Statement On Decision from Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) On In-App Purchases
In response to the recent decision by Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) to force Apple to change its practices for in-app purchases, a spokesperson for ACT | The App Association issued the following statement: “We are concerned with CADE’s decision to intervene in the Brazilian app ecosystem and risk distorting competition, particularly when the impacts of the European Union’s unprecedented Digital Markets Act are already appearing to reduce the EU’s competitiveness. CADE must preserve the access, trust, [...]
Statement from ACT | The App Association on the DoJ’s Proposed Remedies in its Case Against Google
Yesterday, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) finalized its proposed judgment in its case against Google, arguing for an unprecedented breakup of the company’s products and services that would hurt consumers and the small businesses that use them every day to compete and reach new customers. “The DoJ’s proposed remedies are actually an attempt to legislate based on flawed forecasts of the future in a manner that disregards the consequences small businesses in the app economy would bear,” said Morgan [...]
On the potential introduction of federal legislation to mandate app store-level age verification, ACT | The App Association issued the following statement:
“Any proposed federal legislation that imposes this one-size-fits-all approach to mandate app store-level age verification would create confusing and even contradictory requirements on parents, developers, and the stores themselves. ” said the App Association’s President, Morgan Reed, “App store-level age verification shifts responsibility away from social media platforms and other websites and does not reflect the lived reality of American families with children who often share and use multiple mobile devices, tablets, and computers that would then not be protected [...]
The Top Three SEP Takeaways from Ericsson v. Lenovo
On October 24, 2024, the Federal Circuit took a key step in preventing standard-essential patent (SEP) holders from evading their voluntary commitments to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. By reversing a North Carolina federal court’s denial of Lenovo’s request for an anti-suit injunction (ASI) against Ericsson, the court reinforced that SEP licensing practices should uphold fair standards, benefiting small business innovators who rely on a predictable patent system. In this case, Ericsson sought injunctions in Brazilian [...]
It’s Long Overdue That We Prioritize Disability Access in Technology Regulation Debates
Artificial intelligence (AI) is powering a wide variety of accessibility tools and features for Americans to address an array of disabilities. For those of us with hearing impairment, voice recognition programs transcribe speeches and lectures in real-time. Meanwhile, facial and object recognition software helps translate a user’s surroundings so that people with vision impairment can understand their surroundings in detail. And for the six to eight million Americans with some form of language impairment, software programs matching avatars with written [...]
Statement from ACT | The App Association On the 2024 Election
“We are encouraged by the incoming Trump-Vance Administration’s support for small business pro-growth policies, including agency reform and an approach to regulation that promotes and protects innovation. It is critical that the government does not get in the way of opportunity and has leaders that recognize the impact that small and medium-sized technology companies have on the U.S. economy and the jobs they support. With these shared priorities in mind, our members will continue to rely on us to [...]