Legal Issues of Mobile Apps

Book excerpt: In less than ten years touchscreen smartphones and their apps have created an unprecedented technological revolution. Yet they are rife with serious potential for breaches of privacy and security, and a lack of uniform rules makes navigation of the legal landscape extremely difficult. Addressing this unstable regulatory environment, this concise, practical guide for the first time provides a measure of legal certainty. It examines case law and legislation in Europe and the United States to highlight the rights and obligations of all actors involved in the marketing of mobile apps, bring to light essential principles and recommend some viable solutions. Nine experts, all versed in the latest developments in international and national laws and regulations affecting digital mobile technology, examine such key topics as the following: contract law as applied to the sale and use of smartphone apps; intellectual property rights in mobile apps; protection of users; data protection; European Union (EU) medical device legislation and its safety implications for app users; fitness or wellness apps; apps’ collection of personal data; apps as hostile code and malware delivery mechanisms; competition law issues; taxation of mobile apps; liability issues for app developers and distributors; and implications of the EU’s new regulatory framework on online platforms. Because it is difficult for a basic user to understand how vulnerable everyday apps can be, and because every new information technology platform delivers new risks along with its benefits, legal practitioners working in a wide variety of fields will be increasingly called upon to engage with both personal and enterprise security and privacy breach cases arising from the use of mobile apps. This deeply informed practical analysis goes a long way toward ensuring appropriate handling of legal issues which arise in the mobile app context. Every practitioner, government official and software developer will welcome this much-needed volume.