For our thirty-third #StartupsEverywhere feature we chatted with David Bradbury, the President of the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET) in Burlington, VT.
Panel Round-Up: Design Patents and Defining the Article of Manufacture
The panel discussion, “Design Patents and Defining the Article of Manufacture – One Year Later,” was moderated by Julie Samuels, President of the Board at Engine Advocacy and Executive Director at Tech:NYC. The expert panel also featured Charles Duan, Senior Fellow and Associate Director of Tech and Innovation Policy at R Street Institute; G. Nagesh Rao, a 2016 USA Eisenhower Fellow and former Patent Examiner and Senior Policy Advisor at the USPTO; and Matthew Levy, former Patent Counsel at the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA).
Startup News Digest 2/9/2018
This week a bipartisan, bicameral coalition of lawmakers unveiled a bill that could make it easier for Internet companies to comply with varying, and often conflicting, international rules over government requests for user data. The bill—the Clarifying Overseas Use of Data, or CLOUD, Act—is aimed at boosting international cooperation and helping the U.S. government enter into bilateral agreements governing cross-border requests for data.
#StartupsEverywhere: Mike Freeman (Fort Collins, CO)
Startup News Digest 2/2/2018
#StartupsEverywhere: Jordan Davis (Columbus, OH)
Engine Statement on Reports of 5G Nationalization Proposal
Startup News Digest 1/26/2018
The startup voice calling for strong net neutrality protections is louder than ever, as our new startup map—featuring stories from startups who depend on net neutrality protections—shows.
#StartupsEverywhere: Carl Erickson and Jennifer Wolbers (Grand Rapids, MI)
Startup News Digest 1/19/2018
The Senate passed a bill on Thursday that renews a controversial online government surveillance power. With a vote of 65-34, the bill is now headed to President Donald Trump’s desk.
Reflecting on Diversity in Tech on MLK Day
Today, as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most ardent advocates for the advancement and equality of African Americans in history, we should reflect on the continuing injustice in our socioeconomic system and contemplate how we can more effectively work to close the racial entrepreneurship gap.
Startup News Digest 1/12/2018
The House voted 256-164 this week to approve a bill that expands and extends online spying under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill, which already has formal support from the White House and is now headed to the Senate, continues surveillance program that could harm U.S. companies' reputation abroad, which will disproportionately affect startups that rely on streamlined international agreements for legally processing and storing foreigners’ data.
Engine Statement on Senate Measure to Oppose Net Neutrality Repeal
Startup News Digest 1/5/2018
At the end of last year, the FCC approved a plan from Republican Chairman Ajit Pai that repealed the agency’s 2015 net neutrality rules, which kept ISPs from blocking or slowing access to certain websites and online services. The repeal is a blow to many, especially startups who aren’t able to afford to compete with established companies and pay ISPs for better access to users. Now that the FCC has voted and published the order, it’s up to the courts and Congress to reestablish net neutrality protections.
2017 Year in Review: Intermediary Liability
In the span of a few short decades, the Internet has quickly become the greatest medium for public engagement in the history of the world. The participatory nature of Web 2.0 is a direct product of policy decisions made in the Internet’s infancy to refrain from holding websites legally responsible for the actions and speech of users that they cannot fully control.
2017 Year in Review: Patents
While patent trolls remain a problem, in 2017, startups started to see some relief from nefarious patent litigation. The decrease in patent litigation abuse stems largely from meaningful Supreme Court rulings and the continued implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
2017 Year in Review: Privacy & Security
Privacy and security debates continued to unfold in 2017. While we saw the extension of fights from previous years—including efforts to require a warrant to access user data on the Hill and an administration pushing for backdoors into encrypted products and services—policymakers and the courts were forced to grapple with questions raised by new events, court developments, and deadlines.
Startup News Digest 12/22/2017
Congress averts funding, and spying, shutdown. Late Thursday, Congress passed a bill to fund the government through January 19, averting a government shutdown this week.
2017 Year in Review: Telecom
2017 Year in Review: Immigration Reform
The debate over immigration policy intensified in 2017 as the new administration issued several executive orders aimed at curbing the flow of immigrants to the United States. Engine led the charge in pushing back against many of these measures, including a letter signed by over 200 startups opposing the Administration’s Executive Order banning citizens from seven countries. Skilled immigrants, especially those admitted under the H-1B program, bolster the country’s capacity for innovation and provide immense benefit to its economy at large. What’s more, foreign talent has fueled America’s thriving culture of entrepreneurialism and played a central role in making our country the leader in technology startups.
