[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2655 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2655

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 25, 2017

  Mr. Evans introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 2017''.

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.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator and the Director shall enter 
into a partnership agreement under which the Administrator and Director 
shall--
            (1) develop high-quality training, including in-person or 
        modular training sessions, for small business concerns relating 
        to--
                    (A) domestic and international protection of 
                intellectual property; and
                    (B) how such protections should be considered in 
                the business plans and growth strategies of the small 
                business concerns; and
            (2) leverage existing training materials already developed 
        to educate inventors and small business concerns.
    (b) Training.--The training developed under subsection (a) may be 
provided by the Administrator, the Director, or small business 
development centers established under section 21 of the Small Business 
Act (15 U.S.C. 648)--
            (1) through electronic resources, including Internet-based 
        webinars; and
            (2) at physical locations, including at--
                    (A) a small business development center; or
                    (B) 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) training developed by the Administrator and the 
        Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 
        which may be delivered in person or through a website to small 
        business concerns relating to--
                    ``(i) domestic and international intellectual 
                property protections; and
                    ``(ii) how such protections should be considered in 
                the business plans and growth strategies of the small 
                business concerns.''.
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