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May 11, 2023
Technology linked to health and fitness is big business. But the abundant data privacy issues are leading to increasing numbers of enforcement actions.
A dialogue between Andrea Appella and Professor Stefano Quintarelli.
The AI battlefields - How to navigate and overcome the legal challenges
Jun 05, 2023
This article provides an introduction to the Damages in International Arbitration (DIA) app, an interactive web application prepared by the ICCA-ASIL Task Force on Damages following five years of work. It has been prepared on the basis of the author’s contribution at the 2022 IBA Day Istanbul in March 2022 in the panel chaired by Mark Friedman and including David Dearman and Smitha Menon. The DIA guides users through the key legal, quantitative and procedural issues implicated by quantifying damages in international arbitration. The article is illustrated with some screen shots from the DIA web application and also refers to Friedman’s presentation on the suggested Quantum Academy (see pages 69–78).
18th Annual IBA Competition Mid-Year Conference
As the global community struggled to contain the Covid-19 pandemic throughout 2020, various international governments incorporated new data-driven technologies within their suite of regulatory tools to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
The panel will discuss proposed forthcoming legislation in the EU, UK and around the world regarding artificial intelligence, as well as competition and regulatory issues raised by artificial intelligence.
33rd Annual IBA Communications and Competition Law Conference
China has witnessed continuing progress in personal data protection laws as well as the tightening of law enforcement in this field. Recently the authorities’ spotlight has been on mobile applications or apps, which are the most popular way that businesses collect personal information. Chinese authorities have adopted the carrot and stick approach by cajoling app operators into following the best practice, while aggressively going after violators to curb illegal apps
A journey on the swings and roundabouts of family business succession. Our panel will discuss the practical steps advisors can take to prevent the preventable and resolve issues inside and outside the family business unit.
30th Annual International Private Client Tax Conference: transforming (un)expected challenges into opportunities for the next 30 years
On 3 June 2020, a Court of Labor Appeals in Uruguay rendered the first local decision on enforcement of an arbitration provision between Uber and a driver using its app.
In the hot topics session we explore current themes of interest to the maritime and transport law community. The exact choice of topics will be decided later.
IBA Annual Conference Mexico City 2024
Nov 10, 2022
Over the past few years, digital lending apps (DLAs) have greatly aided both business users and retail customers in India. However, to curb growing malpractice and the misuse of customers’ personal data, on 2 September 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued official guidelines to restrict the activities and improve the oversight of DLAs. All RBI regulated entities have until 30 November 2022 to put in place adequate systems and processes to ensure that all their digital loans are in compliance with the new guidelines.
This expert panel will review the interplay between telecoms, antitrust and data rules in the newly emerging new worlds of the metaverse, ‘internet of things’ and artificial intelligence. It will discuss and debate key questions including:
• What is the role of telecommunications regulations in this space?
• What is the connection between data protection and competition law rules in the world of big tech?
• Is the cartel prohibition applicable in the metaverse?
32nd Annual IBA Communications and Competition Law Conference
Mar 18, 2022
As Russia’s war against Ukraine rages and allegations of war crimes grow, gathering evidence that can later be used in a court of law to bring any transgressors to justice becomes ever more necessary. To this end, the eyeWitness to Atrocities app is being used in Ukraine to capture potential evidence of crimes committed in a verifiable format to be submitted in future cases.
With increasing dependence on digital infrastructure comes a heightened focus on security and sovereignty in the digital realm. This session will delve into the intersection of competition law and national security concerns, addressing the implications of data localisation requirements, cybersecurity, and digital sovereignty policies. Experts will discuss how competition law and regulation can play a role in promoting secure and resilient digital markets while balancing national security interests and cross-border data flows.
34th Annual IBA Communications and Competition Law Conference
May 01, 2025
Footage captured in war-torn Ukraine using the International Bar Association (IBA)-founded eyeWitness to Atrocities (eyeWitness) controlled-capture phone app has been used to fortify four cases before the country’s courts. The tamper-proof photo, video and audio footage captured using the eyeWitness app…
Our experts will delve into the latest global trends in securing Equity Capital Market (ECM) transactions before their launch. This session is designed for legal professionals who are keen to understand the intricacies of ECM transactions across different markets and jurisdictions. We will explore the types of deals being executed, the methodologies employed, and the unique transaction scenarios that arise in various jurisdictions. The discussion will also cover the array of tools available to secure ECM transactions, such as cornerstone and backstop investors, hard underwritings, sub-underwritings, and the strategic use of public and private transaction combinations. Transaction specific steps like "testing the waters" and "wall-crossing" and their implementation will also be explained.
40th IBA International Financial Law Conference
Oct 10, 2024
The International Bar Association (IBA)-founded eyeWitness to Atrocities (eyeWitness) app and organisation have been shortlisted in the ‘tech for good’ category of the 2024 UK tech awards, amid an ever more difficult landscape of international conflicts. These awards celebrate outstanding achievement in this rapidly...
The panel will address key considerations and processes of equitisation of unsecured debt as a balance sheet repair tool in financial restructurings.
This session will navigate through the following issues:
• Available protections for lenders and shareholders;
• regulatory constraints;
• directors duties;
• orderly sales of equitised debt on the markets;
• disclosure issues;
• implementation risks;
• And conflicts in domestic and cross border constellations.
IBA Annual Conference Mexico City 2024
Jun 18, 2020
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, with governments adopting unprecedented technologically driven measures to deal with the emergency, the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU) and the IBA Business Human Rights Committee have published Digital contact tracing for the Covid-19 epidemic: a business and human rights perspective.
A panel discussion on the opportunities and pitfalls faced by a buyer in making an offer in a pre-pack sale. This session will cover practical aspects to be considered by the buyer, such as valuation, pricing, employees and insolvency procedural issues depending on the jurisdiction. The panel will also address whether buyers should consider taking on board fund managers in distressed asset acquisitions.
IBA Annual Conference Miami 2022
May 31, 2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to hundreds of human rights defenders in the embattled country downloading the eyeWitness to Atrocities camera app and submitting 10,000 verifiable videos, photographs and audio files of alleged war crimes. These pieces of potential evidence represent the largest haul for the app in a single conflict zone to date. The 10,000 milestone demonstrates Ukrainian human rights defenders’ desire to ensure that declared violations are captured and processed in a way that is acceptable for investigators and courts of law.
Mediation skills for building and keeping franchise relations
A webinar presented by the IBA Legal Policy and Research Unit and IBA Business Human Rights Committee, 25 June 2020, 1300-1400 BST.
Shortages of medicines and medical devices are caused not only by manufacturing challenges, but also by distribution unavailability, due to issues at distribution chain level. This session will examine the phenomena within the distribution chain that can lead to shortages of medicine and medical devices, such as parallel trade. The session will also explore different approaches to deal with such shortages by several jurisdictions, including the imposition of regulated prices, blacklist, export controls/restrictions, government mandated distribution and challenging product registration rules.
IBA Annual Conference Miami 2022
Oct 04, 2022
In Ukraine, users of the eyeWitness to Atrocities camera app have safely deposited, in the eyeWitness secure vault, 20,000 verifiable videos, photographs and audio files of alleged war crimes since the start of Russia’s invasion.
This session will take the form of an interactive workshop, with moderators facilitating round table discussions on some of the legal hot topics stemming from the automotive and mobility services industry, including:
Topic one: electrification
- Transformation of the value chain of automotive production.
- Battery production and software as the core components?
- Level playing field in a global market?
- New global players – state support – EU protective measures.
- The challenges of building a dense EV charging station network. Regulatory restraints – financing – access.
Topic two: new mobility
- Trends and legal issues related to the new mobility platforms – data protection, liability issues, regulatory requirements, consumer protection.
4th European Automotive and Mobility Services Conference
The Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM) has initiated proceedings for online copyright infringement on the application of publishing industry rights holders. The applicants claimed that public channels on the instant messaging platform illegally made thousands of journalistic and literary works from their catalogues available for downloading. AGCOM’s moral persuasion proved pertinent, as Telegram spontaneously removed them. Most recently, emergency legislation has introduced new provisions expanding A
Some investors are starting to become sceptical about tech startups: for every new productivity app, or the next uber of whatever app, there are already two or three competitors that already do similar things or, worse yet, Big Tech can replicate them in no time and drive them of business.
IBA 6th Silicon Hills Conference – the Tech Epicentre of Texas: from Start-Up to Exit
Apr 22, 2022
This article discusses the recent SEC case involving PwC and highlights the wider implications for intermediary institutions providing professional services in a tightened regulatory and enforcement regime in China’s banking and financial sector.
The proliferation of class action regimes around the world has created significant risks for defendants who increasingly face parallel mass litigation or class action suits in a growing number of jurisdictions. How are these regimes developing in an antitrust context - are they opt in or opt out? What approach are the courts taking in terms of evidence and disclosure? Which regimes seem to be ”claimant friendly”. For parties and legal practitioners involved in cross-border class actions, how can an effective antitrust class action strategy be developed to handle concurrent lawsuits in different jurisdictions? What insights can be gained to preserve the defense of a case in one jurisdiction without compromising positions in others?
IBA Annual Conference Paris 2023
Jun 12, 2024
The new Foreign State Immunity Law 2023 of the People’s Republic of China came into force on 1 January 2024. This shifts the country (as well as its special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau) away from absolute state immunity to restrictive state immunity, bringing it more in line with the relatively prevalent practice among the international community. This article discusses the status of state immunity in public international law, analyses the new law’s provisions and examines practical challenges that will be faced by those seeking to utilise this law to enforce judgments or awards against foreign states and state entities, and the new law’s innovations that go beyond the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property of 2004 and the UK State Immunity Act 1978.
The role of the courts in arbitration: an Asia Pacific perspective
By Yi-An (Ann) Lai. Alipay and the impact of e-payment systems resulting in new regulations in China and other jurisdictions.
Topic one: Shortage of drugs
Moderators
María Alonso Lilly Spain, Madrid
Camilla Appelgren Mannheimer Swartling, Stockholm
Ruta Pumputiene Ellex Valiunas, Lithuania
Topic two: The current surge and challenges of digital therapeutics
Moderators
Adem Koyuncu Covington, Brussels
Elisa Stefanini Portolano Cavallo, Milan
Cécile Théard-Jallu De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés, Paris
Topic three: Financing of advanced new therapies
Moderators
Mireia Castro Novartis Spain, Barcelona
Alfonso Gallego Pfizer, Madrid
Topic four: E-commerce of medicinal products: Global freedom or national restrictions?
Moderators
José Fernández Rañada Garrigues, Madrid
Markus Schott Bär & Karrer, Zurich
Dr Katharina Wodarz Raue, Berlin
Topic five: Product liability and medical devices
Moderators
Manuel Durães Rocha Abreu Advogados, Lisbon
Monika Gattiker Lanter, Zurich
Topic six: Gene therapies and orphan drugs - regulatory status and reimbursement
Moderators
Henar Álvarez Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Madrid
Ariadna Padilla Takeda, Madrid
Topic seven: Re-labelling repackaging and parallel import of medical devices and pharmaceuticals
Moderators
Maria Cedó Esteve, Barcelona
Janine Demont-Reudt Niederer Kraft Frey, Zurich
Miguel Ángel Galve ex GC of Elanco, Madrid
Topic eight: Human research – big data and secondary use of data
Moderators
Beatriz Cocina Arrieta Uria Menendez, Madrid
Ioanna Michalopoulou Michalopoulou & Associates, Athens
Lincoln Tsang Ropes & Gray, London
Topic nine: Deal structures of life sciences transactions
Moderators
Gustavo Alcocer Lugo Olivares, México City
Elazar Stein Medison Pharma, Petach Tikva and Zug, Israel
Emmanuelle Trombe McDermott, Will & Emery, Paris
Topic ten: Interplay between regulation and intellectual property - review of Bolar exemption
Moderators
Rais Amils Pérez Llorca, Madrid
Özge Atilgan Karakulak Gün + Partners, Istanbul
Martin Dræbye Gantzhorn Bech-Bruun, Copenhagen
Topic eleven: Artificial intelligence and life sciences
Moderators
James Gallagher Mason Hayes & Curran, Dublin
Njeri Mutura Microsoft, Irvine, California
Josefine Sommer Sidley Austin LLP, Brussels
Topic twelve: Trade secrets / confidentiality in R&D collaborations
Moderators
Dr Hussein Akhavannik Blank Rome, Washington, District of Columbia
Maarten Schut Kennedy Van der Laan, Amsterdam
Topic thirteen: Recent landscape on foreign direct investment in medtech/pharma
Moderators
Per Lagerkvist MAQS, Stockholm
Irene Fernández Puyol Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Madrid
Topic fourteen: Unified patent court – takeaways from the first year
Moderators
Morten Bruus Accura, Copenhagen
Francine Le Péchon-Joubert De Gaulle Fleurance, Paris
Hanna Tilus Cirio, Stockholm
Topic fifteen: Pharmaceuticals disparagement cases –Interactions with HCPs and regulators from a competition law perspective
Moderators
Luis Alcover Faus Moliner, Barcelona
Moisés Ramírez GSK Spain, Madrid
Anders Thue Simonsen Vogt Wiig, Oslo
Topic sixteen: Advertising pharmaceuticals - old law for modern information needs
Moderators
Ariadna Casanueva Cuatrecasas, Barcelona
Viviana Cervieri Cervieri Monsuárez, Montevideo
Celine Weber Walder Wyss, Zurich
Topic seventeen: Securing innovation: Tackling the 21st century epidemic of counterfeiting and intellectual property piracy
Moderators
Francisco Javier García Uría Menéndez, Barcelona
Jason Jardine Knobbe Martens, San Diego, California
Luis Ruiz BPL, Guatemala City
10th Annual IBA World Life Sciences Conference
Legislators and regulators have intensified their efforts to drive social media platforms towards ‘good behaviour’ in response to concerns about the harms they cause, as Global Insight reports.
At last, a flurry in appointments of female leaders at many of the world’s largest law firms has occurred. This reached cruising speed as from 2020 and has not stopped since. It should not stop!
This showcase will consist in a conversation between some of those top female leaders, the IBA female leadership and a leadership expert from a INSEAD business school.
The dialogue will address the qualities that such leaders bring to the management table and what firms can do to keep the positive vibe from female leadership once they have moved on and have been succeeded by other, male colleagues?
Female Leadership Excellence in Law Firms: coincidence or here to stay?
Based on research involving 64.000 people in 13 countries, John Gerzema and Michael D'Antonio identified that there is a shift in the types of leadership traits that are associated with success, morality and happiness.
The old masculine traits of aggression control, conflict and command are rapidly losing ground to behaviour, that is considered more feminine, like: selflessness, empathy, collaboration, flexibility and patience. Both male and female respondents in all researched countries expressed that this is the type of leadership which they consider most suitable for the rapidly changing and unpredictable world we live in. The researchers named this type of leadership: “The Athena Doctrine” (see TEDX Talk).
While these traits can be found both in men and women, it is clear that the Athena Doctrine particularly offers a great opportunity for women to soar in top positions. This session will discuss the following questions:
- How does the Athena doctrine translate to leadership in law firms?
- How do the leaders we have at the session relate to the Athena Doctrine?
- What particular features do they trust that they are bringing to the table?
IBA Annual Conference Paris 2023
In this dynamic environment, businesses from all sides of the AI universe – AI model owners, AI app developers, AI business users, data owners, cloud infrastructure owners – need to understand the heightened scrutiny over investments in this sector and act in compliance with increasingly intrusive regulation and antitrust law.
IBA Annual Conference Toronto 2025
Jun 24, 2021
This article discusses the technology and data related developments which made headlines recently and have the potential of changing the way companies do business in India.
With the recent advance of generative artificial intelligence (AI), an increasing number of service providers, platforms and apps rely on AI as part of their working processes.
The AI battlefields - How to navigate and overcome the legal challenges
Feb 17, 2023
This article will outline the development of China’s restrictions on the cross-border transfer of personal information (PI export), detailing PI export mechanisms provided by the Personal Information Protection Law. It will also explain the practical implications of the restrictions.
Aug 29, 2023
The most recent threat to democratic rule in Cambodia came in the form of July’s national election, which was held against the background of an ongoing media crackdown.
This topic explores the growing legal complexities surrounding the prosecution of owners and issuers of encrypted chat messenger services, with a focus on recent high-profile cases, such a EncroChat and Telegram. It will examine the balance between privacy, security and law enforcement, and discuss the implications of these prosecutions for service providers, users and regulatory frameworks.
27th Annual Transnational Crime Conference
This ‘roundtable’ article analyses force majeure and the key aspects of enforceability across a number of jurisdictions, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The jurisdictions featured are the United States; the United Arab Emirates; Brazil; Singapore; France; as well as English law.
IBA Annual Conference Paris 2023
Oct 07, 2022
Covid-19 not only affected the workplace in the short term but has also had long-term effects. In this article, we will aim to highlight some of the new opportunities and challenges related to the post-Covid workplace in the employment law arena, such as new working models, new rules in recruiting and retention and data privacy issues.

Sep 26, 2023
The commitment of the European Commission (the ‘Commission’) to create a European space for all digital communications has resulted in a proliferation of legislation (actual and proposed) designed to deal with the many different issues raised by digital communications and services. The governance and enforcement provisions of each of these different pieces of legislation have produced a complex matrix of European Union (‘EU’) institutional arrangements, which reflects both the desire to achieve harmonised conditions of operation across the EU, while at the same time seeking to accommodate the desires of 27 Member States to retain some level of sovereignty over subject-matter as technical and as diverse as that presented in the digital environment. The structuring of the relationships between Commission and Member State bodies or expert bodies, the ‘give and take’ between the institutional actors and the level of legal certainty that can be generated by such multi-player decision-making is likely to pose meaningful logistical and procedural challenges as the different elements of the Commission’s Digital Agenda package come into effect. To better understand the nature of those challenges, we analyse below the governance structures used in the key pillars of the Commission’s Digital Agenda and we seek to draw some preliminary conclusions on the effectiveness of those structures in delivering coherent enforcement on a pan-European level.
Nov 27, 2024
Since the release of Chat GPT in late 2022, the use of generative AI by attorneys has exploded in the United States. The two main drivers are: (1) the ease of access to and use of generative AI to seemingly do what heretofore required human capital; and (2) a relentless market pressure to perform legal work more efficiently. This article explores the current state of how courts and State Bars throughout the United States, along with ADR provider JAMS, are regulating the use of GenAI in the litigation context. It identifies emerging trends common to the approach taken by the federal judiciary and State Bars including limited use, transparency, proficiency, disclosure, human oversight and verification. Finally, it explains why it is unlikely, in contrast to the EU’s approach, that the US Congress will pass federal regulation limiting the use of AI by judges and arbitrators, and instead, leave such potential future AI regulation to the provenance of the States.
Aug 12, 2020
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, workers on the lowest wages have had the least protection – from the virus, from unemployment and from financial distress – despite their work being deemed ‘essential.’ Global Insight explores how governments and corporations can step up to create a better world for these workers.
Jun 02, 2021
While the pandemic disruption has extended for far longer than initially expected, courts (after the first wave), arbitral institutions and stakeholders in commercial dispute resolution have largely continued operations, increasingly supported by innovative digital technology, flexible scheduling and flexible cost structures, among other tools.
Presented by the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Committee, Arts, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee, Space Law Committee, Media Law Committee, Technology law Committee and Communications Law Committee.
This very dynamic and well-attended session enables you to select from a menu of hot topics in the IP, communications, media and technology sectors and participate in roundtable discussions.
Topics of current interest are selected to stimulate a lively debate. Moderators on each table introduce the table topic and the participants do the rest. Background knowledge or experience within areas for discussion is not required. Our menu will include hot and 'late breaking' topics in the areas of intellectual property law, internet law and mobile technologies, privacy and data protection, technology contracting and dispute resolution, arts law and space law.
Discussion is usually around the interface of law, business and technology, with a global focus. Many topics for discussion are often the subject of considerable public and media interest. In participating in the table topics you will gain a deeper insight into these areas and be able to add your own comments.
The format is interactive networking. The session will provide you with a great opportunity to meet many other lawyers and to discuss topics of mutual interest with them: don't forget your business cards, ecards and contact details to share. We welcome new participants in these discussions.
The following topics will be discussed during the session, with the help of the respective moderators identified for each topic:
1. Hot topics in Privacy and Data Protection
- Processing of underage’s personal data
- Internal investigations conducted by private companies
- Cross-border data transfers
- Cooperation with investigations/criminal procedures initiated by public authorities
- Data Protection Laws - Scope / Exemptions
- Multiple sanctions due to the simultaneous violation of a data protection law and other laws (e.g. consumers; antitrust)
- Overview about sanctions and fines
2. Contracts for Clouds: what’s in the standard terms and what can you negotiate?
- What’s in a typical cloud contract?
- How do AWS, Google, and Microsoft deal with issues like choice of law and forum, liability, service levels, termination, and more?
- Are standard cloud contracts evolving?
- When can customers negotiate with cloud providers?
3. Geospatial Data management – an opportunity for growth
Geospatial information is vital for national development, policy and decision-making, programs and projects, and to achieve sustainable social, environmental and economic development. The main strength of geospatial information is that it provides the integrative platform for all digital data that has a location dimension to it. Collaborative information systems that are comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated, underpinned by geospatial information technologies and applications, are providing the evidence on where people interact with their place, events and activities. With rapid digital transformation of society and economy, issues, challenges and opportunities related to the acquisition, availability, accessibility and application of geospatial information, are common and experienced across various levels of society, government and economy. The need for sound and enabling policy and legal frameworks on geospatial information management to address these issues has become more critical as the acquisition and application of geospatial data become increasingly innovative and creative arising from new and emerging technologies, devices and solutions.
Since 2017, the UN-GGIM Working Group on Policy and Legal Frameworks for Geospatial Information Management, has been actively developing mechanisms to address the complex issues related to geospatial information, including custodianship, authority and authoritative data, open data, personal data, data privacy and confidentiality, data licensing, data security and geospatial data for public good. We will explain how the acquisition, availability, accessibility, and application of geospatial information can be addressed, through a wide array of tools and resources developed with the collaboration of the IBA.
4. 5G Delivery structures
The roll out of 5G will entail large investments for mobile carriers, not just in their having to bid for spectrum allocation but mainly for infrastructure and hardware investments. The high cell density required for the operation of 5G networks also magnifies these concerns. In the wake of fierce market competition and declining revenues per customer, carriers have been innovating how they are approaching 5G infrastructure investments, including for example, entering into infrastructure and services sharing arrangements, along with developing solutions to improve and secure their radio access networks. Join us as we discuss the challenges faced by mobile carriers and novel approaches taken by them in response.
5. Can Legal Tech create increased revenues for law firms?
What are the pitfalls? Best practices from around the globe.
6. Regulating Internet and platforms around the world
Since Apple and Meta (aka Facebook) displaced legacy enterprises and Alphabet (aka Google) declared its victory against Yahoo, regulators waited for the day digital markets would correct themselves. In the meantime, they also had greenlighted some acquisitions and seemed to have regretted clearing some in hindsight. The wait is over, though: regulators recently changed the tack, and competition policy is poised to favour increased interventions towards big tech. Although killer acquisitions and new ex ante competition tools to address the sources of big tech's market power and overcome the barriers to entry are at the centre of the heated discussions, they all come down to fostering innovation. In recent years, regulators have taken bold steps and expanded the scope of innovation theories of harm to justify interventions. Yet there are serious questions concerning whether competition authorities could genuinely grasp the nature of competition in digital markets and, if so, whether they have the foresight to predict the level of innovation in counterfactuals without compromising evidence-based enforcement. This table will get to the bottom of these questions by analysing the sources of innovation in high-tech markets: is big always bad?
7. 2022 Technology and IP Disputes Update
This topic would allow for discussion of the major cases involving technology and IP disputes in different countries including identification of trends in technology disputes and dispute resolution processes.
8. AdTech, Tracking, Cookies and Pixels – thoughts on where things are heading
Tracking devices (whether cookies, pixels or whatever) have been under scrutiny from regulators around the world. In this session we will be looking at the comparative approaches in Latin America, Europe and the US.
9. Patent Litigation Funding – Support to Patent Owners or Patent Troll in Sheep’s Clothing
Table will discuss the growing use of Litigation Funding in IP related litigation matters. Discussion will include experiences with funders and cases supported by them. The group will also explore whether funding provides access to the courts for those without means to enforce their valuable rights or whether it encourages frivolous filings that would not have otherwise been filed or few settlements in the hopes of large returns.
10. The copyright protection over “concept stores” and/or format The idea to attract the customer’s attention using the environment in which the purchasing processes are generated has been spreading over the last years. It does not refer only to the way in which products are presented but also to the general appearance and mood of the shop and to the impact that it has on customers. In this scenario, concept stores are becoming increasingly popular in retail but retailers have had varying degrees of success in protecting the format or layout of their stores. This topic will explore how different jurisdictions and different IP laws can protect concept stores and will consider a hypothetical scenario based on a recent Italian Court of Appeal decision. Participants are encouraged to share their views and experiences from their own jurisdictions in an open discussion about the practicalities of using IP laws to protect the layout of a store, the shape or configuration of different display elements, or the overall look and feel of a concept store.
11. The impact of the Digital Services Act (on intellectual property rights and technology)
The DSA will seek to set standards for accountability in the digital marketplace. Much uncertainty remains about what the practical consequences of the DSA are for e-commerce, and how the balance of interests will play out IP owners see the DSA as a step forward, that gives e-commerce platforms greater responsibility. They believe that although it could have been more ambitious, it is an improvement on the status quo. The tech industry is globally satisfied, insofar as the DSA incorporates the principle that digital service providers are immune from liability for the unlawful content they host, provided they were not aware it was unlawful or acted promptly to remove or to block access to it once made aware. However, this principle is clarified in the DSA, which adds new prohibitions and highly restrictive obligations.
This table topic will be a good opportunity for anticipating and discussing these consequences.
12. Underutilized procedural methods for getting patents allowed in the U.S. and Europe and India
In recent years the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has introduced procedural programs and reforms that are designed to expedite, simplify or improve examination for applicants. In similar fashion to the USPTO, the European Patent Office and Indian Patent Office have procedural programs that can be used as alternatives to normal patent examination. These programs, when used properly, can help applicants achieve faster favourable outcomes.
13. We are Running Out of Trademarks – Combatting this Problem with New Forms of Trademark Protection
Discussion on how brand owners are protecting their valuable trademark rights when it seems that all trademark options have been exhausted. How do you advise clients and their marketing teams when every mark they consider is unavailable?
Are more Non-Traditional Trademarks (NTMs) – a valuable addition
14. This table will have two rotating topics
a. Space Arbitration
- Available dispute resolution mechanisms (Claims Commission under the Liability Convention; ITU; ESA; national courts; international arbitration)
- The advantages of arbitration
- Need for promotion of the sector-specific arbitration rules
- Arbitration clauses in coordination agreements to ensure arbitrability of violations
- Need for dispute resolution mechanisms for disputes relating to physical collisions
b. Space Debris
Space Debris: the problem – crowding of earth orbit and growth of satellite numbers, formation of debris and the need to solve the problem - ESA and UN solutions
Impact on the long-term use of space.
15. This table will have two rotating topics
a. Fair Use
The development of fair use in the visual arts.
From Tintin to Hopper; The Andy Warhol Estate’s appeal against photographer Lynn Goldsmith, the mandatory inclusion of “Pastiche” as an exception to infringement in the EU Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market and more.
b. Antiquities / Foreign State
The second topic concerns the impact of the litigation and now appeal of Turkey’s lawsuit against Christie’s and collector Michael Steinhardt over the so-called “Stargazer” figurine. This lawsuit tests the boundaries of sovereign actors asserting cultural property rights outside their borders but in the civil litigation context.
16. "Fake News!" or Free Speech?
Whether QAnon or Sputnik news, vaccine scaremongering or hate speech, everyone is concerned about the spread misinformation and disinformation online. Are there circumstances where restrictions on speech or bans on specific speakers can be justified? Can such restrictions be reconciled with national or international human rights regimes? Who gets to decide what is fake or real? Members of the Media Law Committee look forward to exploring these topics with you.
IBA Annual Conference Miami 2022
In an era of relentless innovation and disruption, are lawyers keeping pace with the rest of the world, or do they need to create purple cows? In this essay, submitted as part of the IBA Senior Lawyers’ and Young Lawyers’ Committee Scholarship, Stella Loong discusses what the legal profession can learn from Fintechs.
Jurisdictions around the world are seeking to reshape or control the impact of the major tech and social media platforms. In this session, we will examine two regulatory trends and how they may change internet and society. First, there is growing concern about the role and power of algorithms to amplify or minimise content in ways that affect individuals' beliefs, opportunities, and wellbeing. What would it mean to regulate algorithms? Would that entail costs to freedom of expression? What regulatory efforts are underway and how could they reshape the digital landscape? Second, many jurisdictions have moved to force digital platforms like Google and Facebook to compensate news organisations for the use of their content. Why are platforms being asked to compensate news organisations? How have the platforms responded? And what impact will such efforts have?
IBA Annual Conference Miami 2022
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