Association for competitive technology
[ Microsoft ]
Washington based lobbying association which works for Microsoft. Via the EU ruling against Microsoft they also joined the EU Microsoft lobbying family. ACT often unsuccessfully applies US lobbying strategies to the EU institutions. Their lobbying in favour of software patents is insubstancial and based on the belief that Microsoft needs patents.
ACT describes itself as a Small business Association with over 3000 members.
2004: Open Standards, Patents, Open Source (pdf), starts: Although the recent outcry from the open source community argues otherwise, standards organizations have a long history of incorporating patented technology into standards. To facilitate wide-spread adoption of open standards while protecting the rights of individual patent holders and encouraging industry participation in standards efforts, standards organizations ask that contributors license their essential patents on reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) terms.
Lobbyists
- Morgan Reed (quit?)
