a) STUDY.—The Director, in consultation with the Adminis- trator 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