‘Lobbying for the Future’ Aims to Protect Innovation for Companies Yet to Exist

WASHINGTON, September 14, 2015 – The pro-innovation advocacy organization Lincoln Labs on Monday introduced a report, “Lobbying for the Future,” which is aiming to promote policies that will benefit the companies not yet in existence.

The report, co-authored by Derek Khanna, Aaron Ginn, Garrett Johnson, and Chris Adams, identifies these problems with with our existing legal and lobbying system:

1. Established interests protecting their turf by creating barriers to entry;
2. “Resting on our laurels” effect (a lack of hunger to grow); and,
3. Sunk cost of previous government programs or industries that are either ineffective or out of date.

The report proposes a three-fold solution:

1. Identify how to open the $6.2 trillion government sector to competition through technology, consulting-style management and competitive bidding.

2. Address how to reform the primary way the government regulates innovation, which is through patent and copyright laws, by presenting specific reform proposals consistent with the Constitution. Copyright reforms include shortening copyright terms, revising statutory damages and fair use laws, and fixing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act now in desperate need of revision. The patent system needs major reforms to drain the swamp of low-quality patents that are stifling economic growth and creating perverse incentives for the private sector. The goal should be to encourage innovation, not trolling.

3. Provide a novel proposal to systematically remove old and outdated laws and regulations stifling competition and innovation. Our “Right to Work 2.0” approach will restore economic liberty, which would open numerous sectors of the economy to dynamic competition. This proposal would eliminate the vast majority of outdated rules and regulations and would be one of the most significant changes in economic policy since President Reagan cut taxes from 70% to 28%