Patent Reform Proponents Drop Public Affairs Firm
The Coalition for Patent Fairness, whose corporate members include Apple, Cisco Systems, Google, Microsoft and Time Warner, has parted ways with its public affairs firm Chlopak Leonard Schechter and Associates after two years. Patent Fairness lobbyists Steve Elmendorf and Mark Isakowitz told CongressDaily last week they are optimistic that a bill their members can support will advance in 2009. It is unclear who will do their flacking in the new year. Read more on that topic here.
The group is a proponent of sweeping changes to the U.S. patent system and championed legislation sponsored in the 110th Congress by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who chaired the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. The Senate bill almost reached the floor in the spring but fizzled after talks with Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter failed. The House passed its version in 2007.
Update: A source tells us that the coalition has hired Michael Meehan and David DiMartino of BGR Public Relations. Meehan previously served as chief of staff for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and DiMartino was deputy chief of staff for Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
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