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Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | With Daniel Lippman GEL BLASTER STARTUP TAPS INVARIANT FOR PATENT FIGHT: An Austin-based manufacturer of increasingly popular — and controversial — “gel blaster” guns has enlisted the help of one of K Street’s biggest firms as it navigates legal and trade disputes with toy behemoth Hasbro. — Gel Blaster, which launched in 2020 selling its water bead-shooting “blasters,” sued Hasbro in federal court in Texas earlier this year, accusing the company of breaching confidentiality agreements and stealing trade secrets, after Hasbro initiated an investigation of the company by the International Trade Commission for alleged patent infringement. Last month, Gel Blaster retained a team of lobbyists from Invariant to help navigate that investigation, as well as plead its case elsewhere around Washington. — The news of the ITC probe “was so shocking, we legitimately thought it was a mistake,” Peyton Healey, Gel Blaster’s president and head of operations said in an interview. “We had to very quickly learn about what the ITC was and what it meant,” he added, accusing Hasbro of “using and abusing a government process in order to put a small company out of business.” — Gel Blaster alleges in its lawsuit that Hasbro initiated talks for a potential partnership that had progressed to the point of drawing up a confidentiality agreement so Gel Blaster could share details about its product with the toy giant. The startup also allowed Hasbro representatives to attend a meeting with a buyer from Walmart and to visit its manufacturer, according to the suit, the fundamentals of which Hasbro did not dispute in its initial response to the suit earlier this week. — The two companies also discussed a series of patents issued years earlier, striking up a deal contending that the companies had a “solid” legal strategy and would work together to defeat allegations of patent infringement if necessary, according to the lawsuit. Though the companies couldn’t come to an agreement on the financial terms of the deal, Gel Blaster says, they felt the split was amicable up until July. — That’s when Hasbro, which has now launched its own Nerf-branded gel blaster product, filed a complaint with the ITC, saying that it had become the exclusive licensee of the existing patents that Gel Blaster asserts both companies believed wouldn’t hold up in court. Hasbro is seeking cease and desist orders based on alleged patent infringement to block Gel Blaster from importing the components to make its blasters. — Hasbro did not respond to a request for comment, but in its court filing denied many of Gel Blaster’s allegations and countered with accusations that Gel Blaster has infringed on Hasbro trademarks to advertise its products in addition to infringing on its patents. — Gel Blaster’s Healey accused the toy giant of intentionally registering its complaint with the ITC with the awareness that for the process to move as quickly as possible, the commission cannot litigate counterclaims raised by the subjects of an investigation, unlike in a lawsuit alleging patent infringement. — He also argued that the ITC probe is “fundamentally” lopsided because of the proprietary information Gel Blaster provided as well as the joint legal strategy. “The issue is kind of in the delta between the patents, and then how they've gotten our legal roadmap, our information, all of that stuff,” Healey argued. “They shouldn't be able to be on both sides of the beat.” — In addition to helping Gel Blaster navigate the “foreignness” of the ITC process, Invariant’s Drew Griffin told PI the firm has been connecting Gel Blaster with offices on the Hill, “wanting Capitol Hill to understand this process and how it can be abused by large companies.” — Griffin wouldn’t share which offices the company had met with but said they’d spoken to members from both parties from the Texas delegation and with an interest in small business issues. “People are pretty outraged,” he said of the meetings. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today. | | | | | FIRST IN PI — AIRBNB, BLOCK, PAYPAL JOIN PUSH TO ROLL BACK NEW TAX RULES FOR ONLINE SELLERS: The coalition of online marketplaces urging lawmakers to scale back a new threshold triggering tax reporting requirements for sellers on their platforms has added several big names to its ranks. — Airbnb , collectibles marketplace Goldin and payment platforms Block and PayPal are joining the Coalition for 1099-K Fairness to press for changes to the requirements, which were slipped into President Joe Biden ’s Covid relief legislation last year to help offset its cost. The provision, which lowered the reporting threshold from $20,000 in sales through at least 200 transactions to $600 with no minimum number of transactions, is projected to generate $8.4 billion over the next decade. — But online marketplaces and other players in the gig economy have warned the new threshold could saddle casual sellers with burdensome tax paperwork or spook sellers from their platforms by asking for their Social Security number in order for companies to produce the 1099-K forms. — The coalition is getting lobbying help from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, including a former aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who is spearheading the effort to include changes to the threshold in any year-end tax deal or spending package. The coalition hasn’t coalesced around any one new threshold proposal, but has pointed to several bills that either increase it or revert it back to its original level. — Airbnb, Block and PayPal are the first members of the coalition who don’t operate marketplaces facilitating the sale of goods, though the two payment platforms facilitate transactions and Airbnb runs a marketplace of short-term rentals. The group’s founding members are eBay, Etsy, OfferUp, Poshmark, Mercari, Reverb and Tradesy. FCC PREPS BAN ON CHINESE TELECOM EQUIPMENT: “The Federal Communications Commission plans to ban all sales of new Huawei and ZTE telecommunications devices in the U.S. — as well as some sales of video surveillance equipment from three other Chinese firms — out of national security concerns,” Axios’ Margaret Harding McGill, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Jonathan Swan report. — “The move, which marks the first time the FCC has banned electronics equipment on national security grounds, closes a vise on the two Chinese companies that began tightening during the Trump administration.” — The commission is also expected to “determine the scope of a ban on sales of video surveillance equipment used for public safety. This would affect the Chinese companies Hytera Communications Corporation, Hikvision and Dahua Technology Company, the sources told Axios.” The ban would not be retroactive, however. — Still, it’s an escalation of a crackdown the Chinese firms have spent heavily in recent years to head off. Huawei’s annual lobbying expenditures soared from $165,000 in 2018 to nearly $3 million the next year. After plummeting in 2020, Huawei dropped a new record of $3.6 million last year, including $1 million over two quarters to Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta. Through the end of September, Huawei has spent $2.4 million on lobbying, disclosures show. The company also paid the PR firm Ruder Finn $240,000 through the first six months of this year, according to FARA filings. — ZTE’s spending has drooped in recent years after approaching $4 million in both 2018 and 2019, as the company wormed its way out of a ban on doing business with American companies. The company has spent only $660,000 on lobbying through the first half of this year. Hikvision, whose team of lobbyists and PR professionals are registered through both the LDA and FARA and includes former Sen. David Vitter, has so far spent more than $3.7 million on influence efforts through the first half of this year, according to DOJ filings and lobbying disclosures. RETAILERS GET MIXED RESULTS IN SENATE DEFENSE BILL: The Senate’s version of annual defense policy legislation unveiled this week does not include an amendment targeting the interchange fees charged to merchants to run credit card transactions, but the measure does incorporate anti-counterfeits legislation backed by a slew of competing interest groups. — Banking and credit union groups cheered the exclusion of the bill from Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) along with a companion amendment that would require a report on surcharge fees for using credit or debit cards at military commissaries to cover the cost of so-called swipe fees. But Durbin’s office has pledged to continue pushing for a vote, and financial trades are not taking their foot off the gas. — The Consumer Bankers Association , which represents retail banks, has been meeting with senators to oppose the card routing bill, it said in a release Wednesday. The trade group said it will continue to press its case to make sure the provision isn’t slipped into lawmakers’ lame duck spending package. — “Because of the tireless efforts of NAFCU, our member credit unions and our trade association coalition partners, we were able to keep the harmful Credit Card Competition Act and the interchange issue out of” the NDAA, Dan Berger, the president and CEO of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions said in a statement earlier this week. — “This is a big win for credit unions, but we need to continue the fight to make sure lawmakers fully comprehend the damage this bill would have on the financial services industry and American consumers,” he added, vowing “to keep fighting this issue on behalf of credit unions and consumers.” SPOTTED at a fundraiser on Wednesday for Missouri congressional candidate Mark Alford, who is running to succeed Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), hosted by St. Louis area-based government affairs shop Strategic Capitol Consulting, per a tipster: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Ann Wagner and Ray Wagner, Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) and Ron Estes (R-Kan.), Kit Bond and Kenny Hulshof of KBS Group, Linda Bond, Missouri House Speaker-Designee Dean Plocher, and more than two dozen clients of the firm.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | | — Karen Bailey-Chapman has joined the Specialty Equipment Market Association to lead its D.C. office as senior vice president for public and government affairs. She most recently served as senior vice president of external affairs for American Beverage Association. — Irene Plenefisch has been promoted to be senior director for government affairs at Microsoft. — Eva Bandola has been promoted to a senior vice president at CGCN Group. She was most recently vice president. — Les Greer is retiring after serving nearly 12 years as senior vice president of benefit operations and technology at NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association. Melissa Drennan, NTCA vice president of benefits operations, will take Greer’s place. — Jim Bugel is the new president of AT&T’s FirstNet. He was previously vice president. — Alec Bickerstaff is joining Wunderman Thompson Health as a senior engagement strategist. He previously was senior research analyst at HarrisX and is a Targeted Victory alum.
| | | Republican Senate Victory 2022 (Sens. Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Marco Rubio, John Thune, Bluegrass Committee, Commonsense, Conservative Values PAC, Reclaim America PAC)
SOUTH GEORGIA VICTORY COMMITTEE (Rep. Drew Ferguson, Chris West for Congress, Inc., Great America Committee, Wells PAC)
| | | Committee For United America (Super PAC)
Democracy Defense Fund (DDF) (Super PAC)
Foundations PAC (PAC)
Professional Firefighters for Arizona (Super PAC)
Vote elliott (Super PAC)
| | New Lobbying Registrations | | Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Fortescue Future Industries Pty Ltd
Banner Public Affairs, LLC: Glenroy, Inc.
Boundary Stone Partners: Pixxel
Capitol Counsel LLC: Nara Organics, Inc.
Daniel Consulting: Fora Partners On Behalf Of Westmet Holdings
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Blackrock, Inc.
Mcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): Chester County Wastewater Recovery
Nossaman LLP: Neuroflow
Pacific Partners: American Association Of Consumer Credit Professionals
Scott Cullinane: Razom, Inc.
Strategic Health Care: Donor Network West
Strategic Health Care: Healthlinx
Strategic Health Care: Our Legacy Florida
Strategic Health Care: Paragonix Technologies
Strategic Health Care: Southwest Transplant Allliance
The Coffee Grind, Inc.: The Coffee Grind, Inc.
Waypoint Consulting, LLC: New Dawn Labs LLC
Waypoint Strategies LLC: American Horse Council
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Akerman LLP: Portals Hotel Site, LLC
Covington & Burling LLP: Ventec Life Systems, Inc.
David Turch & Assoc.: Willmar Municipal Utilities
Forza Dc Strategies, LLC: Textron Inc.
Holland & Knight LLP: Arizona College Of Nursing
Holland & Knight LLP: Atrius Health, Inc.
Holland & Knight LLP: Clark Street Associates On Behalf Of Qorvo, Inc.
Holland & Knight LLP: Hess Corporation
Holland & Knight LLP: Neste US, Inc.
National Group, LLP: Loyola University Of Chicago
Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman & Matz, Pc: Ga Food Service, Inc.
Prasam: St Engineering North America Inc.
Squire Patton Boggs: Trojan Technologies
Upstream Consulting: Arizona State University
Wynne Health Group: Cohere Health | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
