This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee moved S. 632, the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement (IDEA) Act out of Committee on a bipartisan basis. The legislation would require the Patent and Trademark Office to amass and publish demographic information about patent applicants. Jeff Joseph, President and CEO of SIIA, issued the following statement:
“SIIA supports the IDEA Act, and applauds the Committee’s action today. Recent events have drawn attention to systemic inequities in our society. Good data is essential to determining to what extent those inequities are present in the patent system, and will give the PTO guidance on how to fix them. The IDEA Act requires the PTO to keep track of voluntarily disclosed patent applicant demographic information and publicly report it in the aggregate. This kind of transparency will help evaluate and ensure that the incentives to innovate are available to everyone regardless of race, gender, or national origin. We urge its swift enactment.”
