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Manus Cooney

Partner

ACG Advocacy

Manus Cooney serves as a Managing Partner of ACG Advocacy.  He brings to the table a distinguished public policy practice specializing in intellectual property, competition, and administration of justice policy matters. ACG’s clients will have the benefit of his expertise in strategic public policy planning, execution, and representation before federal agencies and Congress.

Prior to his career in client advocacy, Mr. Cooney served as Senior Vice President and Policy Counsel for the file-sharing company Napster, Inc. He was responsible for setting the company’s strategic course on public policy and product development issues. He served as the principal liaison to the White House, the Department of Justice, Congressional offices, industry leaders, and the media on key technology policy and product issues.

Mr. Cooney served with distinction on Capitol Hill for over a decade. From 1996-2000, Mr. Cooney served as Chief Counsel & Staff Director of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, where he was the principal legal and policy advisor to the Committee’s Chairman, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT). Mr. Cooney was primarily responsible for the development and stewardship of the Committee’s legislative, executive, and oversight agendas. The issues overseen by Mr. Cooney included: intellectual property law; Internet policy issues; judicial nominations; civil justice reform; and oversight of the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch.

Recent Articles by Manus Cooney

Washington Insiders Say Farewell to 2020 and Look Ahead to 2021

As we thankfully see 2020 fading into the rear-view mirror and all look forward to a hopefully much better 2021, we want to take a moment to reflect on what the past year brought us and how the stage is set for another very fluid and consequential year for intellectual property policy. In times like these, it is clear that leadership matters more than ever. During some of the most challenging times our country has faced, there were a number of places where we saw strong leadership result in tangible progress. This year has already shown us a dramatic first few days. Beyond the tragic events in the U.S. Capitol, we saw the somewhat unexpected shift of power in the Senate to Democratic control based on the election of both Rev. Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff in Georgia. It is clear that the new Congress and the new Biden Administration will face huge challenges before we approach anything close to “normal” in any sense. That said, when it comes to IP, what can we expect?

A Summary of the Goodlatte Patent Bill Discussion Draft

EDITOR’S NOTE: What follows is a summary of the Goodlatte patent bill created by American Continental Group, which is a government affairs and strategic consulting firm in Washington, DC. Manus Cooney, a former Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee is one of the partners at ACG, and is also frequent guest contributor on IPWatchdog.com. Cooney and his partners and associates worked to prepare this summary, which was described as a team effort. It is republished here with permission.