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Event – Patents in Theory and Practice: Implications for Reform
Patent reform is high on the agenda for the upcoming Congress. Proponents of reform claim the current system produces excessive litigation, particularly on the part of “patent assertion entities,” imposing costs on entrepreneurs and others and deterring innovation. Those on the other side suggest that the litigation explosion is overstated and that patent reform efforts will weaken intellectual property protections to the detriment of innovation. Complicating this issue is that the effects of the America Invents Act, recent court decisions, as well as changes at USPTO are still unfolding.
Delays in Release of FCC Orders Illustrate Transparency Issues
The Federal Communications Commission’s unique custom of voting on orders not yet released to the public, and granting “editorial privileges” after approval, raises obvious transparency concerns, explains Scott Wallsten in “Administrative Procedures, Bureaucracy, and Transparency: Why Does the FCC Vote on Secret Texts?” released today by the Technology Policy Institute. Moreover, an analysis of delays in publication in the federal register after the vote suggests that edits made after the approval of an order go beyond simple copy editing and are probably of a more substantive nature.
The FTC Report on the ‘Internet of Things’
The new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report on the “Internet of Things” resembles previous commission privacy reports in being almost entirely bereft of new data or analysis. Commissioner Joshua Wright’s dissenting statement is the best summary: “the Workshop Report includes a lengthy discussion of industry best practices and recommendations for broad-based privacy legislation without analytical support to establish the likelihood that those practices and recommendations, if adopted, would improve consumer welfare.”
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