Scoop: Concern grows from Republicans about Arnold Ventures’s push to weaken intellectual property
"John Arnold is more of a sneaky character, because he occasionally throws money to Republicans. But it is all a front," we're told...
John Arnold’s recent appointment to Meta’s board is raising eyebrows on Capitol Hill, as Republicans describe billionaire Arnold as “an energy trading savant,” who “started out as a skeptic of big government, but now shells out tens of millions to keep it large and in charge,” a senior Republican staffer told the Washington Reporter.
While lawmakers like Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) said that Arnold’s addition to the board “should make every patriotic American nervous about Big Tech interfering in the 2024 presidential election, just like they did last cycle,” Arnold’s work to undermine American intellectual property has been increasingly noted in Congress.
A former senior House Judiciary Committee staffer told the Reporter that “Arnold is more of a sneaky character, because he occasionally throws money to Republicans. But it is all a front, he has pushed left-wing causes on criminal justice, intellectual property, and censorship. Conservatives are catching on to his tactics.” Arnold Ventures partnered with Facebook, bankrolling liberal groups that focus on “disinformation.”
Arnold Ventures has also repeatedly authored work, advocated to members of Congress, and funded causes aimed at weakening patents and intellectual property rights. Republican aides on Capitol Hill argue this will only harm American innovation, intellectual property, and more dangerously, weaken America’s competitiveness with China. Arnold has emerged in recent years as one of the newer liberal megadonors. “He wants to have the influence of George Soros,” a health care industry veteran said.
Republicans the Reporter spoke to worry that Arnold is undermining free enterprise and future innovation for American tech and drug companies. Arnold is the “Earth First! of anti-innovation,” a top Hill staffer noted.
This advocacy to weaken IP rights is likely to run into opposition from Republicans on the Hill. House Republicans in particular, led by Reps. Vern Buchanan (R., Fla.) and Young Kim (R., Calif.) have staunchly defended American intellectual property in recent years.
Kim’s Protecting American Innovation and Development (PAID) Act in particular is designed to “expose foreign adversaries illegally accessing American IP and to protect U.S. businesses’ competitiveness and our national security,” she said over the summer.
The push to protect American intellectual property has, at times, also proved to be bipartisan. Rep. Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, introduced the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act alongside Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.), over the summer; their bill would “address prescription drug costs borne by patients through amending the patent code and increasing competition in the market,” Issa’s office said at the time. Sources tell us to expect an increase in scrutiny from Republicans on Capitol Hill as Arnold continues to advocate for a Far-Left agenda on intellectual property and censorship.
