America Invents Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. MOORE. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
My amendment would ensure that we have the proper data to identify and work with sectors of the U.S. economy that are participating in the patent process at significantly lower rates.
Specifically, my amendment allows the USPTO to develop methods for ways to track the diversity of patent applicants. It also specifically prohibits the office from using any such results for any preferential treatment in the application process.
I certainly do applaud the USPTO for their outreach to the Women's Chamber of Commerce and to the National Minority Enterprise Development Conferences to try to increase diversity with utilizing the patent process. But some recent data have raised concern that minorities and women-owned businesses are just not keeping up with the patent process.
Preliminary data from a 2009 Kauffman Foundation survey of new businesses show that minority-owned technology companies hold fewer patents and copyrights after the fifth year of starting than comparable nonminority businesses. In fact, the Kauffman data show that minority-owned firms with patents hold only two on average, compared with the eight of their counterparts. Another survey uses National Science Foundation data to suggest that women commercialize their patents 7 percent less than their male counterparts.
Now, the best example I can think of this is the late great George Washington Carver, who we all know discovered 300 uses for peanuts and hundreds more for other plants. He went on to help local farmers with many improvements to their farm equipment, ingredients, and chemicals. However, Carver only applied for three patents.
Some historians have written on whether or not Eli Whitney was, indeed, the original inventor of the cotton gin or whether the invention could have originated from the slave community. At the time, slaves were unable to register an invention with the Patent Office, and the owner could not patent on their behalf because of the requirement to be an original inventor.
Now, African Americans and women have a long history of inventing some of the most influential products in our society, but we also simply do not have enough information to further explore and explain these results. And as our government and industry leaders look into these problems and possibly fix these deficiencies, they run into a major hurdle.
Currently, the Patent and Trade Office only knows the name and general location of a patent applicant. In most cases, only the physical street address that the office collects is for the listed patent attorney on the application. Such limited information prevents us from fully understanding the nature and scope of the underrepresentation of minority communities in intellectual property. Until we can truly understand the nature of this problem, we cannot address it or do the appropriate outreach.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Will the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. MOORE. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Madam Chair, I just want to say to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin that I appreciate her offering the amendment, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
Ms. MOORE. I certainly again want to commend efforts from Director Kappos and the Patent and Trade Office that, despite their not having to do it, they do reach out to women and minority communities to try to get them to utilize the Patent Office.
I can say that the ability to innovate and create is just one part of the equation. The key to success for minorities in our community as a whole also depends upon the ability to get protection for their intellectual property.
I urge the body to vote for this amendment.
I would yield back the balance of my time.
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