Software & Information Industry Association spent $130,000 on lobbying in first quarter

Software trade group spent $130,000 to lobby in 1Q

WASHINGTON — The Software & Information Industry Association spent $130,000 in the first quarter to lobby the federal government on patent-law reform, copyright protections and other intellectual property matters, among other issues, according to a quarterly disclosure report.

That’s up from $110,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009 and in the first quarter of 2009.

The trade group also lobbied during the first three months of the year on several trade agreements, including the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which aims to crack down on counterfeiting, copyright violations and other intellectual property theft.

Other issues the group lobbied on included the national broadband plan released by the Federal Communications Commission in March, standards for targeted online advertising, H-1B visas and other immigration issues, according to the report filed with the House clerk’s office on April 20.

Members of the Software & Information Industry Association, which represents software and digital-content companies, include International Business Machines Corp., Symantec Corp., Saleforce.com and Adobe Systems Inc.

The group lobbied Congress, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Trade Representative and the Federal Communications Commission, among other government agencies.