Technology Disputes: The wave of the future

Data class actions, AI-driven disputes, copyright post-Brexit and much more – our in-depth analysis covers all the key developments in tech litigation

Joel Smith, Andrew Moir, Ina vom Feld, Alexandra Neri, Kate Macmillan, Peter Dalton, David Webb and Rachel Montagnon explore some of the major themes that have evolved around technology-related disputes.

How technology will shape the future is a perennial question across all walks of life. When it comes to legal matters, the question often becomes more focused on what sort of disputes will arise due to these advances in technology. That is a separate, and perhaps more pressing, question for those involved in risk assessment and planning.

This article considers the major trends and themes that have evolved in this area and which are driving technology-related disputes across a number of sectors:

• Data class actions and their potential to shape the digital landscape, and the gathering and storage of critical data-sets against a backdrop of regulatory and cyber security issues.
• The huge increase in the use of, and investment in, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) and whether the current systems of intellectual property rights (IPR) can accommodate them satisfactorily.
• The key role played by copyright in relation to internet content and how this develops in the UK and the EU after the Brexit transition period.
• The impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms and how this may affect technology licensing disputes overall and the interoperability of technology in general.
• The rise in the use of trade secret laws to protect and enforce rights in relation to new technology in the face of increasing theft or misappropriation of critical know how and confidential information.

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This article first appeared in the December 2020 issue of PLC Magazine.