Antitrust and You Part 1: Nondiscrimination
As the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law (ACAL) renews its antitrust work in the opening months of the 117th Congress, the first hearing out of the gate helps define some of the issues important to ACT | The App Association member companies. The hearing, titled “Reviving Competition, Part 1: Proposals to Address Gatekeeper Power and Lower Barriers to Entry Online,” zeroed in on policy proposals aimed at software platforms in particular. The ideas are especially [...]
What the EU’s Digital Markets Act Could Mean for Small Tech Businesses
Following multiple public consultations, the European Commission released a proposal for the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on 16 December 2020 (see our statement here). If enacted, this legislation could significantly impact the way the app economy functions. In this blog, we dive into the DMA proposal and what it means for small businesses. We also recently released our DMA position paper, which we use to share our thoughts on the proposal with EU policymakers. What is the DMA? The DMA is part [...]
Antitrust in the Digital World – What is Next for the Digital Markets Act?
In February and March 2021, ACT | The App Association and Competition Policy International (CPI) are collaborating on a series of webinars discussing how antitrust regulation works in the digital world. During the first event of the series, five experts explored the key issues surrounding the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the effects it might have on the wider platform economy. The panellists were: Alexandre de Streel, co-director at the Centre on Regulation in Europe and professor of [...]
Here Comes the State Privacy Patchwork
Okay, so maybe 2020 fell a little short of its “year of privacy” billing. But hey, so did 2019, as well as 2018 for that matter. Clearly, hope springs eternal for us privacy acolytes – particularly, it seems, as the calendar turns over and we cleanse ourselves of last year’s disappointments. In fairness, stakeholders charted important, if incremental, progress toward comprehensive federal privacy reform throughout these past few years, so it’s not as if all was lost. Yet through the [...]
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Spotlight: What Platforms Can Do for Marginalized Voices in the App Economy
The rapid growth of the app economy from a handful of apps on a smartphone to a $1.7 trillion ecosystem of connected devices, software developer services, and funding created new opportunities for established developers and entrepreneurs. Just a year ago, ACT | The App Association concluded its cross country Developed Tour, highlighting the stories of the United States app economy beyond traditional tech hubs and the emergence of cities like New Orleans, Atlanta, and St. Louis as the next great [...]
Why the German Government Should Move Forward with its Current Patent Reform Proposal
As the European Union’s (EU) largest market, Germany is a frequent venue for patent litigation in the region. We now live in a world of increasingly complex devices, where a simple connected device can depend on hundreds, if not thousands, of patents. Under current German law, the burden of attaining a patent injunction is low because judges are not required to consider proportionality and the public interest. This is a particular concern for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which could [...]