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Welcome to the MoFo Tech Blog

MoFo Tech brings together legal insights and in-depth analyses on trends and complex issues shaping the global technology industry, covering fields such as blockchain and distributed ledger, cloud and SaaS technologies, driverless cars, drones, FinTech, computer hardware and software, the IoT, semiconductors, and telecommunications.

January 09, 2019 - Privacy + Data Security, European Union
Attention EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Participants: What You Need to Do to Get Ready for the UK Withdrawal from the EU
By: Cynthia J. Rich
All Privacy Shield participants should be prepared — possibly as soon as March 30, 2019 — to update their Privacy Shield commitments in order to receive personal data from the UK in reliance on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework The timing of this required
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January 08, 2019 - Intellectual Property, Software
A New Year's Gift for Patent Applicants?
By: Jonathan Bockman, Christopher Gloria and Karen G Potter Ph.D.
The USPTO rang in the new year by releasing new Examiner Guidance that could potentially benefit patent applicants who have previously encountered difficulty acquiring patents under the Office’s procedures for determining patent subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Supreme Court decisions regarding
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December 18, 2018 - European Union, Telecommunications
Hot off the press: The European Electronic Communications Code
By: Andreas Grünwald and Christoph Nüßing
Yesterday, after a legislative procedure lasting more than two years, the European Union has finally published its new “European Electronic Communications Code” (EECC). It provides updated rules for providers of traditional mobile and fixed telecoms services, establishes regulations for new online communications services and
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December 14, 2018 - Financings
Agencies Issue Further Guidance Regarding Emerging Approaches to BSA/AML Compliance
By: Barbara R. Mendelson and Marc-Alain Galeazzi
On December 3, 2018, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued a joint statement regarding “innovative approaches” to
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December 06, 2018 - Litigation, Cloud Services + SaaS
Don’t Snooze on Potential New Sales Tax Collection Obligations
By: Rebecca M. Balinskas
Until recently, retail sellers of goods and services were not required to collect sales tax unless they had a physical presence in a state. Sellers that operated primarily from one location and offered goods and services via the Internet or other technological means thus
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December 04, 2018 - Intellectual Property, European Union
IP Protection Post-Brexit: A Right-by-Right Analysis
By: Alistair Maughan, Wolfgang Schönig, Sana Ashcroft and Robert Grohmann
The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union on 29 March 2019 (“Exit Date”). With Brexit fast approaching, on 25 November 2018 the EU and the UK announced their consensus on a withdrawal agreement that sets out the terms of the UK's
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November 20, 2018 - Regulatory, Artificial Intelligence
Opportunity to Comment on Emerging Technologies Subject to Future Export and Investment Restrictions
By: Joseph A. Benkert, Robert S. Litt and Charles L. Capito
The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM or the “Notice”) on November 19, 2018, concerning the list of “emerging and foundational technologies” that BIS was tasked to identify under the Export Control Reform
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November 19, 2018 - Artificial Intelligence, European Union
Algorithms can reduce discrimination, but only with proper data
By: Lokke Moerel
Since the advent of artificial intelligence technology, there have been countless instances of machine learning algorithms yielding discriminatory outcomes. For instance, crime prediction tools frequently assign disproportionately higher risk scores to ethnic minorities. This is not because of an error in the algorithm, but
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November 16, 2018 - Litigation, European Union
Updating Evidence Laws for the Digital Space: Overseas Production Orders
By: Annabel Gillham
In a bid to keep English law up to date with technological advances, the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill 2018 has passed the committee stage at the House of Lords. The proposed legislation is intended to allow enhanced judicial cooperation to tackle serious crime. However, it
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November 09, 2018 - Financings, Fintech, Mergers + Acquisitions
First SEC Enforcement Action Against Unregistered Digital Token Exchange
By: Alfredo B. D. Silva
Until yesterday, the enforcement actions of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the digital token space have primarily focused on the primary issuances of tokens. However, on November 8, 2018, the SEC announced in an order (the “Order”) that it had settled charges against
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