DOJ/FTC Workshop Will Help Create Momentum to Curtail ‘Patent Trolls’

December 10, 2012 By

SIIA applauds the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) for their Joint Workshop on Patent Assertion Entity Activities (PAE). SIIA says today’s event is important for drawing attention to the economic and consumer harm caused by abusive patent lawsuits.

FTC Chairman Leibowitz made it clear that he fully understands the damaging effect of PAE’s and is concerned with their impact on competition and American innovation. The Chairman went so far as to say that we may be driving off a patent cliff that could stifle intellectual property innovation and competition. We share the ‘patent cliff’ concern and applaud Chairman Liebowitz for making such a strong statement about the significance of the problem.

SIIA has been a leading advocate for patent reform, and we believe a vital step forward was made in 2011 with the America Invents Act. But the fact is, patent trolls continue to damage the economy, hurt America’s tech industry and threaten innovation. Today’s workshop is important for drawing attention to the problem and we encourage the FTC and DOJ to continue to spotlight the harmful effects of patent trolls. We are hopeful that, coming out of the workshop, all parties – including the FTC, DOJ and Congress – will work together for sensible changes that allow America’s technology industry to thrive.

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

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

This Week in Public Sector Innovation

December 7, 2012 By

OMB to push Strategic Sourcing: This week OMB issued a memorandum expanding the use of strategic sourcing to include commodity IT purchases. In addition the memo establishes Strategic Sourcing Accountable Officers within the CFO Act agencies to be appointed by January 15, 2013. It also establishes a Strategic Sourcing Leadership Council (SSLC), chaired by OFPP, with representatives from DoD, Energy, HHS, DHS, VA, GSA and NASA and requires the SSLC to submit to OMB a set of recommendations for management strategies for goods and services to insure the government receives the most favorable offer. Lastly it requires the SSLC to identify at least 5 products or services for which new government-wide acquisition vehicles or management approaches are needed and requires GSA to implement 5 new government-wide strategic sourcing solutions in each of FY13 and FY14 and increase transparency of prices paid for common goods. Read the memo here.

GSA pulls the plug on Apps.gov: The federal government pulled the plug on Apps.gov this week. The cloud application storefront, which was the brainchild of former Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, was intended to provide a one-stop-shop for cloud apps for the federal government and make it easier for federal IT personnel to acquire cloud services. The initiative never took off as intended. GSA didn’t give a reason for decommissioning the initiative, but noted that everything that was available through Apps.gov, would still be available through Schedule 70. Information Week has a story.

NextGov Prime highlights procurement reform, big data: NextGov held its first-ever Prime Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building this week. The event included a keynote panel featuring Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-VA), ranking member of the panel’s Technology Subcommittee, two leaders pushing an update to the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act. The intent of the legislation, which SIIA has been tracking closely and which is expected to be introduced early in the next Congress, is to improve the speed and efficiency of federal IT purchasing. FCW has the wrap up. The event also had a heavy focus on big data and how data analytics can make the government more effective. FCW covers that angle as well.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.

Share|
Filed Under: Cloud/Gov, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, Software, Software Events Tagged With: , ,

Titans of a New Information Order

December 7, 2012 By

I sat down with Jim Kollegger, Session moderator and organizer of the CEO panel – Titans of a New Information Order – to find out what’s in store for this year’s discussion. Jim will take the stage at IIS Breakthrough on Wednesday January 30, alongside Kurt Eichenwald, Contributing Editor with Vanity Fair and a New York Times bestselling author, Vanity Fair, Thomas Glocer, Former CEO, Thomson Reuters, David Kirkpatrick, Senior Technology & Internet Editor, Fortune, and Michael Perlis, President & CEO , Forbes Media LLC. To see this session, register at siia.net/IIS

 

Jim Kollegger, CEO, Genesys Partners, Inc.

Kathy: Jim, over the years you have put on a showstopper session at IIS where you gather a team of industry “heavy weights” to discuss their perspectives on the shifts in the industry, all from different perspectives. What is the goal/ purpose of your industry outlook panel?

Jim: There have been eleven Summits, and even before IIS became a formal Summit I was hosting keynote panels going back all the way to the 80s! I feel like the Dorian Grey of the SIIA and its predecessor.

Kathy: What can the audience expect to take away from the Titans of the New Information Order?

Jim: Our biggest objective is to provide the audience with perspective, a longer view, maybe a different view as to where things are heading. This is the Wayne Gretzky metaphor — “why are you successful? Because I skate to where the puck is going to be!” You’d be amazed how that sticks.

Kathy: What are some of your most memorable moments as moderator of this session over the years?

Jim: One unforgettable panel was a powerhouse of Ted Leonsis of AOL, Nancy McKinstry of Wolters Kluwer, Jim Fallows of the Atlantic and Martin Sorrell of WPP. Two of them held forth so the others had a hard time getting a word in; and one of them was actually texting while on the panel. I won’t tell you which one!

Kathy: Did anyone in particular get the audience’s blood to boil?

Jim: We go for light, not heat. There’s plenty of cross-fire on the air, as Jon Stewart pointed out. But reasoned discussion where people are frank and not posturing is a rarity.

Kathy: Who would you invite back to reflect on their original prediction VS what really happened

Jim: Many, many of them. Especially John Patrick, IBM’s former Internet CTO, who predicted the coming of wi-fi and blogging, when it didn’t have a name, and when blogging was a joke.

Also Ted Leonsis who early on spotted “the wisdom of crowds” and John Markoff, of NY Times, who said it was NOT too late to start a new search engine—when Yahoo and Excite seemed to own the market.

Kathy: What are YOUR Industry predictions on what’s in store for 2013-2014?

Jim: Mobile, mobile, mobile. Continued consumerization of the enterprise, smarter Siri’s, and verticalization of market approaches. We’ll also see continued domination of markets by the four horsemen of the Internet–Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. There will also be more conflict as some of those put their own interests above their content partners.

Share|
Filed Under: Content, Information Industry Summit Tagged With: , , , , , ,

All-New Information Industry Summit to Showcase Boldest Business Models, Products & Services

December 6, 2012 By

SIIA today invited information industry executives to attend the 12th annual Information Industry Summit, held Jan. 30-31, 2013 in New York City. The conference, which has been redesigned for 2013, will gather leaders from media, publishing, and information services companies, as well as technology and private equity organizations, to help them identify next-generation opportunities for growth and innovation.

With the theme “Breakthrough,” the goal of the Summit is to challenge information industry executives with fresh ideas, products and services to help them discover new opportunities and break into new markets. Presentations will spotlight leading executives as they discuss how their companies reinvented themselves, navigated risk and adopted new technologies to achieve dramatic growth in an ever-changing market. The Summit will also explore challenges and opportunities in an industry encountering unprecedented disruption, rapid fluctuations in customer expectations and behavior, and game-changing technological breakthroughs. Panels will also explore more specific topics such as the private equity landscape and the monetization of big data.

Other highlights of the Summit include the Content CODiE Awards , which honors the year’s best products, and the Previews program, which introduces emerging content and content-technology companies set to revolutionize the industry and a Showcase that will be highlighting all the CODiE Finalists and PREVIEWS participants throughout the conference.

WHO: Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)

WHAT: Information Industry Summit

WHEN: January 30-31, 2013

WHERE: Pier Sixty (Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex), New York City

View the complete Summit schedule.

Kathy Greenler Sexton is Vice President and General Manager of the SIIA Content Division. Contact Kathy at kgsexton@siia.net.

Share|
Filed Under: Content, Information Industry Summit

SIIA VP for Education Dr. Karen Billings Inducted into Association of Educational Publishing Hall of Fame

December 6, 2012 By

The Education Division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announces that Dr. Karen Billings, VP for the Education Division at SIIA, was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Hall of Fame. The induction was held during a ceremony at the McGraw Hill Conference Center in New York on Nov. 29.

The educational publishing industry’s highest individual honor, the AEP Hall of Fame recognizes those who have dedicated their careers to the advancement of educational resources and the industry that develops and supports them.

Billings has nearly tripled the number of educational company members at SIIA in past 10 years. She founded the Innovation Incubator program and the One-to-One Business Profiles program, and has doubled attendance at signature education technology events. She has grown the CODiEs program from seven educational technology awards to 21 in 2012.

Billings drives strategic direction, programs, and initiatives for the 180 education-focused members focused on providing technology products and services to the K-12 and postsecondary markets. In the past ten years at SIIA, she has supported education members with programs that provide thought leadership, industry advocacy, business development, and critical market information to better serve the evolving needs of the educational technology industry and its marketplace.

Billings has 45 years of experience with education technology, including 12 years in K-12 and postsecondary classrooms. She taught mathematics and computer classes in public and private schools in rural, suburban, and urban areas in Iowa, Alabama, Oregon, and New York. Her graduate teaching experiences, including both face-to face and online courses, were at Columbia University Teachers College, UC Berkeley, and Pepperdine University.

She then went on to hold positions in management, product development, marketing, and sales within the publishing and technology industries. Prior to joining SIIA, Billings held executive-level positions at bigchalk Inc and MediaSeek Technologies. Earlier in her career, she held positions at Microsoft Corporation, Claris Corporation (now FileMaker), Logo Computer Systems, Inc., and Houghton-Mifflin Company (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Billings has authored four books and numerous articles for education journals, has been active in many education technology associations, and is a frequent speaker at education conferences. In 1986, she was given a lifetime membership to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

She received her Doctorate in Communications, Computing and Technology at Columbia University Teachers College, where she specialized in the uses and evaluation of technology in education. Billings received her Master’s Degree from the University of Oregon, and her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Northern Iowa.

For more information about the AEP Hall of Fame, visit the AEP website.

Tracy Carlin is a Communications and Public Policy Intern at SIIA. She is also a first year graduate student at Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture and Technology program where she focuses on intersections in education, video games and gender.

Share|
Filed Under: Education

SIIA Launches New Affiliate Program to Connect Software Associations & Strengthen the Industry

December 6, 2012 By

Today the SIIA Software Division launched its new Affiliate Program. The new initiative aims to strengthen the software industry by bringing associations together to collaborate and share business intelligence.

The SIIA Affiliate Program, which already includes four participants, provides an opportunity for associations and groups to increase connections within the software industry and work together to improve and take advantage of networking opportunities, visibility, education, and tra­ining resources.

The first four members of the affiliate program are CloudNOW, the Irish Software Association, SVForum, and THINKstrategies. To inquire about joining the SIIA Affiliate Program, contact me.

From  new members of the SIIA Affiliate Program:

  • CloudNOW is a non-profit consortium of the leading women in cloud computing, focused on using technology for the overall professional development of women for networking, knowledge sharing, mentoring, and economic growth.
  • The Irish Software Association is a professional association representing the interests of Irish and multi-national software and computing services companies operating in Ireland.
  • SVForum is a non-profit organization that fosters innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership within the Silicon Valley ecosystem of individuals and businesses.
  • THINKstrategies is the only consulting firm dedicated to helping enterprises make better sourcing decisions, IT solution providers make better marketing decisions, and venture investors make better investment decisions to capitalize on the business benefits of today’s on-demand services, including Cloud Computing, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Managed Services.

 

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

Share|
Filed Under: Software

Mobile Privacy: Congress Should Give Multistakeholder Discussions More time

December 6, 2012 By

Today,  the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider legislation sponsored by Senator Al Franken (D-MN), the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011 (S.1223), that would require app providers to seek affirmative “opt-in” consent from consumers before using their location information.

As with all consumer privacy issues, users trust in mobile app privacy is absolutely critical.  Without consumer trust, demand stalls, innovations is stifled and neither businesses nor users interests are served.  Straight-up, a lack of trust is a lose-lose. However, multistakeholder discussions have been ongoing since June of this year, engaging a wide range of industry and civil society in an effort, led by the Department of Commerce NTIA, to develop a voluntary code of conduct for mobile app transparency in information collecting.

This flexible, consensus process is also better able to ensure that policies are not technology or platform specific.  That is, at a time of increasing convergence, where “applications” are seamlessly offered across a wide range of devices, fixed laws such as this would stifle technological evolution by creating a distinct privacy regime based on a specific type of device.

SIIA is very supportive of the effort and confident that it can succeed if given time.  Consumers and businesses are in this together, dependent on each other as this new mobile ecosystem continues to evolve.  With the right consensus-driven framework, mobile app privacy can be a win-win for users and businesses.

Rather than considering rigid legislative mandates on the mobile app industry, Congress should continue to explore how to support this industry.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee did just that earlier this year by holding a hearing focused on this innovative industry and how it can spur economic and job growth.

Recommendations are good.  Consumer self-help is good.  But the world is looking to us to show that self-regulation can work as a viable alternative to government mandates.  To allow the multistakeholder efforts on mobile transparency to falter now would confirm their belief that only the government can set the rules of the road in this area.  It is time for the industry to step up and make progress on setting its own rules of the road. If we don’t we have only ourselves to blame if state, national or international governments feel compelled to step in to protect the public.

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.

Share|
Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Privacy Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »