Technology

The measure targeting "patent trolls," from the heads of both committees with jurisdiction, indicates Congress is serious about the problem.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) urged the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to consider the potential national security risk of allowing SoftBank, a Japanese company, to buy Sprint. 

"As I am sure the Commission is aware, Sprint holds strategic assets, such as its wireless spectrum and fiber network, and has extensive and ongoing relationships throughout the whole government," he wrote in a letter to Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. "With all other relevant facts and circumstances surrounding Softbank's proposed acquisition of Sprint, I hope the Commission duly considers these facts when reviewing this matter."

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced an immigration bill on Thursday that they said would boost the technology industry in the United States and create more jobs for Americans.

Issa, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the current immigration system forces foreign graduates who have been trained at America's best universities out of the country after they have received their diplomas in technical fields — and his legislation aims to rectify that.

"That has to stop. That's just wrong," Issa said at press conference where he unveiled the bill with Goodlatte.

Issa's Skills Visa Act includes several measures that the tech industry has lobbied for over the years. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a letter lauding the bill and it has already received endorsements from trade associations that represent major tech companies like Google, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. 

A recent Supreme Court ruling undercut Verizon's lawsuit against net neutrality regulations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) argued in a court filing on Thursday. 

The agency argued that, based on the Supreme Court's ruling this week in Arlington v. FCC, it should be given deference to interpret its own authority, and the appeals court should reject Verizon's lawsuit.

Verizon declined to comment.

Chairman Goodlatte posed nearly a dozen questions to Deputy Attorney General James Cole in a letter shared with The Hill.

Softbank has agreed to allow the U.S. government to approve one of the directors to Sprint's board to oversee national security issues, according to The Wall Street Journal.  Read more...

THE LEDE: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) will unveil an immigration bill that will boost the number of visas for highly skilled workers at an event Thursday morning. 

The Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills, called the Skills Act for short, includes many policy measures that the tech industry has lobbied for. Representatives from the Consumer Electronics Association and Compete America are slated to speak in favor of the bill at the event.  

Issa's bill is the third piece of immigration legislation that's been put forward in the House Judiciary Committee this year. Goodlatte has said he wants to tackle immigration reform in a piecemeal fashion by introducing bills that cover each issue in the larger debate. 

The Skills Act will be introduced before a bipartisan group of eight House members puts forward comprehensive immigration reform legislation, which will also cover modified rules for high-skilled workers. After months of secret negotiations, the bipartisan group reached an "agreement in principle" on legislation last week and its members are furiously working to finalize bill text.

The two separate bills have made tech companies question which piece of legislation will be put to a vote on the floor.

Read more...

The federal government should impose penalties on foreign companies that use intellectual property  (IP) stolen from American businesses via cyberattacks, according to a report released Wednesday by a commission co-chaired by former administration officials.

Among its policy recommendations, the report says the secretary of treasury should block foreign companies that regularly use or benefit from stolen American intellectual property from accessing the banking system in the United States.

"Protecting American IP should be a precondition for operating in the American market," the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property writes in the report. "Failure to do so ought to result in sanctions on bank activities, essentially curtailing U.S. operations."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced legislation on Wednesday aimed at cracking down on abusive patent litigation.

Numerous technology companies have complained in recent years about being threatened with lawsuits by firms that have no plans to create any products. The so-called "patent trolls" buy-up cheap patents, find companies using similar technologies and then threaten to bring them to court for infringement unless they agree to an expensive settlement.

Many companies agree to settle because the cost of fighting the charges in court would be so high.

A social media campaign for immigration reform kicked off on Wednesday with a series of Twitter town halls hosted by political officials like Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).

The push is being sponsored by a bipartisan coalition that includes Organizing for Action, Republicans for Immigration Reform and the advocacy group co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch. The so-called March for Innovation social media campaign, or #imarch, will feature back-to-back events across various social media platforms, including Reddit and Google Plus.

Supporters of the virtual march, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, tweeted links to a website that lets people tell their senators on Facebook and Twitter to support immigration reform.