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NEWS FEED
The Innovation Act Passes the House
Engine Advocacy, and our nationwide network of startups, entrepreneurs, investors and allies, welcome this action taken by the House as yet another step in neutralizing the threat of patent trolls and the daily harm they cause to our economy. We commend leaders from both sides of the aisle including House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) among others in moving this bipartisan legislation through committee, onto the floor and ultimately working to ensure a sweeping majority in favor.
Make a Call to Support Patent Reform and The Innovation Act
This Thursday, the House of Representatives will vote on the Innovation Act -- the best bill yet that aims to remedy the growing patent trolling problem. We cannot wait to enact meaningful patent reform, and this is our opportunity. We need you to call your Congressional Representative to urge a yes vote on this bill.
Innovation Act Passed By House Judiciary Committee
Engine congratulates the House Judiciary Committee on passing H.R. 3309, the Innovation Act for patent reform, on Wednesday. We're also honored to have been given a shout out during the proceedings. Check out the video to take a look.
Startups Speak: We’re Changing the Narrative of the Patent Troll Story
If you’ve been following the patent troll epidemic in the news at all, you’ve probably also heard of the company I work for. Six months ago, I started working at FindTheBest. Two days after I started, we were served with our first demand letter from Lumen View Technology LLC. The next A day, Lumen View Technology filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
American Inventors and Patent Holders Call for Patent Reform
As a diverse group of engineers, the signatories have contributed to the development of the internet alongside the creation and improvement of well-known household technologies. Together, they acknowledge the need to reform the current patent system to prevent abuse by non-practicing patent trolls.
What Startups Should Know About TPP
In the name of “individual rights and free expression,” WikiLeaks has released the draft text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Negotiations over this trade agreement began in secret between 12 Pacific Rim countries in December 2012, and despite the secrecy, we know (from a previous leak) that discussions have covered intellectual property, competition and State-owned enterprises, environmental policy, services and investment, and government procurement, among other issues. But how will this impact startups?
Investors Sign Letter Urging Patent Reform
Today, 39 prominent venture capitalists sent a letter to Congress urging comprehensive legislation to address the patent troll problem. Together, the signatories have aided the success of companies such as Netflix, Twitter, and Kickstarter, and they invest upwards of $1 billion annually to ensure that even more young, high-tech companies continue to grow and fuel job creation in the United States.
US, Especially Tech, Should Show Leadership on Gender Equality
America's low ranking is alarming, especially given the US's assumed dominance in the global political economy and its role as a cross-border cultural arbiter. When you consider that the domestic technology industry is a major exporter of inventions and ideas, the concern over this country’s poor performance on gender equality should become only more acute.
Startups Speak: Democracy Requires a Right to Privacy
To date I have been operating on a rather simple premise. If democracy equals freedom and freedom equals privacy then - by the transitive property of mathematics - democracy and privacy must be intricately linked. Like all constitutional queries, the discussions we are having about privacy - and those yet to be had - are centered around a single question: what kind of country do we want to live in?
Solving Real Problems With The Internet
We use the internet every day to work, read, watch and play. But for residents of low-income neighborhoods, internet access can be useful for more than solving “first world problems”. It can mean a plan during disasters, better health, safer streets, a stronger community, and economic opportunity. The Red Hook Initiative is helping one community in Brooklyn turn things around.
New Bill Targets Patent Trolls Stunting Economic Growth
Entrepreneurs, young businesses, and emerging, high-growth technologies are powering what resurgence there is in the American economy. But these businesses are subject to an arcane, onerous system of patent regulation that leaves them vulnerable, and that vulnerability is abused by patent assertion entities and their allies to leverage that system against innovators. With this reality, we are faced with two options: a broken system, or the chance of a reformed system that champions innovation and growth.
California Rights Course on Small Business Tax
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a new law that amounts to a big victory for startups and their investors. Assembly Bill No. 1412 reverses a 2012 adjustment that would have resulted in massive retroactive taxes on investors and small business owners. Engine’s estimate on the new rule's impact on startups empowered advocates looking to overturn the adjustment with a data-rich perspective on future investment, business, and employment growth.
Obamacare Could Boost Entrepreneurship
Here’s what we know about the Affordable Care Act: 32 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured will now have coverage. What you might not know is that Obamacare could also boost entrepreneurship by decoupling healthcare from employment. The pressure to be employed by a larger company is loosening as the Affordable Care Act makes it easier and less expensive to purchase individual coverage.
Immigration Reform Can Reinvigorate the Economy
Despite the current government shutdown, the march towards immigration reform is continuing. Last week, House Democrats released a comprehensive reform bill, and House Republicans too are working on solutions behind the scenes.Amidst signs of poor economic performance that will only get worse with the current shutdown and looming debt-ceiling debates, a comprehensive solution to immigration reform makes economic sense.
E-Rate Reform is Essential to Educational Equality
Schools and libraries need high-speed broadband connections to take advantage of new learning technologies that promise better educational experiences and outcomes, and expanded opportunities for students and communities, regardless of socio-economic standing, or ability to pay.
What Does the FTC Study of Patent Trolls Mean?
On Friday afternoon, the Federal Trade Commission announced its intention to launch a study of Patent Assertion Entities, commonly referred to as “patent trolls.” While a host of interesting research on the patent system has surfaced over the summer, the FTC’s involvement could lead to the evaluation of brand new information that will aid legislative efforts.
Surely We Can Find a Better Use For $83 Billion
A new study from the Progressive Policy Institute puts the economic cost of patent trolls at $83 billion. Patent trolls are capitalizing on a system which, as currently constituted, does not adequately service our growing economy. It is a system within our power to reconstruct, and while that work is underway, we need this community to continue to support those efforts to bring them to fruition.
What Techies Should Know About A Government Shutdown
For the first time in seventeen years, we’re staring down the barrel of an imminent government shutdown. Here's what you need to know about what the shutdown is, and how it will impact the tech economy.
California Law Lets Minors Erase Online ‘Overshares’
This week, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that aims to protect the online privacy of minors in California by fashioning a right to erase content posted on the internet. The new law is specifically designed to protect "the teenager who says something on the Internet that they regret five minutes later," but it also leads to questions about broader online privacy issues.