Member Spotlight: WodPod
After months of quarantining at home, WodPod wants to help users get active! WodPod is a fitness platform that lets users choose from workout programs designed by fitness trainers around the world. Through the WodPod app, workout programs that were independently developed are available to a global audience. “Think of it as a marketplace for fitness programs,” says co-founder Mattia Carluccio. The trainers upload their virtual workouts in the app, where customers can then access them. WodPod does not offer [...]
A Check-Up on mHealth Policies in the EU
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of digital solutions in providing lifesaving care to Europeans increased significantly. mHealth technologies mean digital health tools like wireless health products, mobile medical devices, software as a medical device, mobile medical apps, cloud-based portals and dashboards, and others. These tools have the demonstrated ability to assist in tracing COVID-19 cases, staying in touch with your doctor, improving your mental health, or monitoring a chronic disease. Several European member companies of the ACT | [...]
Antitrust and You, Part 2: Epic v. Apple in an Antitrust Law Context
For those of us following the Epic v. Apple case, it was sometimes difficult to follow or immediately grasp the relevance of the meandering lines of questioning that covered a wide range of themes. Intermingled with all of the evidence that found its way into the record via testimony and discovery were references to key antitrust law concepts and case history. As we await a ruling, Judge Yvonne Rodriguez Rogers’s job is to consider the facts in this case against [...]
Industrial Perspectives on Licensing for the Internet of Things
Online Webinar – Register here 14 June 2021 15h00 CET – 16h30 CET Standard-essential patents (SEPs) are a key component of the modern economy. With billions of connected devices in the internet of things (IoT), new avenues of growth open up every day for innovative firms in a vast array of sectors. However, abusive SEP licensing practices are a roadblock to the uptake of these technologies and the economic potential they offer. A SEP licensing framework must align with Europe’s [...]
404 Error: How Legislation Intended to Grow the App Economy Could End Up Hurting It
Over the last several years, regulators, Congress, and most recently state legislatures, have been taking a hard look at “big tech” companies, the relationship they have with small businesses, like our members, and have raised concerns about competition in the digital market. We also have concerns. Real-life concerns that transcend political donations or complicated, misleading language found in legislation in statehouses across the United States. When we look at legislation like Rhode Island’s HB6055, we see through what seems to [...]
Evaluating Antitrust Proposals for Software Platforms and Apps
The state of competition in app stores is a hot topic in Congress and state legislatures as they evaluate proposals to remedy issues arising from a perceived lack of competition in app store markets. At the federal level, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights recently held a hearing on “Antitrust Applied: Examining Competition in App Stores.” (Check out our blog that includes our statement for the record here.) Meanwhile, at the state level, we’ve [...]