Call to Action: Defend US Small Businesses’ Ability to Compete in the Global Digital Economy
For as long as the United States has had a digital economy, the nation’s trade negotiators – across different administrations – have worked to combat foreign policies that would impede American small business innovators’ ability to compete and succeed abroad. However, in an unprecedented move, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) decided to withdraw U.S. support from our own digital trade priorities at the World Trade Organization (WTO). USTR’s decision weakens the ability of U.S. small [...]
SMEs urge MEPs to support the new SEP Regulation
An Open Letter to the Members of the European Parliament As the European Parliament deliberates on the proposed EU Regulation on Standard-Essential Patents (SEPs), our members urge lawmakers to endorse this vital regulation. The SEP licensing regime in Europe is fundamentally broken, placing far too much power in the hands of large SEP holders, and harming the ability of European businesses to develop exciting new internet of things (IoT) technologies. Recent court cases, academic studies, and small and medium-sized enterprise [...]
AI Will Always Need You: ACT | The App Association’s Global AI Principles
Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a serious topic for tech innovators and policymakers around the world. As the app economy embraces this complex and evolving technology, lawmakers and regulators in various regions are clamoring to be among the first to issue rules and guidelines related to AI. But before these new rules go any further, the voice of our small business members must be considered. We’ve made a few changes and updates to our AI principles since [...]
Event Recap: Future of SEP Regulation
Both patents and technical standards are essential for modern innovation. Patents represent a nation’s dedication to incentivizing hard work and creativity to create new solutions. Standard-essential patents (SEPs) are a unique category of patents that enable standardized invention, giving SEP holders great power, and great responsibility. Unfortunately, SEP holders have been taking advantage of their heightened market power and the lack of transparency in SEP licencing negotiations to the detriment of innovators using technical standards, such as those related to [...]
ACT | The App Association’s 2023 Holiday Gift Guide
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and you know what that means – our annual gift guide! This year our holiday elves tinkered away for the ultimate list of app-enabled physical gifts, paid apps, and stocking stuffers (free apps with a physical gift suggestion) that is sure to please everyone on your list. We might even say there’s no need to check it twice! So, sit back, relax, and let our 2023 gift guide take care of your [...]
Supporting Industry Mechanisms Against Illicit Activity
On October 3, 2023, the App Association participated in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) annual Roundtable on Future Strategies for Anti-counterfeiting and Anti-piracy. At this event, the App Association represented the perspective of our small business software developer community that benefits from cost-effective online mechanisms to protect their intellectual property (IP)-related products. App Association members have for some time been supported by protections provided by digital software platforms and important technical protection measures (TPMs). Congress passed the [...]