DOJ Seizes App Piracy Domains
Three domains were seized yesterday for selling pirated mobile apps. ACT is pleased to see the Justice Department, in collaboration with French and Dutch officials, take this action to protect developers. Piracy is a real threat to our ecosystem where many apps cost just 99 cents. While it's remarkable that some would steal software costing less than a dollar, this is not a trivial matter for app makers. Developers have to sell a lot of apps at a 99 cent [...]
Patent Reform: A small step that could make a big difference
A few days ago, Rep. Peter DeFazio introduced the SHIELD Act, a new law that aims to deter frivolous patent infringement lawsuits. The bipartisan bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz. The core problem: companies who abuse the patent system by threatening thousands of small businesses with legal action without even checking if products truly infringe on a patent. Most of the target companies end up paying the fee rather than going through a lengthy and expensive litigation process, even [...]
ACT and FOSI Host Congressional Briefing: Apps, Ads, Kids & COPPA
The Association for Competitive Technology and the Family Online Safety Institute will host a panel discussion today to brief lawmakers, staff, and interested parties about the FTC's amended proposed changes to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). On August 1, the FTC released a supplementary notice of proposed rulemaking, following up on its proposed rule from September 2011. Since indicating its intention to update COPPA last fall, the Commission has received comments and testimony from a wide range of [...]
ACT Hosts Panel Today on New COPPA Proposed Rule
The Association for Competitive Technology and the Family Online Safety Institute will host a panel discussion today to brief lawmakers, staff, and interested parties about the FTC's amended proposed changes to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). On August 1, the FTC released a supplementary notice of proposed rulemaking, following up on its proposed rule from September 2011. Since indicating its intention to update COPPA last fall, the Commission has received comments and testimony from a wide range of [...]
Long Tail Commands Lion’s Share of App Revenues
App Analytics company, Flurry, came out with the results of a study about the changing dynamics of app revenue and uncovered some interesting details about the impact small app companies are having on the overall ecosystem. Studying revenue data, Flurry sought to determine how much the top ranked apps accounted for total sales. While two years ago the apps in the top 100 netted more than half of total industry revenues, the latest figures show that percentage shrinking dramatically to [...]
New FTC COPPA Amended Proposal Offers Helpful Changes, But More Work Remains
The FTC deserves praise for listening to industry and advocacy concerns over its proposed amended rule on children's online privacy. Some of the specific points ACT raised in meetings with the Commission were included in its addended rule released on Wednesday. There is still room for improvement and clarity on other outstanding issues which is to be expected. The rulemaking process involves considerable interaction between the regulators and stakeholders, and for issues like this involving a high level of technical [...]