Apple's $720k for lobbying

Apple played heavily in the political arena in the first half of this year, spending $720,000 on lobbying the federal government. The Associated Press reports that the company lobbied Congress on legislation designed to update the U.S. patent system. "Trade groups for high-tech industries favor legislation that would help weed out bad patents by allowing companies to re-evaluate them after they are granted. The groups say this could help companies avoid financial burden of defending patents in lengthy court cases." Also advocated by Apple were bills that would increase funding for technology education and provide tax breaks for company spending on research and development. The lobbying expense was disclosed in a form filed Aug. 14 with the Senate's public records office. Apple filed several prominent patents in the past month, including one for a movable touchscreen interface, another for retractable notebook ports and yet another for ambient iPod/iPhone recording.

by MacNN Staff