Public Policy Category Archives
September 07, 2007
Patent Reform Bill Passes House
We were pleased to see H.R. 1908, The Patent Reform Act of 2007, pass the U.S. House of Representatives today. Our own local Representative Zoe Lofgren has been a great supporter of efforts to simplify the patent process and take some of the incentives out of the system for "patent trolls." Rep. Lofgren states, in part: “I believe this bill strikes the right balance between the need for strong patent rights and the encouragement of innovation. My amendment to the bill, which was incorporated into the manager’s amendment, goes a long way towards addressing this balance by focusing on the troubling growth of forum shopping in patent litigation. The amendment restores fairness and clarity to patent litigation by removing the most glaring instances of forum shopping by patent trolls.”
On this note, I came across a great blog site that tracks patent trolls and their efforts to game the system.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who lives right up the road from Silicon Valley) issued the following statement:
“The bipartisan patent reform bill is a significant step toward our Innovation Agenda. It will strengthen the patent system and improve patent quality. This legislation is crucial for American inventors and American ingenuity, for consumers, and for greater innovation and economic growth.”
Our SVP and General Counsel, Mark Chandler, offered the following statement: "This is a major victory for innovation and US competitiveness and is a culmination of years of hard work. We believe that this is a positive step into reforming the patent system for the 21st century. To make it a system that rewards innovation and not litigation gamesmanship."
Obviously, this still needs to be acted upon in the Senate and we'll be watching closely.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:31 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
August 09, 2007
Math and Science Funding Vital for Future U.S. Competitiveness
President Bush today signed into law the America COMPETES Act, which, according to the White House is a "comprehensive strategy to keep America the most innovative nation in the world by strengthening our scientific education and research, improving our technological enterprise, attracting the world's best and brightest workers, and providing 21st century job training."
Then-Cisco Chairman of the Board John Morgridge testified before the House Science Committee in the last session of Congress on these very principles and Cisco has supported more funding for math and science training for years.
After the bill was signed into law by President Bush, Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers stated, "One of the most important economic policy issues today is helping our nation remain the global leader in innovation, particularly through robust broadband deployment, math and science education, and resources dedicated to leading-edge research. We believe this compromise provides a strategic roadmap to ensure America remains the leader in the world economy. We applaud the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and their steadfast support of this vital measure to create tomorrow’s scientific advancement.”
Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:27 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
February 27, 2007
Net Neutrality: What's the Problem?
SAN JOSE, CA - So, I'm at the Tech Policy Summit at the Hayes Mansion and Declan McCullagh of CNET is leading a panel entitled "The Future of the Internet: The End of the Web as We Know It?" On the panel is Andrew McLaughlin, Head of Global Public Policy and Senior Counsel at Google; Lauren Gelman, Associate Director of Stanford's Center for Internet and Society; and Jim Dempsey, Policy Director for the Center for Democracy and Technology. The topic of the panel has moved to Net Neutrality and I must admit that I'm as confused as ever...nothing new here, but nothing has cleared up for me on "the other side's position."
Andrew McLaughlin said that he is "a big fan of evidence based policy making" yet Google will "absolutely" support net neutrality legislation this session of Congress even though the "details of the legislation are still being worked on." Hence, my confusion.
Further, Lauren Gelman says that people should have the same access to her blog as they would to a Britney Spears video released by a major corporation. Um...my confusion quotient is getting higher. I'm pretty sure I can access both of these now. I've even linked to them to use the "evidence based" way of looking at things.
Which brings me back to "I'm a big fan of evidence based policy." What is the evidence that there is a problem? Sure, there may be one or two anecdotes, but no evidence. Seriously, what's the problem?
One bit of logic (imho) was when McLaughlin echoed the recent sentiments of his CEO, Eric Schmidt, when he said he thinks the net neutrality issue will ultimately be solved by competition. Yep, the marketplace. That I understand.
UPDATE: I guess I wasn't the only one confused. Please read Scott Cleland's blog entry here which includes reporting from Communications Daily on this panel.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 11:59 AM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
February 23, 2007
DVR Alert: Cisco CEO to Address U.S. Governors
DVR Alert!!!!! Tomorrow, John Chambers will address U.S. Governors at their annual meeting in Washington, DC. His topic will be on innovation and competitiveness and 45 of the 50 governors are expected to be in attendance. He will be introduced by National Governors Association (NGA) Chair Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona. His speech will be broadcast nationwide LIVE on C-SPAN on Saturday, February 24th at 1:00PM ET.
This year, Governor Napolitano’s issue of focus, the so-called “Chair’s Initiative,” is innovation. The opportunity to address this gathering is an honor and Chambers will attempt to help frame and define the issue of innovation for the assembled Governors. John also addressed the NGA in 2002 in Boise, Idaho.
(Cisco Chairman and CEO, John Chambers, addressing U.S. Governors at NGA Conference in Washington, DC - February 24, 2007 - NGA Photo)
To view John addressing the Governors, please tune in and hear him talk about what government can do to support and nurture innovation as well as what they can do to preserve the U.S. as a home of cutting-edge technologies while creating high-wage jobs. He will speak about what he views as the four Key Drivers of Competitiveness, namely, Education, Infrastructure (Broadband), Productivity, and a Supportive Government that allows all of these drivers to flourish. After Chambers address, he will join with former U.S. Treasury Secretary and current Chairman of the Executive Committee of Citigroup Robert Rubin in a Q&A with Governor Napolitano. For more on the NGA meeting, please visit www.nga.org.
Please set your DVR’s or tune in live to C-SPAN on Saturday at 1PM ET and hear our CEO’s messages to the chief executives of the states.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 03:10 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
