SIIA’s TechChats provides a look into some of the most successful executives in our industry. Hear how many of them got to where they are today, what is shaping their businesses and the industry today, and special advice they would give to others trying to grow a successful company.

Menendez Wants FCC to Clarify Set-Top Box Plan’s Copyright Protections (Morning Consult Tech) Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to address concerns that third-party companies will not be able to abide by contracts which govern content, advertising, and channel placing when they enter the cable marketplace.  The proposal to open set-top box markets for third-party manufacturers was passed in February and has since been the cause of many copyright and privacy concerns.

Senate Easily Passes Trade Secrets Bill (The Hill) On Monday, the Senate passed  the Defend Trade Secrets Act on a 87-0 vote which would provide damages for U.S. companies affected by IP theft. Coalition of Artists, Music Groups Call for US Congress to Reform Digital Millenium Copyright Act (Tech Times) The Recording Industry Association of America is asking Congress to reform the DMCA. RIAA is claiming that parts of the law are “obsolete, dysfunctional, and harmful.” $85 million patent verdict, largest ever against Google, Wiped Out on Appeal (Ars Technica) An East Texas jury ordered Google to pay $85 million to a patent troll company called SimpleAir.  Since then, a panel of three judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal circuit held that Google did not actually infringe. ACA Seeks Help with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Broadcasting & Cable) The American Cable Association filed comments with the Copyright Office regarding DMCA sa ...

Sharing Knowledge for a Price (New York Times) SIIA was featured in a spotlight of letters to the editor regarding free access to research journals papers.  The letter was in response to an article that ran in the Times titled, “Should All Research Papers Be Free?” Judge Delays Latest Apple v. Samsung Patent Trial (San Jose Mercury News) On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh decided to postpone a retrial on damages questions in the infamous 2012 Apple v. Samsung patent case. New York Senator Proposes Tax Credit for Open-Source Developers (The Register) A New York Senate Bill would allow open-source programmers to reclaim twenty percent of the out-of-pocket cost of building and sharing open-source code.  However, the rebate only allows for a maximum annual benefit of $200 per person. Reps. Renew Effort to Troll for ‘Patent Trolls’ (Broadcasting & Cable) Reps. Tony Cardenas and Blake Farenthold introduced a bipartisan bill called the ...

U.S. Top Court Mulls Boosted Patent Damages in Stryker, Halo Cases (Reuters) The U.S. Supreme Court showed that they may be willing to relax the standard held by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit where to be awarded damages in a patent suit, the patent owner “must prove a defendant acted despite a high likelihood of infringement and had no reasonable explanation to do so.”

Soon You Might Be Able to Vote on Google (Time) Google was awarded a patent that would allow it to build a voting interface that would accompany search results.  This voting feature could be used for entertainment shows, polls, elections, contests, and marketing, but only to “authenticated” users.

Apple Tells Supreme Court it Shouldn’t Bother Hearing Samsung’s Appeal (Re/Code) Apple filed arguments to the Supreme Court yesterday telling them that there is no reason for it to take up Samsung’s appeal in its seemingly endless patent dispute with Samsung.  Google and Facebook also filed arguments on the side of Samsung encouraging the Supreme Court to hear the appeal. Wall Street is Trying to Beat Silicon Valley at Its Own Game (Bloomberg BNA) Banks and Payments companies were awarded 1,192 patents over the past three years, a 36 percent increase over the previous three year period.  Financial institutions have been seeking to patent technologies related to financial services. Nvidia Wins Trial Brought by Samsung over Memory-Chip Patent (eWeek) Nvidia won a patent trial from Samsung over memory chip technology.  The complaint was filed in November 2014 as retaliation against Nvidia for an earlier suit Nvidia filed against Samsung regarding ...

Jury: Apple must pay $626 million to patent troll VirnetX (Ars Technica) Apple lost a $626 million suit against the patent troll VirnetX where it was found that Apple infringed upon every single patent claim at hand. U.S. Investigates Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen for Patent Infringement (Computerworld) The U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating charges of patent infringement by Advanced Silicon Technologies that several car companies infringe on its patents related to car infotainment systems. Arista Just Lost a Patent Round Against Cisco and Could Face an Import Ban (PC World) The U.S. International Trade Commission found that Arista Networks violated three Cisco patents on networking technologies.  This win could block the importation of Arista products into the United States. Nokia Patent Sales Forecast from Samsung Deal Hits Shares (Reuters) Nokia’s shares fell by more than 10% after it settled a patent dispute with Samsung.  This comes after N ...

Senate Judiciary Committee Votes in Favor of Passage of an Amended Defend Trade Secrets Act (Lexology) On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the passage of an amended version of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016.