AICOA Remains a Disaster for Security and Privacy
One of the core concerns ACT | The App Association had about the original text of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) is that it effectively prohibits platforms from addressing and responding to security and privacy threats. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley circulated a Manager’s Amendment yesterday, altering several of the bill’s provisions. Typically, this type of amendment streamlines the legislative process by offering multiple changes under one amendment, but of course Manager’s Amendments only include changes [...]
App Makers Tour of Europe – Nordics
On 8 December, ACT | The App Association hosted the final edition of its App Makers Tour of Europe. The event brought together app developers, policymakers, and industry to discuss the Nordics’ app ecosystem. The panel considered the impact of future legislation such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on small app makers and how we can develop solutions as a community of innovators. Our panellists included: Hannele Timonen, Chief Specialist, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (Finland) Kim Baden-Kristensen, [...]
Event Recap: The essentiality, validity, and infringement of declared SEPs
Part two of the webinar series: A new framework for standard-essential patents (SEPs) On 30 November 2021, ACT | The App Association held the second webinar in a series of public events covering standards and standard-essential patents (SEPs) and how they impact European innovation and competition (view online). The event also focused on the various issues European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face when using standards, including licensing SEPs, and the impact these barriers have on SMEs’ ability to innovate [...]
Security at Scale: U.S. Industry Notches a Win Against Cyber Criminals
As Congress winds up its work in the first session of the 117th Congress, government and private sector interests are hard at work to carve a shared path on cybersecurity. It seems that over the past year, every committee in Congress shone a spotlight on the cybersecurity issues that fell into their respective jurisdictions. For its part, the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee invited ACT | The App Association to testify in a hearing on the cybersecurity posture [...]
New Study: Does Patent Monetization Promote SSO Participation?
A new study from Timothy Simcoe and Qing Zhang examines the impact of Standard Setting Organization (SSO) intellectual property rights (IPR) policies on standardization and innovation. The authors "interpret these findings as evidence that any link between IPR policies, innovation, and SSO participation is much weaker than purely theoretical arguments to the contrary often suggest." Read the study here.
Year in Review: EU & UK Member Spotlights 2021
ACT | The App Association exists to support our members’ growth by advocating for an environment that inspires and rewards innovation. We help our members navigate regulatory environments and provide them with resources to leverage their intellectual assets to raise capital, create jobs, and continue innovating. 2021 certainly came with its challenges but also brought about an unprecedented increase in the use of digital tools, apps, and connected devices. The innovations of the past year opened doors and created new [...]