Tech & Digital

+ 40 other experts

At the forefront of tech developments

Our Digital group consists of a multi-disciplinary team that focuses on global tech firms, significant digital platforms and other major players in data-heavy industries. Our different expertise groups spanning Digital Platforms, Fintech, Industrial Tech and Venture Capital, work together to offer clients a well-rounded proposition covering various topics, such as:

Strategic boardroom advice; Data Privacy & Cybersecurity; Mass Claims; Consumer Protection; Artificial Intelligence; Competition & Regulation; Intellectual property; Media law; Internal investigations; Enforcement actions; Foreign Direct Investment; M&A and funding

We understand the opportunities and the risks associated with the platform economy and help our digital clients to navigate this dynamic and fast-paced landscape.

Our recent track record, advising:

  • Just Eat Takeaway in all M&A and competition aspects relating to its acquisition of Delivery Hero in Germany, its merger with Just Eat and its acquisition of Grubhub in the US.
  • Salesforce as lead counsel in the first mass damage claim based on the new regulatory regimes for class actions under both EU privacy law and Dutch civil law. The claim vehicle was declared inadmissible by the District Court of Amsterdam.
  • AirBnB in its defence against civil class actions in the Netherlands in relation to the alleged unlawful double charging of service costs.
  • Booking.com in proceedings against German hotels in relation to price parity clauses.
  • A leading sales platform in a global trademark dispute.


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Industrial Tech

Our Industrial Tech Group is a subset of our Digital group and consists of a multidisciplinary group that aims to consolidate our vast experience working for tech-heavy industrial clients with a focus on:

  • Arbitration in tech-focused disputes
  • Pan-European and cross border patent litigation in pharma, life sciences, telecoms and consumer goods markets
  • UPC litigation with a focused cross expertise and international team
  • IP contacting and licensing, joint ventures and IP heavy M&A

Our recent track record includes:

  • Advising a client in the construction sector in major FRAND proceedings
  • Representing a FMCG client in high stake litigation including questions of competition and patent law, resulting in a successful complaint before the French Competition Authority.
  • Advising a technology client on the disentanglement of one of its major business units as well as advising on the sale of that division

Insights

22 November 2024

European Court of Justice to rule on geo-blocking and VPN use in Anne Frank copyright case

On 8 November, the Dutch Supreme Court formulated the questions it will refer to the European Court of Justice in a case between Anne Frank Fonds and our clients, Anne Frank Stichting, KNAW and the Belgian association VOOHT. The case addresses the tension between the internet's global reach and its national treatment under copyright law. The central issue is whether the publication of a work on a website in a country where the work has fallen into the public domain constitutes a "communication to the public" – as defined in Article 3(1) of the Copyright Directive – in a country where copyrights are held if access to the website is restricted via state-of-the-art geo-blocking measures, given that users may circumvent these measures by using certain VPN or proxy services.
24 October 2024

Sustainability claims: managing regulatory and other risks as intolerance for greenwashing grows

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives are now critical drivers for companies – there is no getting around it. Companies often make significant ESG efforts. But when they wish to – or have to – communicate about these efforts, a growing web of regulations becomes relevant. This, coupled with increasingly active authorities who are on the look-out for greenwashing practices, means that it can be hard to establish what is, and what is not, allowed or required. Below, we will summarise the state of play and also look ahead.
15 July 2024

UK changes rules for mergers and introduces digital markets regime

One year after it was first presented to parliament, the long-awaited Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) received royal assent on 24 May 2024, marking a shift in digital, competition and consumer protection regulation in the UK. The DMCCA grants the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) expanded powers to regulate the digital sector, scrutinise a broad range of mergers and acquisitions across digital and other markets, enforce consumer protection law, and strengthen competition oversight.