Today, ACT | The App Association filed an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Google and arguing the verdict and permanent injunction should be vacated. The court’s judgment threatens not only the App Association’s small business app developer members but also the app economy more broadly and conflicts with today’s commercial realities where the small business developer community leverages app platforms like Google Play to compete and innovate.
“The district court’s judgment is at odds with market realities in fundamental ways and threatens the livelihood of small app developers and emerging technology businesses,” said Morgan Reed, president of the App Association. “Based on a process that did not adequately consider the impact on the vast number of small business developers who rely on platforms for instantaneous trust and seamless distribution, the judgment would make significant, and likely harmful, changes to the app ecosystem of countless small developers rely on to reach customers. App platforms play a critical role in ensuring that small app developers receive the benefit of competition between platforms and provide small firms with secure market access, consumer trust, developer autonomy, dispute resolution, and meaningful consumer analytics. These benefits have enabled the app economy to prosper and have transformed the economy. Plainly stated, the district court’s order threatens all of this.”
The small business innovator community, the App Association, represents calls on the Ninth Circuit Court to vacate the judgment and directs the district court to enter judgment for Google or to, at a minimum, vacate the permanent injunction and remand for further proceedings on remedies that would acknowledge and protect app developers’ rights. The App Association will continue to advocate for solutions that work for small businesses throughout the appeals process.
Read the full brief here.
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About ACT | The App Association & Members
The App Association is a global trade association for small and medium-sized technology companies. Our members are entrepreneurs, innovators, and independent developers within the global app ecosystem that engage with verticals across every industry. We work with and for our members to promote a policy environment that rewards and inspires innovation while providing resources that help them raise capital, create jobs, and continue to build incredible technology.