[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 163 (Tuesday, September 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6588-S6590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
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By Mr. CORNYN:
S. 2771. A bill to designate the community-based outpatient clinic of
the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Angelo, Texas, as the
``Colonel Charles and JoAnne Powell Department of Veterans Affairs
Clinic''; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print my bill
for introduction in the Congressional Record. The bill's purpose is to
designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of
Veterans Affairs in San Angelo, Texas, as the ``Colonel Charles and
JoAnne Powell Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic''.
S. 2771
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Colonel Charles Powell and his wife, Mrs. JoAnne
Powell, served the community of San Angelo, Texas, with
character and dignity.
(2) Colonel Powell served as the base commander of
Goodfellow Air Force Base from 1980 to 1984.
(3) When the Powells moved to San Angelo, Charles was
ordered to help Goodfellow avoid closure and the displacement
of many members of the Armed Forces from the community they
had grown to love.
(4) The impact of Charles' career can still be felt today
at Goodfellow Air Force Base, as it serves as a training
school for thousands of members from every Armed Force to
train in cryptology, intelligence, and firefighting.
(5) JoAnne assisted thousands of constituents in the
district offices of Representatives Tom Loeffler, Lamar
Smith, K. Michael Conaway, and August Pfluger.
(6) One of the several duties JoAnne spearheaded was the
annual process of nominations to the military service
academies, which was always a year-round process for her.
(7) With JoAnne's assistance, many of the young men and
women of the 11th congressional district of Texas went on to
serve the United States and attend one of the military
service academies.
(8) In addition, JoAnne was a fierce advocate of veterans
and helped thousands of individuals gain access to the
veterans benefits they rightfully earned.
(9) JoAnne's compassion and dedication helped make the
Concho Valley a better place.
SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF COMMUNITY-BASED OUTPATIENT CLINIC OF
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS IN SAN ANGELO,
TEXAS.
(a) Designation.--The community-based outpatient clinic of
the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Angelo, Texas,
shall after the date of the enactment of this Act be known
and designated as the ``Colonel Charles and JoAnne Powell
Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic'' or the ``Colonel
Charles and JoAnne Powell VA Clinic''.
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(b) Reference.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map,
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the
community-based outpatient clinic referred to in subsection
(a) shall be considered to be a reference to the Colonel
Charles and JoAnne Powell Department of Veterans Affairs
Clinic.
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By Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. Tillis):
S. 2773. A bill to amend the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to
address satellite offices of the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, innovation is the lifeblood of the American
economy. Thanks to our Founders, our Constitution anticipated the power
of innovation and enshrined the basic idea that inventors should be
given the incentive to do what they do best. The intellectual property
clause has pushed the United States to be the longstanding global
leader in innovation. Unfortunately, like too many other aspects of our
society, the benefits of our innovation ecosystem have not been equally
felt by Americans from all backgrounds. Today, I am proud to introduce
the bipartisan Unleashing American Innovators Act, legislation that
will make the patent system more accessible to Americans from all
backgrounds and ensure that we do more to harness the untapped
potential that exists in our country.
The Unleashing American Innovators Act builds on a legacy of
broadening access to the patent system that I am particularly proud of.
Ten years ago last week, Congress passed the Leahy-Smith America
Invents Act, which was the most significant update to our patent laws
in nearly sixty years. Under the Leahy-Smith Act, we created a network
of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) satellite offices around the
country, bringing the PTO closer to where Americans actually innovate.
We lowered fees for small businesses and created a new micro-entity
status to lower fees even further. We also created a Patent Pro Bono
program to help make legal resources more accessible to prospective
inventors.
Now is the time to build on that success. The Unleashing American
Innovators Act will further boost access to the patent system for
underrepresented groups by explicitly directing existing PTO satellite
offices to reach out to those who are underrepresented in in patent
filings. A recent PTO study found that only twenty-two percent of U.S.
patents list a woman as an inventor, even though women make up more
than fifty percent of our population. Other studies have found that
African Americans apply for patents at about half the rate of white
Americans. We need to boost participation from inventors in rural areas
like Vermont as well. Congress must do more to ensure that these and
other underrepresented groups have the opportunity to participate in
the system.
This bill will go further than our efforts ten years ago by requiring
the PTO to study whether additional satellite offices are needed to
increase participation in the system by women, people of color,
military veterans, individual inventors, and any other groups that are
currently underrepresented. It will also create a network of smaller
community outreach offices, which will do the hard work of meeting
prospective innovators where they live. These offices will partner with
local community organizations to create community-based programs to
educate Americans about the patent system and the benefits of
innovation and entrepreneurship. One such office will be located in
northern New England so that it can help provide assistance to
inventors in Vermont.
The Unleashing American Innovators Act will also establish a
patentability assessment pilot program to assist first-time prospective
inventors in determining whether an idea they have is likely to meet
the threshold for patentability. It will give the PTO study the
efficacy of the Patent Pro Bono Program to ensure that it is meeting
the needs of underrepresented groups. Finally, it will further reduce
application fees for small businesses and micro entities to reduce the
costs of obtaining a patent.
By building on the structures we put in place in the Leahy-Smith Act
ten years ago, we can ensure that the next generation of innovators in
America reflect the full potential of our greatest natural resource--
the genius of the American people. I am proud to partner with Senator
Tillis on this important piece of legislation. Expanding access to the
patent system is not a partisan issue; it is an issue of maintaining
American competitiveness and extending opportunity to all Americans, no
matter their background, economic status, or location. I urge the
Senate to act swiftly to pass this bill.
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By Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. Tillis):
S. 2774. A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, to address
patent ownership, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the
Judiciary.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President. One of the fundamental underpinning of the
patent system is transparency. In exchange for obtaining limited
exclusive rights over their inventions, inventors disclose those
inventions to the public, making transparent something that might
otherwise remain secret. This transparency has tremendous benefits for
our society by accelerating innovation, and the patent system as a
whole helps to drive our economy. I have fought for many years to bring
even more transparency into the patent system to further benefit the
public, particularly by pushing for public disclosure of who actually
owns a patent.
I am proud today to continue my partnership with Senator Tillis on
intellectual property issues by introducing the bipartisan Pride in
Patent Ownership Act, which requires patent owners to disclose their
true identity when a patent is issued and when it is sold. I have long
supported efforts in the Senate to achieve this goal and am excited to
spearhead this effort now.
The American people--any of whom may be charged with infringing a
given patent--have a right to know who owns a patent, which often
changes hands after being issued to the initial inventor. Currently, to
know who owns a patent, you have to engage in costly, time-consuming
litigation to uncover that information. That simply shouldn't be the
case. This bill helps to ensure a fair innovation system for small
businesses, non-profits, and independent entrepreneurs who lack the
resources to engage in costly litigation just to discover who possesses
exclusive patent rights over a particular invention.
Transparency in patent ownership will also help us better understand
how we are doing in the global competition for innovation. Currently, a
whopping 52% of U.S. patents are issued to foreign applicants. But
there is no systematic way to track ownership of U.S patents, including
when patents are sold to foreign entities. And Chinese companies like
Huawei--which often serve as proxies for the Chinese Communist Party--
are wielding patent portfolios of unknown size and scope in the United
States.
Although we do not know what specific patents Huawei owns, in the
last two years, it claims to have received an estimated $1.2 to $1.3
billion in patent licensing fees, and it is likely that most of those
licensing fees come from Americans, based on U.S. patents. Furthermore,
Huawei's patents cover fundamental technologies that will power our
global future, such as the 50 mobile network. Its dominance over these
cutting-edge technologies unquestionably advantages China and
disadvantages America. It is imperative, both for our innovation
economy and national security, to know who owns what patents and who is
profiting.
Senator Tillis and I feel strongly about transparency in patent
ownership. We initially proposed this bill as an amendment to the U.S.
Innovation and Competition Act earlier this Congress, and it was
cleared by the Chair and Ranking Member of the full Judiciary Committee
for inclusion in that bill's manager's package that ultimately failed.
We have since received feedback from a wide spectrum of stakeholders,
whose input we have worked hard to incorporate. As Chairman of the
Senate's Intellectual Property Subcommittee, I will continue to utilize
all of our Subcommittee's tools along with Ranking Member Tillis to
improve transparency around patent ownership. This bill is an essential
next step in that process, and I urge the Senate to act swiftly to pass
it.
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