Reed Elsevier 1Q lobbying reached $790,000

The U.S. unit of Reed Elsevier Group PLC spent $790,000 in the first quarter to lobby on data security, privacy and other issues, according to a disclosure report.

The company, an educational publisher and the owner of the LexisNexis information service, also lobbied the U.S. federal government on patent reform legislation, Internet crime and spyware issues, identity authentication, various homeland security matters, public access to the National Institutes of Health and more.

Reed Elsevier, which maintains headquarters in London and the Netherlands, also lobbied on issues related to its $3.6 billion acquisition of ChoicePoint Inc., which collects, sells access to and analyzes the personal information of consumers. The acquisition is subject to approval from ChoicePoint shareholders and regulators, and is expected to close this summer.

In the January-to-March period, the company lobbied Congress, NIH and the Health and Human Services Department, according to the report filed April 17 with the House clerk's office.