IDEA Act

HR 9455 (IDEA Act) requires the US Patent Office to collect voluntary demographic information (gender, race, military/veteran status, and other categories) from US patent inventors listed on patent applications. The data must remain confidential, separate from patent reviews, and anonymized in public reports. Annual reports will display patent application and issuance trends disaggregated by demographic group, technology field, and state, while biennial reports to Congress will evaluate the data collection process. This directly affects US patent inventors who choose to participate in the voluntary data submission.