COMMUNITY OUTREACH OFFICES.

SEC. 104. COMMUNITY OUTREACH OFFICES.(a) Establishment.—(1) In general.—Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish not fewer than 4 community outreach offices throughout the United States. (2) Restriction.—No community outreach office established under paragraph (1) may be located in the same State as—(A) the principal office of the Office; or (B) any satellite office of the Office. (3) Requirement for northern new england region.—(A) In general.—The Director shall establish not less than 1 community outreach office under this subsection in the northern New England region, which shall serve the States of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. (B) Considerations.—In determining the location for the office required to be established under subparagraph (A), the Director shall give preference to a location in which—(i) as of the date of enactment of this Act—(I) there is located not less than 1 public institution of higher education and not less than 1 private institution of higher education; and (II) there are located not more than 15 registered patent attorneys, according to data from 136 STAT. 5520 the Office of Enrollment and Discipline of the Office; and (ii) according to data from the 2012 Survey of Business Owners conducted by the Bureau of the Census, less than 45 percent of the firms (as that term is defined for the purposes of that Survey) are owned by women, minorities, or veterans. (b) Purposes.—The purposes of the community outreach offices established under subsection (a) are to—(1) further achieve the purposes described in section 23(b)(1) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (35 U.S.C. 1 note), as amended by this division; (2) partner with local community organizations, institutions of higher education, research institutions, and businesses to create community-based programs that—(A) provide education regarding the patent system; and (B) promote the career benefits of innovation and entrepreneurship; and (3) educate prospective inventors, including individual inventors, small businesses, veterans, low-income populations, students, rural populations, and any geographic group of innovators that the Director may determine to be underrepresented in patent filings, about all public and private resources available to potential patent applicants, including the patent pro bono programs.