Description:
H.R. 5796 would require the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to conduct a biennial competition to award certificates to applicants for patents that address humanitarian issues. A certificate could be redeemed by an awardee to accelerate a patent application, an ex parte reexamination proceeding, or an appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. PTO is currently administering Patents for Humanity as a pilot program, and H.R. 5796 would codify that program. Using information from PTO, CBO estimates that issuing rules and administering the competition would cost less than $500,000 over the 2022-2026 period. PTO is authorized to collect fees in amounts sufficient to offset its annual appropriation, and CBO expects that the agency would adjust fee collections to match any increase in operating costs. On that basis and assuming appropriation action consistent with that authority, CBO estimates that any net change in discretionary spending would be negligible. If PTO increases fees to offset the costs of implementing provisions of the bill, H.R. 5796 would increase the cost of an existing mandate on private and intergovernmental entities required to pay those fees. Using information from PTO, CBO estimates that the incremental cost of the mandate would be small and would not exceed the annual thresholds established in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates ($85 million and $170 million in 2021, respectively, adjusted annually for inflation).
