Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday she will resign in September. Napolitano, who was one of the first cabinet officials President Obama appointed at the start of his first term in 2009, said she’s stepping down to become president of the University of California system. While Napolitano’s departure is unlikely to fundamentally alter DHS’s role in federal cybersecurity matters, it may slow progress on implementing President Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, industry experts told us.
Senate Commerce Committee leaders circulated draft cybersecurity legislation that’s meant to be a “bipartisan consensus,” a committee official told us Thursday. The bill, backed by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to be marked up by the end of the month, said the official. The draft is the Senate’s first attempt at enacting cybersecurity legislation in the 113th Congress. The House passed a revised version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624) in April, but industry officials have said they don’t believe it will pass the Senate, and the White House has threatened a veto.
Senate Commerce Committee leaders circulated draft cybersecurity legislation that’s meant to be a “bipartisan consensus,” a committee official told us Thursday. The bill, backed by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to be marked up by the end of the month, said the official. The draft is the Senate’s first attempt at enacting cybersecurity legislation in the 113th Congress. The House passed a revised version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624) in April, but industry officials have said they don’t believe it will pass the Senate, and the White House has threatened a veto.
All federal cybersecurity efforts that don’t directly relate to defense should be consolidated within the Department of Commerce, former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., told the House Commerce Committee’s Oversight subcommittee Tuesday. The subcommittee hearing focused on determining ways to best solve cybersecurity threats to U.S. intellectual property.
All federal cybersecurity efforts that don’t directly relate to defense should be consolidated within the Department of Commerce, former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., told the House Commerce Committee’s Oversight subcommittee Tuesday. The subcommittee hearing focused on determining ways to best solve cybersecurity threats to U.S. intellectual property.
Congress should expand its efforts to address international intellectual property theft beyond cybersecurity legislation, former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., a member of the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property (IP Commission), is expected to say this Tuesday in testimony before the House Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. The IP Commission is working on issues including recommend policies that will mitigate intellectual property theft by China and others (http://1.usa.gov/11wjHmO). The subcommittee is holding the hearing to determine the scope of cybersecurity threats to U.S. intellectual property and technology, and the best legislative ways to address those threats.
Congress should expand its efforts to address international intellectual property theft beyond cybersecurity legislation, former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., a member of the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property (IP Commission), is expected to say this Tuesday in testimony before the House Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. The IP Commission is working on issues including recommend policies that will mitigate intellectual property theft by China and others (http://1.usa.gov/11wjHmO). The subcommittee is holding the hearing to determine the scope of cybersecurity threats to U.S. intellectual property and technology, and the best legislative ways to address those threats.
FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez’s remarks Thursday in favor of a possible FTC investigation into the business practices of patent assertion entities (PAEs) are “obviously going to have some impact” in the federal government’s ongoing debate over how to best address the issue of abusive patent litigation, said American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Executive Director Todd Dickinson, former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). “It keeps the iron in the fire,” he told us.
FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez’s remarks Thursday in favor of a possible FTC investigation into the business practices of patent assertion entities (PAEs) are “obviously going to have some impact” in the federal government’s ongoing debate over how to best address the issue of abusive patent litigation, said American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Executive Director Todd Dickinson, former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). “It keeps the iron in the fire,” he told us.
FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said the commission should use its authority under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act to investigate the business practices of patent assertion entities (PAEs) to examine whether those practices harm competition and consumer interests. Section 6(b) of the FTC Act gives the agency the authority to do a full investigation of an industry’s business practices, including issuing subpoenas, and report their findings to Congress and the public. Ramirez said at a Thursday joint Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and American Antitrust Institute (AAI) event that she supports conducting an investigation, but did not say she would formally ask the commission to vote to start one.