IP-watch tell us that BSA went to lobby Obama at the Democratic Convention in Denver with a list of principles, where the first one is "inspire creativity and innovation through strong, comprehensive, and enforceable intellectual property policies, including copyright, patent and trademark laws." Software patents are definitely on the top of the agenda of American multinationals. BSA does not have any small software company in its membership, and Microsoft is more active than the other members in using the association as a mean for its purposes.
Here are some extracts of the article:
At the Democratic Convention in Denver, the University of Colorado law school hosted a debate between two Obama IP advisers and two McCain IP advisers, while the Business Software Alliance (BSA) met with Democratic Representative John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, about a list of principles signed onto by BSA member companies, the first of which is to "inspire creativity and innovation through strong, comprehensive, and enforceable intellectual property policies, including copyright, patent and trademark laws."
At the Republican convention, an intellectual property panel was moderated by BSA, which Senator Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, attended along with a host of technology companies. Jack Krumholtz, managing director for federal government affairs at Microsoft, was a participant, as was a representative of Hewlett Packard. The Consumer Electronics Association culminated its 28-state "America Wins with Trade" bus tour in Minneapolis this week for the convention. It held a pro-trade rally that included US Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, Republican Reps. Kevin Brady of Texas, Roy Blunt of Missouri, and David Dreier of California.
McCain is not bad, and we hope he understands that patenting software ideas and concepts is like erecting a toll at every street:
While saying protection intellectual property "creates the incentives for invention and investment," McCain - who released his technology and IP stances just last month - thinks "too much protection can stifle the proliferation of important ideas and impair legitimate commerce in new products to the detriment of our entire economy."
Some patent sharks do not like his statement:
Intellectual Property Owners’ Association Executive Director Herb Wamsley said he hopes McCain will slightly revise his statement.
But both McCain and Obama still don't get the particularity of the software sector, which concentrates 75% of patent trolling (search into Troll Tracker archives and you will find the reference):
Both McCain and Obama agree the patent system is too litigious, in need of reform, and they support more resources to hire and train quality patent examiners at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The tobacco lobbyists advising McCain are back:
Ray Gifford, an intellectual patent partner at Kamlet, Shepher & Reichert in Denver and former president of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, serves as an informal adviser to McCain. He said there has been a "worthwhile and spirited discussion" in the McCain camp on alternative dispute resolution, particularly fee shifting.