Public Policy and Lobbying

Patton Boggs’ TechComm group, which continues to grow, has been a centerpiece of what is widely regarded as the leading public policy and lobbying practice in the United States. For 25 years, Patton Boggs’ attorneys have been deeply involved in every major communications policy issue before Congress and the FCC, starting in the 1980’s and early 1990’s with the emergence of subscription television, the break-up of AT&T, and the arrival of commercial satellite service, cellular telephone, and PCS technology.

The firm also was actively involved in the Congressional debates that produced the Cable Act of 1992, the Satellite Home Viewers Act of 1988, and the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“the Telecom Act”), as well as the development and application of the extensive FCC and state regulations implementing that law.

More recently, we were substantially involved in many parts of the battles in 2005 and 2006 over the Congressional effort to rewrite the Telecom Act.  We  continue to work with companies and legislators on issues as Congress further considers revisions to the Telecom Act and other legislative initiatives in the communications area, including legislation to promote municipal broadband deployment, regulatory treatment of IP-enabled services, reform of the Universal Service Fund, national cable franchising, data privacy, and protection of sensitive personal information.

Our legislative efforts go beyond TechComm legislation to more broadly advance the interests of our clients in this industry. For example, we are engaged in ongoing legislative efforts to reform the patent process to improve the quality of patents, to reduce the power of so-called “patent trolls,” and to provide potential defendants with broader judicial protections in bringing products to market. In addition, we are deeply involved in the effort to achieve enactment of copyright reform legislation that would shield consumer electronics and information technology companies from crippling statutory damages and to provide them with more legal protection in designing, manufacturing, and distributing innovative new products.