[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3569 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3569
To require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a
report on the disclosure process for intellectual property created
under a Federal grant, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 10, 2024
Mr. Tillis introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a
report on the disclosure process for intellectual property created
under a Federal grant, 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 ``Improving Efficiency to Increase
Competition Act''.
SEC. 2. GAO STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF BAYH-DOLE ACT REGULATIONS ON
CONTRACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Ability.--The term ``ability'' means time, resources,
staff, and any other metric determined necessary for compliance
under the contract requirements described in chapter 18 of
title 35, United States Code, including any regulation issued
under that chapter.
(2) Contractor; federal agency; funding agreement.--The
terms ``contractor'', ``Federal agency'', and ``funding
agreement'' have the meanings given those terms in section 201
of title 35, United States Code.
(3) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given the
term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001(a)).
(4) Relevant committees.--The term ``relevant committees''
means the following:
(A) The Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
(B) The Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate.
(C) The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions of the Senate.
(D) The Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives.
(E) The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
of the House of Representatives.
(F) The Committee on Education and the Workforce of
the House of Representatives.
(b) Report Required.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall brief the relevant committees, with a report to
follow on a mutually agreed upon date that is not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, regarding the
implementation of chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code
(commonly referred to as the ``Bayh-Dole Act''), specifically
with respect to the requirements under that chapter, and the
regulations implementing that chapter, that a contractor under
a funding agreement with a Federal agency must follow with
respect to patent disclosure.
(2) Contents.--The report required under paragraph (1)
shall include, to the extent practicable, information on the
following:
(A) The percentage of inventions, as defined in
section 201 of title 35, United States Code, that are
not elected by contractors to retain within the time
period provided following the disclosure of an
invention under part 401 of title 37, Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor regulations.
(B) After any automatic extension of time has been
granted under section 401.14 of title 37, Code of
Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, and
in a case in which a contractor requests an additional
extension--
(i) the number of such extensions that are
granted by Federal agencies for disclosure,
election, and filing under that section; and
(ii) the average response time by each
Federal agency for such an extension.
(C) How the reporting requirements under chapter 18
of title 35, United States Code, impact the ability of
a contractor to compete with foreign competitors.
(D) How the Federal Government uses Federal
reporting under chapter 18 of title 35, United States
Code, by contractors and suggested improvements to
ensure there is an improved public-private partnership.
(E) Barriers that Federal reporting requirements
under chapter 18 of title 35, United States Code,
create for contractors to develop inventions, as
defined in section 201 of title 35, United States Code.
(F) The time and effort institutions of higher
education must use for the management and reporting
required under chapter 18 of title 35, United States
Code, including--
(i) input from contractors with various
sizes, budgets, geographical positions, and
specialties;
(ii) with respect to any institution of
higher education included in the report, a
consideration of the specific research
designations for that institution, including
whether the institution is classified as an R1
or R2 doctoral university, according to the
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of
Higher Education framework; and
(iii) how such contractors vary on their
ability to efficiently comply with the
requirements under that chapter.
(G) Difficulties contractors encounter in using the
patent reporting system deployed by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (commonly known
as, and referred to in this paragraph as, ``iEdison'')
and recommendations to address those difficulties.
(H) If any other Federal agency does not use
iEdison, whether that Federal agency--
(i) would benefit from using a singular
standard Federal reporting system; and
(ii) can effectively standardize reporting
requirements in order to streamline processes
required by contractors.
(I) The number of disclosure systems used
throughout the Federal Government, listed by which
system is used by each Federal agency, and the various
disclosure requirements made by each such Federal
agency.
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