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Should Obama, McCain debate patent reform?

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Chris O'Brien in the San Jose Mercury News suggests a debate, in Silicon Valley, between the presidential candidates on issues including:

lifelong worker training, e-waste and patent reform

The text also notes:

Stanford University's Lawrence Lessig is a tech adviser for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. Cisco Systems Chief Executive John Chambers is advising Republican Sen. John McCain on tech, while former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is raising money for the Republican candidate..

IPBiz notes that if Cisco (home of the formerly anonymous "patent troll tracker" Rick Frenkel) is "advising" McCain and "Red guerilla leader" Lessig is advising Obama, then who is speaking for America's real inventors? This is really sad.

Other possible debate topics included:

? H-1B visa/immigration reform: Not a huge surprise. Besides patent reform, this seems to be the topic that elicits the most passion.
? Net neutrality: This was a popular one, with several folks worried that telecommunications companies might hinder the growth of an open Internet.
? Green/clean technology: This actually included a broad range of related issues, including tax credits, support for research and environmental policies that would encourage adoption of such products.

See also:

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2008/04/people-obama-relies-on.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/12/barack-obama-should-listen-to-inventors.html

Full post as published by IPBiz on June 23, 2008 (boomark / email).