SIIA Hosts Patent Troll Discussion w/ Chairman Goodlatte
Today at noon, SIIA will host House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) for the first event in its new Tech Policy Speaker Series in Washington, DC. The timely discussion will focus on the growing need for legislative action that addresses abusive patent litigation. Chairman Goodlatte will discuss his new discussion draft patent reform legislation (publicly released on May 23) along with his perspective on the problem of patent trolls and their impact on the U.S. economy. The event will also feature a panel discussion with Aaron Cooper, Senator Leahy’s Senior Counsel for Intellectual Property and Antitrust on the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with experts from SAS, Oracle, the National Retail Federation and Public Knowledge.
It is estimated that abusive patent litigation has cost the U.S. economy $500 billion over the last 20 years, and the annual costs of these patent assertions has increased 500 percent since 2005 to more than $29 billion each year. So it’s no surprise that the momentum for action on patent reform is growing stronger by the day. To that end, the White House today announced a comprehensive plan to address patent litigation abuse. With strong support from industry and government, including Republicans and Democrats, and key leadership in both the House and Senate, and now from the White, SIIA believes the progress towards an effective solution can come quickly.
SIIA to FTC: Internet of Things Requires Technology Neutral Policies and Flexible Privacy Framework
SIIA on Friday encouraged the FTC to be careful in its analysis of the “Internet of Things”–the growing supply of data inputs, sensors and interfaces that are embedded in our vehicles, household appliances, and beyond. SIIA agrees with the FTC that privacy and security are critical to unleashing the full potential of the growing supply of data inputs from the new sensors and interfaces that are becoming part of our everyday lives. However, in our comments, we urged the FTC to proceed cautiously if formulating any new policies, as these are likely to steer the future of data-driven innovation and the scope of American innovation for decades to come.
Software and apps are now rapidly evolving as new services are offered seamlessly across our devices and appliances. As we recently identified in our white paper on “Data Driven Innovation,” the new Internet-enabled IT ecosystem has unleashed tremendous opportunities for economic growth and social innovation. In order to maximize innovation and economic growth, SIIA advised the FTC to to promote technology neutral policies, to support a policy framework that provides for an evolving view of privacy rights based on risk and societal benefits, re-assess long standing principles such as data minimization and encourage de-identification without creating broad mandates to that end. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog or the full comments.
David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.