Symantec CEO departs; ACCC's NBN report; PC demands IP reform

Michael Brown will step down as president and CEO of Symantec, the company has revealed. Brown will continue on as CEO and as a director of the company until his replacement has been appointed.

The company’s board of directors has formed a search committee to oversee the selection of the next CEO.

Ajei Gopal is joining the company as interim president and chief operating officer. Gopal has held positions at Silver Lake, HP Software and CA Technologies. He also previously held the positions of chief technology officer and executive vice president at Symantec.

In a statement, the company said its board has created an Office of the President to “facilitate a continued focus on the company’s strategic priorities throughout the CEO search and transition”.

Company Chairman Daniel Schulman said: “The formation of the Office of the President will allow Symantec’s management team to focus on product development and operational excellence while the CEO search is underway. In addition, the team will continue implementing strategic cost-efficiency measures to deliver on our goal of reducing costs by [US]$400 million over the next two years.”

This newly created office is expected to remain in place until a new CEO has joined the company.

The announcement of Brown’s departure came on the same day that Symantec updated its fiscal fourth quarter guidance. The company said it is now expecting revenue of US$873 million, down from previous guidance of US$885 to US$915 million.

“A shift in enterprise security customer buying preferences is resulting in less license revenue during the quarter and more revenue being deferred to future periods. This included a faster-than-expected shift within our product mix to subscription and ratable contract structures,” the company said.

ACCC’s NBN wholesale report

The ACCC has released its first quarterly report on National Broadband Network (NBN) wholesale market indicators. This first report covers the period ending 31 March 2016.

The quarterly reports will provide details on the size and structure of emerging NBN wholesale access markets, the ACCC explained.

According to this first report, as at 31 March 2016, Telstra was acquiring the most NBN wholesale access services on a national basis.

The TPG group was acquiring the most higher speed NBN wholesale access services (defined as 50 Mbps and higher), followed by Telstra and Singtel Optus.

The report is available as an Excel spreadsheet on the ACCC website.

The next report is due to be published in late July 2016.

Intellectual property reform

The Productivity Commission has recommended that Australia make broad reforms to its intellectual property system, identifying patents and copyright as areas requiring change.

The recommendations came alongside the release of the commission’s draft report on intellectual property arrangements. The commission is in the middle of a public inquiry into Australia’s IP system, and the release of the draft report is a part of that inquiry process.

“Action must be taken to rebalance Australia’s intellectual property (IP) arrangements,” the commission said. “Australia’s system has swung too far in favour of vocal rights holders and influential IP exporting nations.”

Commissioner Jonathan Coppel said that Australian’s patent system is “poorly targeted”.

“Some patented inventions border on trivial and protection can last too long. For pharmaceuticals alone, excessive protection costs the Australian Government, taxpayers and consumers over a quarter of a billion dollars each year,” Coppel said.

The commission also identified copyright as an area requiring reform.

“Surveys reveal much online copyright infringement is out of sheer frustration from poor access. The best antidote to copyright infringement is accessible and competitively priced online content, not draconian penalties and Big Brother enforcement,” Commissioner Karen Chester said.

“Rights holders and their intermediaries need to do more to deliver timely and accessible content. The government should also make clear that Australians should be able to circumvent geoblocking technology,” Chester said.

The draft report is available as a PDF or a Word document at the Productivity Commission website.

The commission is asking for comment on the draft report. Submissions are due by 3 June 2016.

A final inquiry report is expected to be handed to the Australian Government in August this yea, and published by the commission sometime thereafter.

Pictured: Outgoing Symantec CEO Michael Brown.