Digital Discourse / Policy

This Week in IP Enforcement

February 20, 2013 By

Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services Members Selected (AG-IP-News)
Members for ICANN’s Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services have been selected, and the group will begin work immediately to help redefine the purpose and provision of gTLD registration data.

Anti-Piracy Group Welcomes Pirate Bay Lawsuit (Wired)
The Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC), an anti-piracy group accused of infringing The Pirate Bay’s copyright, has said that a lawsuit from The Pirate Bay could benefit anti-piracy campaigners by forcing the site’s anonymous operators to identify themselves by name.

In Lawsuit With Publishers, Open Textbook Startup Boundless Hits Back (paidContent)
Facing a lawsuit alleging such violations as copyright infringement, unfair competition and false advertising from publishers Pearson, Cengage and Macmillan, open textbook startup Boundless has requested a trial by jury after a judge denied its motion to dismiss.

EA and Zynga Quietly Resolve Copyright Dispute Out of Court (All Things D)
In federal court, all lawsuits related to Electronic Arts’ claim that Zynga copied one of its Facebook games were dismissed. EA filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Zynga in August, charging that Zynga’s social game called The Ville was an “unmistakable copy” of EA’s The Sims Social.

As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise (NPR)
As 3-D printers and 3-D scanners get cheaper and become more available, this nascent industry could be roiled by battles over intellectual property.

USC Report Finds a Shift in Advertiser-Supported Piracy (Los Angeles Times)
In the latest reports on advertising-supported online piracy, USC says two major distributors of ads online – Google and OpenX – have “significantly reduced the number of infringing sites they are placing ads on,” but that smaller ad networks have rushed in to fill the gap.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy - Intellectual Property

Cyber Debate Heats Up, New Legislation Supports Technology Readiness for Digital Learning, and Obama Calls for More Work on Patent Reform

February 19, 2013 By

Cyber Debate Heats Up with Executive Order, Federal Legislation and EU Proposal

Cybersecurity has generated a lot of attention for several years, but an Executive Order (EO) by President Obama and proposals on the Hill and in Europe have officially set heavy policy discussion in motion for 2013 and beyond.

Last week, President Obama called-out cybersecurity as a priority in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, announcing the release of the much anticipated Executive Order (EO) on cybersecurity.  The EO is focused specifically on critical infrastructure protection, calling for a NIST-led multistakeholder process to identify existing consensus standards, practices and procedures that can become the basis of a voluntary “Cybersecurity Framework.”  In announcing the EO and corresponding guidance and initiatives, the President has labeled the EO as a “down payment” for legislation, which in his view is still very necessary to address many of the key cybersecurity priorities, most notably improving information sharing from companies to the government, and for creating incentives for broad adoption of the voluntary cybersecurity framework. SIIA issued a statement in response commending the President for prioritizing cybersecurity, seeking to preserve innovation and reiterating the need to avoid applying regulations around what will be developed as a voluntary framework.

Also last week, Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) reintroduced the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), bipartisan cybersecurity legislation to enhance sharing of cyber threat information between the public and private sectors. Last year CISPA received more than 100 bipartisan cosponsors and was passed by the House with strong support.  In response, SIIA joined with other leading trade associations in support this legislation.  The House Intelligence Committee followed-up with a hearing on the legislation Thursday.

These developments in DC last week came on the heels of the European Commission (EC) publishing a cybersecurity strategy and a draft directive on network and information security (NIS).  In response, SIIA issued a statement expressing concern that the proposal is too prescriptive and overly broad.

New Legislation Supports Technology Readiness for Digital Learning and Online Assessment

U.S. Representative George Miller (CA) recentlyintroduced“The Transforming Education Through Technology Act” (H.R. 521), legislation to help ensure the nation’s elementary and secondary schools have access to the technology infrastructure, applications and professional support needed for digital learning and online assessment. Congressman Miller is Ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Education & the Workforce Committee, coauthor of the No Child Left Behind Act, and was recently recognized for his leadership in education technology. In response to the bill’s introduction, SIIA issued a statement of support of the legislation as an important step forward in providing our students and educators with the technology supports they need for success in school and in the workplace.  SIIA also joined with a coalition of organizations endorsing the bill, representing K-12 teachers, technology officers, administrators and high-tech companies. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

Obama on Patent Reform:  We’re Not Done Yet, Patent Trolls Need to be Reined In

Last week, President Obama took the opportunity in a public video chat to urge for more work to be done to stop abusive patent lawsuits.  Noting that recent patent reform efforts were “only a partial fix to the patent troll problem,” President Obama went on to say that “there’s a delicate balance between protecting intellectual property and making sure people aren’t ruined financially by patent trolls. What we need to do is pull together additional stakeholders and see if we can build some additional consensus on smarter patent laws.” Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse blog.

SIIA’s CloudGov Conference Features Lively Discussion on Emerging Federal IT Issues

SIIA’s Cloud/GOV 2013 conference held last week played to a packed house of federal IT employees, contractors, IT companies and policymakers. Event attendees were treated to keynote addresses from Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel, DOD DCIO Dave DeVries, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). They also heard a variety of perspectives on topics ranging from how the convergence of cloud and data analytics can make government more effective, to the latest on FedRAMP, and how to choose the right cloud solution. Making news was the announcement by GSAs Kathy Conrad that there is an RFI in the works to look at privatizing the management of the FedRAMP 3PAOs. GCN has a good roundup on the FedRAMP discussion, and video of the event is available online for those that missed it.

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.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup

Obama on Patent Reform: We’re Not Done Yet, Patent Trolls Need to be Reined In

February 15, 2013 By

SIIA thanks President Obama for taking on patent trolls in yesterday’s Google+ Hangout. Obama said that patent reform was only a partial fix to the patent troll problem, and argued that more needs to be done to stop these abusive patent lawsuits. He said:

“[Patent trolls] don’t actually produce anything themselves. They’re just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else’s idea and see if they can extort some money out of them.”

Though the passage of the America Invents Act in 2011 was an effective first step in addressing the problem of abusive patent litigation by trolls, we agree with Obama that more must be done. Patent trolls continue to damage the economy, hurt America’s tech industry, and threaten innovation. Obama continued:

“There’s a delicate balance between protecting intellectual property and making sure people aren’t ruined financially by patent trolls. What we need to do is pull together additional stakeholders and see if we can build some additional consensus on smarter patent laws.”

In December, SIIA joined with several other trade associations in issuing a call for action against abusive patent lawsuits, in a letter to the Congressional leaders who led the passage of patent reform in 2011. We welcome any opportunity to build consensus on this vital issue.

Watch the full Hangout:

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team at @SIIAPolicy.

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property Tagged With: ,

SIIA Joins other Trade Groups in Supporting Cyber Legislation Introduced Today

February 13, 2013 By

Today, SIIA joined with other leading trade associations in support of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), bipartisan cybersecurity legislation introduced today by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) to enhance sharing of cyber threat information between the public and private sectors.  Early detection and notification of cybersecurity threats is the most critical component of preventing and mitigating cyber-attacks. CISPA would establish a framework that enables the public and private sectors to work together in sharing information on known threats and vulnerabilities, and enactment of this legislation would increase security across the board.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Cybersecurity, Security, Software Tagged With: ,

This Week in IP Enforcement

February 13, 2013 By

Google Must Extend Payments Across Europe for Use of Content (Reuters)
The head of the European Publishers Council says Google must extend its offer to pay French publishers for use of their content to all media companies across Europe.

Feds Urge Supreme Court to Let Stand $222K Landmark File-Sharing Verdict (Wired)
The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court to let stand a $222,000 jury verdict levied against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Minnesota woman who downloaded and shared two dozen copyrighted songs on the now-defunct file-sharing site Kazaa.

Google Joins JPMorgan in Seeking Software Patent Limits (Bloomberg)
A U.S. appeals court specializing in patent law heard arguments about how to distinguish software innovations from programs that computerize unpatentable ideas. Companies including Google, Facebook, and JPMorgan Chase say patent standards for software are too lax and lead to expensive litigation.

Maryland Proposal to Claim Copyright on Students’ Work Prompts Backlash, Legal Review (Fox News)
A recent proposal by a Maryland county’s school board would give them the copyright to anything created by teachers, students and employees before, during and after school hours. The draft policy prompted a backlash from teachers and education activists, causing the board to put the policy on hold pending a more thorough legal review.

Oracle vs Google Legal War Begins a New Chapter (Thomson Reuters)
Oracle says a U.S. judge erred when he threw out its billion-dollar copyright claim against Google over parts of the Java programming language that Google incorporated into the Android mobile platform.

IIPA Recommends Designation of Ukraine as Priority Country in Copyright Piracy (Kyiv Post)
The International Intellectual Property Alliance recommended that USTR designate Ukraine as a Priority Foreign Country as a result of severe legal and copyright enforcement problems.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy - Intellectual Property

SIIA Applauds Cybersecurity Commitment Announced in Tonight’s State of the Union Address

February 12, 2013 By

SIIA congratulates President Obama and his Administration for making cybersecurity a priority. We appreciate the President’s efforts to seek broad input in crafting the Executive Order signed today. We are particularly pleased that the Executive Order excludes commercial information technology products and consumer information technology services from the definition of ‘critical infrastructure at greatest risk.’ The Administration is clearly seeking to advance American innovation with this effort, however, the way in which the Order is implemented will be critical in determining its success or failure.

As we work with the Administration on implementation, a priority for our industry will be to avoid rigid regulations that impede the innovation that is essential for effective cybersecurity.

A regulatory approach seeking to cover a broad, rapidly-evolving cross-section of industry would have the unintended consequence of slowing technological innovation and limiting our collective cybersecurity preparedness. Therefore, it is essential that the Administration work with industry to implement the Executive Order in a way that retains necessary flexibility. Technological innovation must be allowed keep up with rapid developments pertaining to both cybersecurity threats and protections.

To that end, we look forward to continuing to work closely with the Administration and congressional leaders to implement this policy.

Ken WaschKen Wasch is President of SIIA. Follow the SIIA Policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy.

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Filed Under: Government, Policy, Policy - Cybersecurity, Security, Software Tagged With: , ,

SIIA Says Proposed EU Cybersecurity Strategy is too Prescriptive and Overly Broad

February 7, 2013 By

In reaction to today’s European Union cybersecurity announcement, SIIA is concerned that the new strategy is too broad in the scope of industries to be covered and will threaten innovation. In response, I issued the following statement:

SIIA commends the European Commission for conducting a thoughtful, comprehensive review of network and information security across the European Union. There is a critical need to focus on the best cybersecurity practices that will help protect governments, businesses and citizens around the world from increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks.

However, we are concerned about the scope of the Commission’s regulatory approach.  It is overly broad, too prescriptive and threatens to suppress the very innovation that will help businesses, governments and citizens anticipate and address changing cybersecurity threats.

The proposal’s cybersecurity performance requirements will likely lead to technical mandates and rigid regulatory standards and reporting obligations.  Its scope goes well beyond critical infrastructure, where the harms from cyber-attacks are the greatest.  In doing so, it threatens to engulf a broad range of other industries, thereby wasting scarce security resources on areas where the dangers are not urgent.

Today’s cyber threats are global and ever-changing – rigid, far-reaching regulations will almost certainly do more harm than good.  SIIA supports policies that provide the necessary flexibility to keep up with rapid technological developments pertaining to both threats and protections.  SIIA and its member companies look forward to working with the Commission as it considers this proposal and possible amendments.

Ken WaschKen Wasch is President of SIIA. Follow the SIIA Policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy.

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Cybersecurity
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