Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Rep. Polis Announces Bill Named After Star Wars' Yoda

Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colorado), who represents the 2nd District of Colorado, along with Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), has introduced a new bill named after Yoda, the famous Jedi Master from Star Wars, which seeks to let the license for software to travel along with their physical devices--rather than being restricted to the original purchaser of that software. According to Farenthold and polis, the new You Own Devices Act (YODA) will modernize copyright law, allowing consumers to sell, lease, or give away a computer, as well as the licenses for essential software that allows the computer to operate. In an announcement written in the characteristic speech pattern of Star Wars' Yoda, "Improve copyright system, YODA bill would", Congressman Farenthold said "The YODA bill, today, I did file", with the two saying, "Last session, waylaid in committee YODA was." Polis is a veteran of Colorado's high tech community, having been one of the founders of Techstars, and having also founded such companies as American Information Systems, bluemountain.com and ProFlowers.com.