American software companies, including local giants WordPerfect and Novell, may get help cutting through government red tape under a measure sponsored by Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah.
Orton authored two amendments to the Export Administration Act, which is wending its way through Congress. The first amendment would let American software companies sell their products overseas.Currently, the United States has export controls on software with encryption capabilities. Other software programs must go through an elaborate, time-consuming licensing process.
The second amendment would prevent the Commerce Department and Customs Service from seizing intellectual property rights (software copyrights and patents) as an enforcement action for violating export restrictions.