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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.

May 21, 2018 - Artificial Intelligence, European Union
The EU’s Strategy for AI Investment
By: Alistair Maughan and Sana Ashcroft
The European Union has laid out a strategy to promote the growth of Artificial Intelligence technology in Europe. As so often with EU initiatives, the initiatives designed to implement the strategy are long on vision but short on specific practical changes. EU-based entities will
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May 14, 2018 - Privacy + Data Security, Litigation
California’s GDPR? The 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act
By: Purvi G. Patel
While companies are focusing on compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, Californians will likely be given the option on the November 6, 2018 ballot to impose a sweeping, GDPR-like privacy regime that also deserves attention. If approved by voters in
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May 08, 2018 - Mergers + Acquisitions
After Broadcom/Qualcomm: Where Does Cross-Border M&A Go Now?
By: Robert S. Litt
The Trump administration’s recent blocking of Broadcom’s proposed $117 billion takeover bid of Qualcomm on the basis of national security concerns has created an atmosphere of increased uncertainty for future cross-border M&A deals. Morrison & Foerster’s Robert Townsend, co-chair of the Global M&A Group,
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May 08, 2018 - Telecommunications
New Rules for the European Telecoms Sector: The European Electronic Communications Code
By: Andreas Grünwald and Christoph Nüßing
The existing European telecoms regulatory framework has not undergone any major amendments since 2009. The EU regulatory regime has been overtaken by technological and market changes. And, not only has the outdated regime failed to help the European telecoms sector to overcome the fragmentation
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May 07, 2018 - Financings
A Startup Lawyer’s Guide to the 6 Top Things a Founder Should do Before Raising Venture Capital
By: John M. Rafferty
An attorney who counsels hundreds of startups every year, Emerging Companies + Venture Capital partner John Rafferty says going into the VC-capital-raising process unprepared is a mistake startups should be sure to avoid. He believes no startup should embark on that process without first
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May 02, 2018 - Litigation, Intellectual Property
Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out? BREXETING UK Signs up for the UPC, Whilst Germany Is Lingering to Ratify
By: Wolfgang Schönig and Robert Grohmann
The Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) will be a Court common to 25 Member States of the European Union (“EU”) (currently including the UK) and thus be part of their judicial system. The Court will have exclusive jurisdiction over traditional European patents (a bundle of
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May 02, 2018 - Litigation, Intellectual Property
German draft bill on the implementation of the EU Trade Secrets Directive
By: Wolfgang Schönig
Summary The European Union is finally making significant progress in implementing the first pan-EU trade secrets protection rules. The EU’s largest country, Germany, has published its long-awaited draft bill setting out how it proposes to implement trade secrets protection. The EU directive on trade
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April 30, 2018 - Regulatory
EU Digital Market VAT Reform
By: Mercedes Samavi and Trevor L James
Since 2015, the European Union has been gradually implementing a series of reforms designed to create a Digital Single Market across the EU. In setting its reform agenda, the European Commission looked beyond areas traditionally associated with the regulation of technology and digital services,
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April 27, 2018 - Announcements, Software
German Federal Court: Unfair Competition Law No Basis to Ban Ad Blocking and Whitelisting
By: Christoph Wagner and Theresa Oehm
In a landmark decision, on April 19, 2018, the German Federal Court of Justice decided that the ad blocking application and browser-extension Adblock Plus does not violate the German Unfair Competition Act ( Gesetz gegen den Unlauteren Wettbewerb – UWG ). Offering software that
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April 24, 2018 - Litigation, Intellectual Property
Supreme Court IP Decision Preserves Inter Partes Review Process
By: Matthew I. Kreeger, Mehran Arjomand, Brian R. Matsui and Seth W. Lloyd
After the biggest challenge yet to the Patent and Trademark Office’s popular inter partes review proceedings, the name of the game is largely “same old” for today’s Supreme Court decision in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC , No. 16-712. The
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