119-hr3539

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3539 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 3539

 To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property 
 and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to 
establish and carry out a pilot program to expedite the examination of 
 applications for certain patents, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 May 21, 2025

 Mr. Gooden (for himself and Ms. Ross) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property 
 and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to 
establish and carry out a pilot program to expedite the examination of 
 applications for certain patents, 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 ``Leadership in Critical and Emerging 
Technologies Act'' or the ``Leadership in CET Act''.

SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR EXPEDITING EXAMINATION OF CERTAIN CRITICAL 
 AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY PATENT APPLICATIONS.

    (a) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Covered application.--The term ``covered application'' 
 means an application for patent that contains at least 1 
 claimed invention directed to an eligible critical or emerging 
 technology.

    (2) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Under 
 Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
 the Office.

    (3) Eligible critical or emerging technology.--The term 
 ``eligible critical or emerging technology'' means--
        (A) an artificial intelligence capability relating 
 to--
            (i) machine learning;
            (ii) deep learning;
            (iii) reinforcement learning;
            (iv) sensory perception or recognition;
            (v) an artificial intelligence assurance or 
 assessment technique;
            (vi) a foundation model;
            (vii) a generative artificial intelligence 
 system or multimodal or large language model;
            (viii) a synthetic data approach for 
 training, tuning, or testing;
            (ix) planning, reasoning, or decision 
 making; or
            (x) the improvement of artificial 
 intelligence safety, trust, security, or 
 responsible use;
        (B) semiconductor design or an electronic design 
 automation tool; or
            (C) a quantum information science capability 
 relating to--
            (i) quantum computing;
            (ii) materials, isotopes, or fabrication 
 techniques for quantum devices;
            (iii) quantum sensing; or
            (iv) quantum communications or networking.

    (4) Expedite.--The term ``expedite'' means, with respect to 
 a covered application, to advance that covered application out 
 of turn through the use of a petition to make special.

    (5) Office.--The term ``Office'' means the United States 
 Patent and Trademark Office.

    (6) Pilot program.--The term ``pilot program'' means the 
 pilot program established under subsection

    (b) .

    (b) Establishment.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish a pilot program to 
expedite the examination, under 

section 131 of title 35, United States 
Code, of covered applications.
            (c) === Purpose ===
-The purpose of the pilot program shall be to 
encourage innovation by, and the leadership of, the United States with 
respect to critical or emerging technologies by ensuring that covered 
applications receive prompt consideration.
            (d) Implementation.--In carrying out the pilot program, the 
Director may--

    (1) by regulation, and in addition to the requirements 
 under subsection

    (e) , prescribe the conditions under which a 
 covered application shall be accepted and examined under the 
 pilot program, including--
        (A) the requirements to participate in the pilot 
 program;
        (B) internal processing by the Office of covered 
 applications under the pilot program;
            (C) requirements for restriction or unity of 
 inventions identified in covered applications;
            (D) the period during which the applicant 
 submitting the covered application may reply with 
 respect to an action taken by the Office with respect 
 to the covered application;
        (E) standards relating to a reply described in 
 subparagraph
            (D) ;
        (F) standards or procedures governing--
            (i) any amendment, affidavit, or other 
 evidence filed after a final action taken by 
 the Office with respect to the covered 
 application; and
            (ii) any process for appeal with respect to 
 a final action described in clause
            (i) ; and
        (G) the withdrawal, by an applicant, of a covered 
 application submitted under the pilot program;

    (2) waive--
        (A) the petition fee described in 

section 1.102
            (d) of title 37, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 
 successor regulation; or
        (B) any other requirement of the Office relating to 
 the accelerated examination program or the prioritized 
 examination program; and

    (3) consult with the Attorney General, the Secretary of 
 Defense, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 the Director of National Intelligence, or the head of any other 
 Federal agency, as may be appropriate to carry out the pilot 
 program.

    (e) Qualifying Applications.--To best achieve the purpose of the 
pilot program, the Director shall ensure that a covered application 
satisfies the following requirements to qualify for the pilot program:

    (1) The applicant submitting the covered application--
        (A) is not a foreign entity of concern, as defined 
 in 

section 9901 of the William M.

    (Mac) Thornberry 
 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 
 (15 U.S.C. 4651); and
        (B) certifies in the covered application that the 
 inventor or any joint inventor with respect to any 
 claimed invention in the covered application has not 
 been named as the inventor or joint inventor with 
 respect to more than 4 other covered applications 
 submitted under the pilot program.

    (2) The covered application is a noncontinuing, 
 nonprovisional application for an original utility patent filed 
 under 

section 111

    (a) of title 35, United States Code, that does 
 not claim any domestic benefit under 

section 120, 121, 365
            (c) , 
 or 386
            (c) of that title.

    (f) Termination.--

    (1) In general.--The pilot program shall terminate on the 
 earlier of the following:
        (A) The date that is 5 years after the date on 
 which the Director first accepts a covered application 
 for participation in the pilot program.
        (B) The date on which the Director has accepted 
 15,000 covered applications for participation in the 
 pilot program, without regard to whether those covered 
 applications have been expedited under the pilot 
 program.

    (2) Renewal.--If the pilot program terminates under 
 paragraph

    (1)
        (B) , the Director may renew the pilot program for 
 the shorter of the following:
        (A) An additional 5-year period, beginning on the 
 date on which the pilot program terminates under 
 paragraph

    (1)
        (B) .
        (B) An additional period--
            (i) beginning on the date on which the 
 pilot program terminates under paragraph

    (1)
        (B) ; and
            (ii) ending on the date on which the 
 Director has accepted an additional 15,000 
 covered applications for participation in the 
 pilot program, without regard to whether those 
 covered applications have been expedited under 
 the pilot program.

    (3) Notice of renewal.--The Director shall notify the 
 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on 
 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives of the intent of 
 the Director to renew the pilot program under paragraph

    (2) not 
 later than the date that is the earlier of the following:
        (A) The date that is 60 days before the date 
 described in paragraph

    (1)
        (A) .
        (B) The date that is 30 days after the date on 
 which the Director has accepted 12,000 covered 
 applications for participation in the pilot program, 
 without regard to whether those covered applications 
 have been expedited under the pilot program.

    (g) Public Availability of Information.--The Director shall make 
publicly available in an easily accessible location on the website of 
the Office information about the pilot program, including--

    (1) the number of covered applications submitted under the 
 pilot program;

    (2) the number of covered applications described in 
 paragraph

    (1) that the Director has accepted for participation 
 in the pilot program; and

    (3) the number of patents that have been issued for 
 inventions claimed in covered applications expedited under the 
 pilot program.

    (h) Report to Congress.--

    (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date on 
 which the pilot program terminates (including any renewal of 
 the pilot program under subsection

    (f)

    (2) ), the Director shall 
 submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 
 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a 
 report that assesses the impact and effectiveness of the pilot 
 program based on all available data.

    (2) Applicability.--The collection of any data for the 
 purposes of carrying out paragraph

    (1) shall be exempt from 
 subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 
 (commonly referred to as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
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