Tech Policy Summit blog

President's State of the Union: Tech Highlights

As a follow-up to our earlier post about the President Bush's State of the Union address, here is a summary of what he had to say about tech policy-related issues in his speech to Congress last night:

• Without elaborating, he encouraged Congress to "promote health information technology."
• He called for the creation of a new international clean technology fund to help developing nations like India and China "make greater use of clean energy sources," and recommended continued investments in renewable fuels and advanced battery technology.
• He reiterated his support for free trade, pressing Congress to approve pending agreements wtih Colombia, Panama and South Korea. According to the President, "these agreements will level the playing field [and] will give us better access to nearly 100 million customers."
• At the same time, he asked Congress to reauthorize and reform the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to help displaced workers learn "new skills and find new jobs."
• He also asked Congress to follow through on funding the America Competes Act, which he signed into law last August, to increase federal support for education and research in math and science.
• In one of the more obviously partisan moments, the President urged Congress to pass the controversial electronic surveillance bill, the Protect America Act, to extend liability protection to telecom carriers that helped U.S. intelligence agencies monitor phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists without a warrant. The bill is set to expire February 1st, and the President received a standing ovation from supporters when he declared, "We have had ample time for debate. The time to act is now."

CEA: Gadgets are Great, but Trade Matters Too

Amidst the lure of shiny new gadgets - and the many distractions that make Vegas what it is - the Consumer Electronics Association is hoping to send a message to the 140,000+ assembled for its international CES show: international trade matters.

It's certainly not the first time that CEA has made its pitch on behalf of open markets. Indeed, promoting free trade is one of the organization's key policy priorities. Since many of its 2,200 members sell goods internationally, the association has a big stake in how the federal government acts on trade matters (CEA's government affairs chief Michael Petricone will speak about trade policy at Tech Policy Summit in March).

Congressional opposition and concerns about U.S. workers losing jobs, fueled in large part by the efforts of CNN's outspoken commentator Lou Dobbs, have posed a challenge for CEA and other pro-trade groups that have been backing agreements like those with Colombia, Panama and Korea.

For the rest of this post, please visit our Tech Policy Central site.

Guest Commentary: Mary Arnold, SAP

The following editorial was written by Mary Arnold, Vice President for Government Relations at SAP America, and a member of IWF's board of directors.

Success in the Global Economy: An Agenda for the Future

Against the backdrop of America's election season, one question should rise to the top of the public debate: What does America need to do to succeed in the global economy? The answers offered by political candidates in the months ahead will have repercussions for decades.

The near-term economic signals are mixed. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, slower sales and higher energy and labor costs are forcing many companies to reduce spending and hiring. Tighter credit policies are making it harder for businesses and consumers to borrow. The long-term outlook is also uncertain, given the inevitable rise in global economic competition.

Read the rest of this post at our Tech Policy Central site.

President Bush on Free Trade and TAA

At a White House Forum on International Trade and Investment earlier today, President Bush made his case for free trade and called on Congress to approve four pending agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

The President also asked the executives and association leaders in attendance to help the Administration "do a better job of educating [American] people about the benefits of free and fair trade." Help that appears to be needed...according to The Wall Street Journal, a poll it conducted with NBC in September revealed that nearly 60% of respondents believed that trade was bad for the economy.

Read more about this, Yahoo's hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and other tech policy happenings at our new Tech Policy Central site.

SanDisk Says 25 Companies Violated Patents; Seeks Ban on Imports

Flash memory maker SanDisk issued a news release yesterday stating that is had filed three patent infringements suits against 25 companies that make, sell and distribute flash memory products and MP3 players. The company has accused the companies of violating seven of its patents and is seeking a permanent injunction in U.S. District Court, as well as an order from the International Trade Commission (ITC) that would ban importation of any of the products into the U.S.

The company's Chief IP Counsel said in the statement, "Our goal is to resolve these matters by offering the defendants the opportunity to participate in our patent licensing program for card and system technology. Otherwise, we will aggressively pursue these actions...”

Tech review site Engadget called the announcement "a patent lawsuit bomb," and InfoWorld warned that the "complaints could affect the prices and availability of products made by companies targeted in the suit." So, who's on the list? LG Electronics, Verbatim, Imation/Memorex, Kingston Technology, Buffalo and 20 other companies that are named in SanDisk's official news release.

New Anti-Piracy Agreement; May Help Fight Fake Chips

Earlier this week, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced that the United States and a number of key trading partners including Canada, the European Union, Japan and Mexico will be negotiating to establish a new anti-piracy initiative called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). China, where intellectual property rights have been particularly difficult to enforce, wasn't among the list of countries named by USTR. However, according to Computerworld, the European Commission insists that ACTA is "not about ganging up against China or other countries."

That won't stop ACTA supporters from trying to leverage the agreement to crack down on counterfeiting in China though. Computerworld reports that the new initiative may help thwart a type of piracy that doesn't often grab headlines -- the counterfeiting of semiconductor chips. Semiconductor Industry Association(SIA) executive Daryl Hatano explained that counterfeiters switch manufacturer labels on chips to trick buyers into thinking they're getting better performance or a different brand. SIA has its own task force to fight piracy, and applauded the ACTA announcement. For more, check out Computerworld.

Treasury Secretary Talks China

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson delivered a keynote this morning about America's economic ties with China at a D.C. conference on China-U.S. Relations hosted by former President George Bush. Secretary Paulson emphasized the growing interdependence of the two countries, saying that there's hardly an issue or a place in the world where the interests of the two nations don't overlap in some way. He also said that he acknowledges that trade and investment between the countries are "increasingly a source of tension," and he mentioned U.S. concerns about intellectual property violations in China.

His main point, however, seemed to be to warn against the "rise of economic nationalism and protectionism" that he has seen in both countries. In the case of the recent importation of tainted goods from China, for example, Paulson urged U.S. policymakers to make "science-based decisions" instead of retaliating out of fear or uncertainty.

TechNet Leaders Gather at Summit in Berkeley

Industry group TechNet held its annual Innovation Summit on the UC Berkeley campus yesterday. As in previous years, PBS personality Charlie Rose served as emcee, interviewing TechNet members like co-chairs John Chambers of Cisco and John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, Sybase's CEO John Chen and Sun Microsystem's chief exec Jonathan Schwartz (despite appearances, being named John or Jonathan was not a prerequisite).

ZDNet's Dan Farber wrote this post about the opening interview, which featured John Chambers, John Chen and UC Berkeley professor Laura Tyson talking about global competitiveness and what the U.S. needs to do to stay on top. According to Farber's post, Tyson said, "We are not building people power adequately...right now we are the innovation superpower, but there are some disturbing trends and competitors are doing things to catch up." He goes on to write that Tyson "cited a compression in development time, in which competitors such as China and India could catch up to the U.S. in five years in areas of innovation."

There are also reports of the event at InfoWorld. UPDATE: Sean Garrett wrote this post about the Innovation Summit, which includes links to a couple of news stories on the event.

ITC Launches Disk Drive Investigation

According to Computerworld, the U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating allegations that five leading computer manufacturers have violated patents on "dissipative ceramic bonding tips" used inside hard disk drives. The patent holders are asking the ITC to ban importation of drives made or used by Western Digital, Seagate Technology, Toshiba, HP and Dell.

In its announcement yesterday, the ITC said it "has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case" and it will set a target date for completing its investigation within 45 days.

Republicans Debate Economic Issues

CNBC, MSNBC and The Wall Street Journal hosted a Republican presidential debate yesterday in Dearborn, Michigan that focused on the candidates' views on economic issues. It was the first debate for newcomer Fred Thompson and he and his party rivals fielded questions on topics like the housing crunch, tax reform and doing business with China. Of particular relevance to the technology industry were some of the comments about manufacturing and trade.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the trade-related highlights:

• Governor Mitt Romney said that the U.S. should get serious about protecting intellectual property and make sure that trade agreements with countries like China look out for U.S. business interests protect IP.
• Rep. Duncan Hunter took aim quickly at China, stating that 1.8 million manufacturing jobs have moved from the U.S. to China and that it's fractured America's industrial base and created security risks. Rep. Hunter was also immediately opposed to the idea of letting a foreign government like Dubai invest in a U.S. company.
• Fred Thompson said that free and fair trade has been good for America, and that the U.S. shouldn't turn its back on free trade. He did feel that foreign investments in U.S. countries should be carefully scrutinized though to protect American infrastructure.
• Mayor Rudy Guiliani said the U.S. needs to improve its trade agreements but avoid protectionism. He said the U.S. depends on exports and is an entrpereneurial country that should think of people in emerging countries as new customers.
• Governor Mike Huckabee said that the U.S. doesn't have fair trade now. He said American companies are paying extraordinarily high taxes on what they produce but the same doesn't apply to other countries.
• Senator John McCain defended free trade by warning that every time the U.S. has become protectionist, it has paid a very heavy price. He called free trade the engine of the U.S.' economy (Senator McCain also made a remark about 50,000 Americans making their living off of eBay -- the actual number is well over 700,000).
• Responding to concerns by fellow candidates, Sen. Sam Brownback said that if the Republicans walk away from trade, they're making a mistake. He said the U.S. needs to focus on China's protection of intellectual property.
• Rep. Tom Tancredo said trade is a good idea, but he opposed trading with countries that have proven that they may be an enemy.
• Rep. Ron Paul said the U.S. needs to curtail excessive spending to improve the economy and America's trade relationships with other countries.