Apple has spent around $1.8 million on lobbying the federal government through the third quarter of 2011, figures filed with the U.S. House of Representatives' clerk's office show. While third-quarter spending, at $460,000, was down significantly (42 percent) from the $790,000 it spent in the second quarter, it is up 35 percent from the year-ago third quarter of 2010.
Comcast has announced that it has hired Meredith Attwell Baker, an FCC Commissioner. The Republican Commissioner will join the cable provider as Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for NBC Universal, a leadership position in the company's Washington DC-based lobbying division. The move has raised eyebrows, considering the Commissioners recent role in approving Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal.
During the second quarter of 2008, Apple reportedly spend $450,000 on lobbying within the federal government, under a broad spectrum of interests in energy conservation, education, and intellectual property rights. Forbes writes that a disclosure form – which Apple filed July 21st – shows Apple dividing the aforementioned figure among patent reforms, consumer product safety, No Child Left Behind, and energy efficiency, as well as initiatives to quash spyware.
