[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5475 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5475

 To amend title 35, United State Code, to require the Director of the 
  United States Patent and Trademark Office to require disclosures in 
 patent applications regarding ties to the People's Republic of China 
         and other foreign adversaries, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 14, 2023

Mr. Fitzgerald (for himself, Mr. Issa, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Mr. Gallagher, 
  Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Fry, and Mr. Moran) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 35, United State Code, to require the Director of the 
  United States Patent and Trademark Office to require disclosures in 
 patent applications regarding ties to the People's Republic of China 
         and other foreign adversaries, 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 ``Prohibiting Adversarial Patents Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURES IN PATENT APPLICATIONS REGARDING TIES TO THE 
              PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND OTHER FOREIGN ADVERSARIES.

    (a) Disclosures in Patent Applications Regarding Ties to People's 
Republic of China and Other Foreign Adversaries.--Section 111 of title 
35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Disclosures Regarding Ties to People's Republic of China and 
Other Foreign Countries.--
            ``(1) Disclosure.--The Director shall require each person 
        submitting an application for patent under subsection (a), or a 
        provisional application for a patent under subsection (b), to 
        disclose in the application the identity of each person with an 
        ownership interest in the invention being claimed that in the 
        five years before submitting such application received funding 
        from--
                    ``(A) a state-affiliated research fund associated 
                with a foreign adversary; or
                    ``(B) a talent recruitment program associated with 
                a foreign adversary.
            ``(2) Request for true copies.--
                    ``(A) In general.--After reviewing any disclosure 
                made by an applicant in accordance with paragraph (1), 
                the Director may (as the Director determines 
                appropriate) request such applicant provide true copies 
                of any contractual or financial obligation or other 
                agreement specific to such disclosure.
                    ``(B) Confidentiality.--Any true copy provided to 
                the Director under subparagraph (A) may be kept 
                confidential and separate from the file wrapper of the 
                patent application.
            ``(3) Exemption.--Any applicant who is a small business 
        concern and is subject to disclosures pursuant to subsection 
        (g) or (o) of section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
        638) shall be exempt from making the disclosure required by 
        paragraph (1).
            ``(4) Foreign adversary defined.--In this subsection, the 
        term `foreign adversary' means--
                    ``(A) the People's Republic of China, including all 
                Special Administrative Regions;
                    ``(B) the Republic of Cuba;
                    ``(C) the Islamic Republic of Iran;
                    ``(D) the Democratic People's Republic of Korea;
                    ``(E) the Russian Federation; and
                    ``(F) the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela during 
                any period of time during which Nicholas Maduro is 
                President of the Republic.''.
    (b) Patent Bar for Persons Who Pose a Threat to National 
Security.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 10 of title 35, United States 
        Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 106. Patent bar for persons who pose a threat to national 
              security.
    ``Notwithstanding any other provision of law--
            ``(1) a person shall not receive a United States patent for 
        an invention if that person (or any subsidiary, affiliate, 
        successor, assign, legal representative, or privy of such 
        person)--
                    ``(A) is identified, pursuant to section 744.16 of 
                title 15, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor 
                regulation), as a person reasonably believed to be 
                involved, or to pose a significant risk of being or 
                becoming involved, in activities contrary to the 
                national security or foreign policy interests of the 
                United States;
                    ``(B) is an entity on the Non-SDN Chinese Military-
                Industrial Complex Companies List (NS-CMIC List) 
                maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of 
                the Department of the Treasury under Executive Order 
                14032 (86 Fed. Reg. 30145; relating to addressing the 
                threat from securities investments that finance certain 
                companies of the People's Republic of China), or any 
                successor order;
                    ``(C) is identified as a Chinese military company 
                in the most recent annual report submitted pursuant to 
                section 1260H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry 
                National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 
                (Public Law 116-283; 10 U.S.C. 113 note); or
                    ``(D) produces or provides communications equipment 
                or service on the list published by the Federal 
                Communications Commission under section 2(a) of the 
                Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 
                (47 U.S.C. 1601(a)); and
            ``(2) any United States patent issued to a person described 
        under paragraph (1) shall be unenforceable.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 
        10 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
        after the item relating to section 105 the following:

``106. Patent bar for persons who pose a threat to national 
                            security.''.
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