Recent Supreme Court Decisions Highlight the Need for Fee Shifting Legislation
While the law allows courts to grant attorney fees to the winning party in a patent infringement case, many federal courts have opted not to award those fees. Courts have interpreted the standard for awarding fees, "exceptional circumstances" (35 U.S.C. §285), so high few, if any, cases have been able to meet it. On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in two very important patent cases: Octane Fitness LLC v. Icon Health and Fitness, Inc. (No. 12-1184) and Highmark Inc. v. Allcare [...]
#ThrowBackThursday ACT Staff Edition
2014 brings a major milestone in tech. No, it’s not the year of the selfie (that was 2013) or the Year of the Dragon (actually, the Year of the Horse). We are celebrating the 25th birthday of the World Wide Web. In honor of that major milestone, we thought we’d give you a glimpse of what ACT’s staff was doing 25 years ago on this “Throwback Thursday” or #tbt. Prepare yourselves for some 1989 greatness. Fun Fact: 25 years ago [...]
50 Software Executives Come to Washington to Talk Patents, Privacy, and Internet Governance
ACT | The App Association today brings 50 software companies from across the country to the nation's capital for its annual Washington Fly In. On Monday, participants will attend the ACT Conference on the Mobile Economy. On Tuesday they conduct over 125 meetings with Senators, Members of Congress, FTC Commissioners, and staff. Atop the agenda is patent reform legislation currently pending in the Senate. ACT provides resources to startup and small business recipients of patent demand letters. The association also [...]
Parents Need to Know Whether Schools Are Selling Their Children’s Data
ACT | The App Association executive director Morgan Reed issued a statement on today’s FTC clarification on the enforcement of children’s online privacy to provide guidance for companies that manage student data online. School administrators often are provided few details about how online service providers handle data collected on children, and recent court cases reveal that some companies use information from the classroom to target advertising to children. Parents need to know whether schools are selling information about their children. [...]
ACT Tech Talks Vol. 1 – How Networks Work
Here at ACT, we always strive to ensure that our members are able to stay up to date on the latest policy issues involving the internet. However, we also recognize that the issues and terminology used in these discussions can get very complicated. To make sure that everybody is able to participate in ongoing policy discussions in an educated way, ACT is instituting a wide-ranging series of informational blog posts. We are combining these with a series of educational talks [...]
FDASIA: Federal Agencies Report on Medical App Regulation
The FDASIA report on Health IT and its impact on mobile medical apps was released today. FDASIA is a combined effort from federal agencies including the FDA, FCC, and HHS. ACT is pleased that the FDASIA recommendations promote medical app innovation within a risk-based framework that protects patient safety. We welcome the report’s conclusion that functionality should be the key regulatory determinant. A product’s function — as opposed to its platform — should determine how it is regulated. It [...]