Posted by Brad Smith & Horacio GutierrezExecutive Vice President & General Counsel and Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft
July 18 marked the effective date for the International Trade Commission’s order excluding from the U.S. market Motorola’s Android devices that implement Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology. In addition, Microsoft has secured two injunctions against Motorola devices in Germany for its infringement of other Microsoft patents.
Over the last few weeks, with the imminence of the ITC exclusion order, Google mounted a public relations and lobbying campaign deflecting attention from its refusal to honor its promise to standards bodies to license standards-essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, a practice that has prompted regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to investigate its conduct. Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that Google’s diversionary tactics will cease any time soon, and in fact expect more of them in the future.
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Posted by Jeff MeisnerEditor, Microsoft on the Issues
In this edition of The Week in Tech Policy, we have stories on the online sales tax debate, online education, wireless spectrum and more.
Reshaping online education. In this July 20 post on his Taking Note blog, veteran NPR and PBS education reporter John Merrow explores the pros and cons of massive online open courses (MOOCs), noting what he calls a “solid overview” by The New York Times on the subject. “Today many of the nation’s leading universities are involved in one or more of the online learning efforts, pioneered by MIT and Harvard several years ago. Here’s a partial list: Duke, Johns Hopkins, Cal Tech, Michigan, Princeton and Rice.” Merrow writes, adding, “Many questions remain unanswered: How will students receive credit? How much will courses cost? What’s to prevent cheating?”
Posted by John SeethoffVice President and Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft
This week, the Governance and Nominating Committee of Microsoft’s board of directors published its annual governance letter to shareholders.
Posted by Mike EganDirector of Government Affairs, Microsoft
Yesterday, Microsoft Political Action Committee partnered with CityClub of Seattle to host a public debate on our Redmond campus among the candidates running for the 1st Congressional District seat in Washington. Because the district is home both to Microsoft’s headquarters and to many of our employees, we thought it important to provide a forum for our employees and the public to hear from the candidates directly and engage in a discussion around the topics that matter to them most.
Candidates are competing to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Jay Inslee, who is currently running for governor against Attorney General Rob McKenna. They include Steve Hobbs (D), John Koster (R), Darshan Rauniyar (D) and three former Microsoft employees, Darcy Burner (D), Suzan DelBene (D) and Laura Ruderman (D). Issues discussed by the candidates ranged from their ability to work across party lines, the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the DREAM Act and immigration reform, Social Security eligibility reform, raising taxes on high-income individuals, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens’ United ruling, charter schools, marriage equality and the timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, among others.
Posted by Jeff MeisnerEditor, Microsoft on the issues
In this edition of The Week in Tech Policy, we have stories on cybersecurity, college affordability and STEM education and the H-1B visa program.
Bipartisan Policy Center: Improved information sharing on cyberthreats needed. In a report issued on July 19, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Cybersecurity Task Force called for Congress to “pass legislation that encourages industry to share information about cyber threats spotted on their computer networks with the government,” Hillicon Valley reported late last week. “The task force notes that privacy rights should be respected and Congress should be able to find a middle ground on the various privacy safeguards baked into each bill. The report lists the type of information that should be shared with the government, including malware threat signatures, malicious IP addresses and details about a cyber incident,” Hillicon Valley reported. The release of the report comes at a time when both Democrats and Republicans have fielded competing visions and bills related to cybersecurity.