Foreign Adversary Patent Disclosure Act

Key Points

• This bill would require anyone applying for a U.S. patent to reveal if any owners of the invention have ties to specific foreign countries. These countries include China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba.
• Applicants must report if an owner was employed by a company controlled by one of these countries or received money from their government research programs in the last five years. This helps the government track foreign influence on American technology.
• The head of the Patent Office could ask for copies of contracts or financial records to verify these ties. These documents would be kept private and not shared with the public.
• Small businesses that already report similar information under other federal programs would not have to do this extra paperwork. This prevents double-reporting for smaller companies.
• The goal is to protect American inventions and identify when foreign governments might have a stake in new technology being developed or protected in the United States.

Impact Analysis

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