[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2846 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2846

    To amend the Small Business Act to expand intellectual property 
  education and training for small businesses, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 25, 2016

  Mr. Peters (for himself, Mr. Vitter, and Mr. Risch) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Small Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Small Business Act to expand intellectual property 
  education and training for small businesses, 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 ``Small Business Innovation Protection 
Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of 
        the SBA;
            (2) the term ``Director'' means the Under Secretary of 
        Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO;
            (3) the term ``SBA'' means the Small Business 
        Administration;
            (4) the term ``small business concern'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 632(a));
            (5) the term ``small business development center'' means a 
        center described in section 21 of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 648); and
            (6) the term ``USPTO'' means the United States Patent and 
        Trademark Office.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the USPTO and the SBA are positioned to--
                    (A) build upon several successful intellectual 
                property and training programs aimed at small business 
                concerns; and
                    (B) increase the availability of and the 
                participation in those programs across the United 
                States; and
            (2) any education and training program administered by the 
        USPTO and the SBA should be scalable so that the program is 
        able to reach more small business concerns.

SEC. 4. SBA AND USPTO PARTNERSHIPS.

    (a) In General.--Beginning not later than 180 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the 
Director, shall develop partnership agreements that--
            (1) provide for the--
                    (A) development of high-quality training, including 
                in-person or modular training sessions, for small 
                business concerns relating to domestic and 
                international protection of intellectual property;
                    (B) leveraging of training materials already 
                developed for the education of inventors and small 
                business concerns; and
                    (C) participation of a nongovernmental 
                organization; and
            (2) provide training--
                    (A) through electronic resources, including 
                Internet-based webinars; and
                    (B) at physical locations, including--
                            (i) a small business development center; 
                        and
                            (ii) the headquarters or a regional office 
                        of the USPTO.

SEC. 5. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS.

    Section 21(c)(3) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(c)(3)) is 
amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (S), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (T), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(U) in conjunction with the United States Patent 
                and Trademark Office, providing training--
                            ``(i) to small business concerns relating 
                        to--
                                    ``(I) domestic and international 
                                intellectual property protections; and
                                    ``(II) how those protections should 
                                be considered in the business plans and 
                                growth strategies of the small business 
                                concerns; and
                            ``(ii) which may be delivered--
                                    ``(I) in person; or
                                    ``(II) through a website.''.
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