Member Spotlight: Intimind
We may have spent more time at home during the last year, but winding down or finding rest seems to have become more difficult for some. While mindfulness may be a new concept to many, Imma Juan has been researching and practising it for over a decade. A journalist by trade, Imma was taking a digital business course when she had the idea for a health app that combined her interest in mindfulness and her communication skills. So, when the [...]
IEEE Must Keep its 2015 Patent Policy Updates
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is considering weakening its rules regarding Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licensing of patented technology required to implement its standards due to concerns raised by a few larger patent holders. These companies argue the existing policy threatens future participation in the organization’s standards development efforts, but all available evidence suggests these concerns are overblown at best. Adding to this, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division recently restored its 2015 Business [...]
What to Know About the EU’s Efforts to Modernise its Tax Framework
Many countries around the world are currently considering or implementing changes to their tax frameworks to make them fit for the digital age. In the European Union (EU) alone, nine Member States are currently advancing national approaches. On the EU level, the European Commission (EC) is also consulting stakeholders on two interrelated issues: how to approach business taxation in the 21st century and whether or not to implement a digital levy. And numerous other governments around the world, along with [...]
Questions Asked of the Court: A Fireside Chat on Standard-Essential Patents
Questions Asked of the Court: A Fireside Chat on Standard-Essential Patents Online Event 5 May 2021, 16h00 – 17h00 CET/10h00 – 111h00 EST Technical standards for interoperability enable billions of devices connected to the internet, opening new avenues of growth for innovative firms, including thousands of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are looking to utilise these technologies for the first time. The licensing of the patented technologies that underpin connectivity standards like Wi-Fi, 4G LTE, and 5G is critical [...]
Our Take: Standing Up for Small Business When It Comes to Competition in App Stores
Regular readers of this blog and listeners of ACT | The App Association’s podcast, Tech Swamp, are familiar with the DC rumblings around antitrust felt over the last Congress. Well, those rumblings are now reaching the magnitude of a minor earthquake; if the tremors before were only detectable on a seismograph, you certainly hear the fine china shaking in the cabinets now. Unfortunately, the impending tectonic (“tech”-tonic?) shifts are unlikely to help—and would actually hurt—small app companies. Though many are [...]
SB 2311 would benefit billionaires at the expense of Illinois app developers
Fighting back against “Big Tech” is all the rage in state houses these days. After unsuccessful attempts to convince Arizona, Georgia, and North Dakota lawmakers that the future of their economy hinges on better prices on V-Bucks to use in Fortnite, The Coalition for App Fairness and its backers Epic Games, Basecamp, and Spotify, has its sights set on Illinois. While we don’t disagree the app economy is a critical part of Illinois’ economic growth, the sponsors of this bill [...]