The recent Lenovo v. InterDigital case is the latest high-profile standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing dispute heard by the UK courts. This case highlights how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are being disproportionately abused in SEP licensing negotiations. Initially, the UK High Court (the lower court) found that SMEs are often [...]
The increasing ubiquity of artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced uncertainties around the copyright protection of software developed through both open- and closed-source models. For small business software developers, like ACT | The App Association members, who both deploy and use AI, these uncertainties disproportionately harm the ability to create competitive [...]
Decades of standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing abuse led a cross-section of technology standards participants and their representatives, including the ACT | The App Association, to draft the CEN/CENLEC 95000 Workshop Agreement: Core Principles and Approaches for Licensing of Standard Essential Patents (CWA 95000). This detailed guide is a foundational document [...]
As the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) forges ahead with its Strategic Plan for 2022-2026, it has outlined the following proposed five central goals to realize its mission and vision of overseeing a fair and effective patent system: Promote innovation and global competitiveness; Promote efficient delivery of reliable intellectual [...]
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 [...]
