Business and Marketing

The new head of Congress's Intellectual Property subcommittee says he will seek a bipartisan bill to curb legal harassment of technological innovators.

California Rep. Darrell Issa

His tenure as chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform committee at an end, Rep. Darrell Issa (D-CA) will continue to be mired in marketing matters, being named the chair of the House Judiciary's Intellectual Property subcommittee. One of his chief missions will be dogging the “patent trolls” who stockpile process patents and threaten lawsuits against clients of many marketing services companies.

“My priorities include advancing a strong bipartisan bill to address abusive patent practices by patent trolls [who] harm our economy's real innovators and continuing needed oversight of the Patent & Trademark Office to ensure it is best prepared to address challenges for the 21st ^{century,” Issa said in a press release.}

^{Cameron Bellamy, president of GrayHair, a mail software provider that settled a suit with a so-called non-practicing entity last year, said Issa has his work cut out for him. “I welcome Congressman Issa's attention to the matter,” Bellamy said. “Though I consider GrayHair victorious over our patent troll, the threat still exists and leaves the mailing industry vulnerable unless stronger legislative protection is created.”}

^{Before joining Congress, Issa was CEO of Directed Electronics and served as chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association, host of the Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas this week.}

^{Business Breaking News: ASUS Transformer Book Chi T300 Hands-On: Is it Good for Business?}

^{Asus’s Transformer Book Chi T300 is an impressively slim hybrid laptop, but the lack of even a single full-size USB port makes it a questionable replacement for your current business notebook. The Chi T300, the largest of three new convertible devices in Asus’ Chi lineup, is a 12.5 inch Windows 8.1 tablet with a thin, fanless design, a slick aluminum build and a magnetic, snap-on keyboard. We went hands-on with it this week.}

^{Asus is billing the T300 as a MacBook Air killer, and it’s certainly true that the device is thinner and lighter than Apple’s Ultrabook, and with a higher resolution display to boot. But there’s more to a great business notebook than specs.}

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