Member Spotlight: Blue Maestro
What happy chimps and sixteenth century art have in common Pentworth House in West Sussex, UK is a National Trust property that houses a significant collection of artworks, including the 1592 Molyneux Globe. However, this collection was at risk of being destroyed after several valuable pieces were growing mold in storage. In an attempt to save the collection, the National Trust approached Blue Maestro for help to salvage the art. Their solution is a device placed inside the art frames [...]
ExSEPtional FRANDs
At the beginning of December, building on the Biden Administration’s executive order on competition, the Department of Justice (DoJ), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) jointly released a new proposed policy statement that updates and improves on policy around standard-essential patents (SEPs) and the remedies (things like injunctions by a court) available to holders of SEPs who agreed to license their essential technologies on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. [...]
Examining the Privacy of Verbal Communications in Disenfranchised Communities
In 2021, ACT | The App Association launched its Amplify Diverse Talent Working Group, an effort seeking to elevate the contributions of diverse populations to the app economy, while at the same time highlighting the many issues that disproportionately cause harm to them and their communities. For our final event of the year, we hosted a webinar focusing on the elevated privacy risks that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and LGBTQ+ individuals take on when using essential communications [...]
On Open App Markets Act, Sponsors Make Progress but the Bill Still Diminishes Developers’ Prospects on App Stores
Two weeks ago, we saw the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) hold a contentious vote on S. 2992, a bill that would prohibit certain privacy and security practices where software platforms restrict access to sensitive data and software and device features. Ahead of the vote, the sponsors of the bill circulated a Manager’s Amendment, which we analyzed from our members’ perspective. Long story short, the Manager’s Amendment was barely a nod to privacy and security concerns and doubled down on breaking [...]
The EU’s evolving framework for standard-essential patents – Part III: Transparency in FRAND methodologies for SEP evaluations
8 February 2022 at 15h CET | Register now Industry participants have long debated the meaning of Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND), and have attempted to define the appropriate methodology for calculating FRAND rates. Indeed, different methodologies are available for the evaluation of SEPs, and often, litigation has centred around the definition of a FRAND royalty rate. As representatives of small business innovators that rely on FRAND licensing terms to license standard-essential patents (SEPs) based on these voluntary commitments, the [...]
Are You Eligible for iOS Developer Payment?
Did you develop an app for Apple’s App Store? Was it available between 2015 and 2021? Was the app free with in-app purchases or a subscription? Paid? YOU could be entitled to financial compensation! No . . . really . . . we’re serious. Despite the lighthearted, informercial-for-a-questionable-law-firm tone of our introduction, thousands of developers are eligible for a payment ranging from $250 to $30,000 or more and we’re here to help connect developers to the funds they deserve. Background [...]