Why Has the U.S. Trade Representative Stopped Supporting Small Business Digital Trade?
While the global digital economy holds great promise for ACT | The App Association member companies, our members face a diverse array of challenges when entering or operating in new markets. These take the form of laws, regulations, policies, or practices that are often put into place to protect domestic goods and services from foreign competition, artificially stimulate exports of particular domestic goods and services, or fail to provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights. While they [...]
Event Recap: Section 1201 and Consumer Right to Repair
On March 6, 2024, ACT | The App Association led a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss the dissonance between Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and recent arguments to enable broad rights to repair consumer devices. We were joined by experts Devlin Hartline, Legal Fellow, Hudson Institute; Debbie Rose, IP Fellow, ACT | The App Association; and Kevin Madigan, VP, Legal Policy and Copyright Counsel, the Copyright Alliance. Our expert panelists outlined for the audience why [...]
Issue Brief: DoJ’s Lawsuit Against Apple Puts Big Company Complaints Over Small Biz Interests
On March 21, the Department of Justice (DoJ) joined 16 state attorneys general to sue Apple for monopolization of the “performance smartphone” (or if the court doesn’t buy that, the “smartphone”) market. The complaint includes five counts of alleged monopolization that superficially appeal to consumer welfare, the current legal standard. In this regard, DoJ appears chastened by Epic Games’ resounding loss in the 9th Circuit, seemingly resigned to the notion that the most distant stars are out of reach. However, [...]
Statement from ACT President Morgan Reed on the the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024
WASHINGTON - ACT | The App Association today released the following statement after Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers released the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024. “The App Association’s members have been calling for a federal privacy law for years, and we welcome this effort to prioritize a federal privacy framework. We are analyzing this new proposal against our long-standing principles, which require careful balance on each priority: strong [...]
Lights, Camera, ACTion: Member Company Vēmos Before Congress
A few weeks ago, the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations on the House Committee on Small Businesses led a hearing titled “Navigating Regulations: Alternative Pathways to Investing in Small Businesses.” The hearing examined how preexisting and forthcoming government regulations affect small businesses' access to capital. One of the witnesses at the hearing was Parag Shah, founder of ACT | The App Association member company Vēmos. Behind the Testimony In his testimony, Parag highlighted the relationship between regulation and access [...]
App Association blasts USTR’s 2024 NTE report
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Mar 29, 2024 Contact: [email protected] WASHINGTON - ACT | The App Association President Morgan Reed released the following statement after the Office of the United States Trade Representative released the 2024 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE Report), which failed to properly call out trade barriers that hurt American small businesses from competing fairly. “For years, USTR rightly called out foreign trade barriers that harmed the ability of small businesses in the digital economy [...]