[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 126 (Thursday, July 25, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5110-S5111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. HIRONO (for herself and Mr. Tillis):
  S. 2281. A bill to amend chapter 11 of title 35, United States Code, 
to require the voluntary collection of demographic information for 
patent applications, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Inventor 
Diversity for Economic Advancement Act of 2019. I thank my colleague 
from North Carolina, Senator Tillis, for working with me on this 
important piece of legislation, which serves as a first step to closing 
the diversity gap in our patent system by collecting demographic data 
on patent applicants.
  Women and racial minorities have made some of the most significant 
inventions in this country's history. The $75 billion home security 
industry grew from an initial home security system invented by Marie 
Van Brittan Brown. The computer would never have become the multimedia 
device it is today without the microcomputer system invented by Mark 
Dean. The genetic revolution would still be science fiction if not for 
the CRISPR gene-editing tool discovered by Jennifer Doudna--raised on 
Hawaii's Big Island.
  We should celebrate these inventors and the many others like them who 
have contributed to innovation in this country. But we must also 
recognize the hard truth that women, racial minorities, and many other 
groups are greatly underrepresented in the U.S. patent system.
  The Patent and Trademark Office's recent report on women inventors 
shines a spotlight on one part of this problem. The PTO found that only 
21 percent of U.S. patents list a woman as an inventor and that women 
make up only 12 percent of all inventors. This is true even though 
women held 43 percent of all full-time jobs in 2016 and 28 percent of 
STEM jobs in 2015.
  Other reports highlight racial and income patent gaps. For example, a 
report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research found that the 
percentage

[[Page S5111]]

of African American and Hispanic college graduates who hold patents is 
approximately half that of their white counterparts. Another report 
found that children born into families with incomes below the median 
U.S. income are 90 percent less likely to receive a patent in their 
lifetimes than those born into wealthier families.
  Closing these gaps would turbocharge our economy. According to a 
study by Michigan State University Professor Lisa Cook, including more 
women and African Americans in the ``initial stage of the process of 
innovation'' could increase GDP by as much as $640 billion. Another 
study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 
eliminating the patent gap for women with science and engineering 
degrees alone would increase GDP by over $500 billion.
  It's simply good policy and good business to want to fully integrate 
people of all types into our innovation economy.
  But if we have any hope of closing the various patent gaps, we must 
first get a firm grasp on the scope of the problem.
  Studies of the demographic makeup of patentees, like the ones I 
described, are few and far between. The reason is a simple one. A lack 
of data. The PTO does not collect any data on applicants beyond their 
first and last names and city, state, and country of residence. As a 
result, those wishing to study patent gaps between different 
demographic groups are forced to guess the gender of an applicant based 
on his or her name, determine the race or income status of an applicant 
by cross-referencing census data, or explore a number of other options 
that are time-consuming, unreliable, or both.
  The IDEA Act solves this problem. It would require the PTO to collect 
demographic data--including gender, race, military or veteran status, 
and income level, among others--from patent applicants on a voluntary 
basis. It would further require the PTO to issue reports on the data 
collected and, perhaps more importantly, make the data available to the 
public with appropriate protections for personally identifiable 
information. Outside researchers could therefore conduct their own 
analyses and offer insights into the various patent gaps in our 
society.
  Let me be clear. Closing the information gap facing researchers alone 
will not solve the patent gap facing women, racial minorities, and so 
many others. But it is a critical first step. I therefore encourage my 
colleagues to support the IDEA Act.

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