Technology

We advise businesses at the cutting edge of AI, robotics and machine learning on matters including corporate and commercial issues, intellectual property and data protection advice, employment issues and commercial disputes.

Our lawyers have significant experience advising on commercial and regulatory issues that arise in the online space, including mobile app development, social media, adtech, ecommerce and online consumer regulations.

We have cross-departmental expertise in blockchain as well as other distributed ledger technology, and can advise on all legal aspects. Our clients across a variety of industries are increasingly using blockchain, including to trace transactions and map supply chains.

We have a wealth of experience advising on legal issues, tax issues, transactions and disputes involving cryptoassets and cryptocurrency.

Our advice covers transferring crypto assets into the ‘real world’ economy, demonstrating the provenance of crypto assets, disputes with HMRC involving crypto assets, the taxation issues resulting from disputes and their resolution and issues around DEFI (decentralised finance).

We have experience helping clients to obtain court orders to identify perpetrators of crypto-related wrong-doing, with IP disputes connected to the digital economy, crypto or blockchain, as well as disputes involving crypto-related fraud, misappropriation or hacking, disputes between holders of crypto assets and currency exchanges, and disputes involving tokenised or tethered crypto assets or on-chain assets.

The popularity of NFTs spans the world of games, fashion, music and beyond. We advise on creating and monetising NFTs, commercial contracts and licences involving NFTs, as well as related IP, marketing, advertising and tax matters across a number of sectors.

We have cross-departmental expertise in immersive technology including virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality and haptics. We advise businesses in the immersive technology space on commercial contracts and legal issues from intellectual property, to data protection, to corporate and contentious matters.

We see growing commercialisation of immersive technology by both startups and established businesses across an increasingly wide range of sectors, including but not limited to interactive entertainment, film and TV, fashion and retail, advertising and education.

We regularly advise clients from a broad range of sectors on ‘traditional’ IT contracts (such as software licensing and outsourcing) and technology transactions, including:

• Technology contracts such as system integration, IT procurement, service level agreements and software development
• Issues relating to the licensing and use of open source software
• Cloud computing issues on both the customer and vendor side including SaaS, IaaS and PaaS
• Industry specific contracts such as in-flight entertainment services, ticketing agreements, adtech contracts, digital cinema distribution and ecommerce deals

We advise companies at the forefront of digital transformation, as well as companies implementing digital transformation strategies.

We have particular expertise in advising large ‘legacy’ entertainment businesses and global brands (such as film studios, production companies, fashion brands, retail businesses and consumer packaged goods companies) on the legal implications of their digital transformations.

We advise on all key data protection compliance areas (such as compliance programmes, international data transfer issues, data breaches, and individual data requests). We have also developed a significant reputation for helping clients with complex data protection issues which are very specific to the core sectors on which we focus. We are equally strong advising on both non-contentious and contentious data protection matters (particularly where there are reputational issues at stake).

Our deep experience and expertise in digital and technology feeds into our privacy and data protection work. We frequently advise on cutting-edge privacy and data protection issues involving areas such as AI, immersive technology, adtech and programmatic advertising and digital transformations.

We advise on disputes across the digital and tech space, whether they involve cryptoassets, blockchain, AI, IT contracts, digital transformation, big data, cybersecurity or otherwise.