Now more than ever, technology is influencing the way we do business, communicate, move through and around the world, access and manage our homes, receive and administer healthcare, make purchases, secure information, and protect our most valuable property. Morrison Foerster keeps pace with this rapidly evolving landscape across our internationally recognized corporate, finance, intellectual property, and litigation practices. MoFo Tech brings together our insights relating to fields such as blockchain and distributed ledger, cloud and as-a-service technologies, driverless cars, drones, fintech, computer hardware and software, the Internet of Things, semiconductors, and telecommunications. The MoFo Tech blog offers real-time, in-depth analyses of the trends and complex issues shaping the global technology industry.<h2>ABOUT MORRISON FOERSTER</h2>Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firm’s commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyer’s A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia‑Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.

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Scott Llewellyn’s practice focuses on complex litigation in federal and state courts around the country, with an emphasis on patent and trade secret disputes. Over the past decade, he has worked on some of the most significant, high–profile IP cases involving technology for televisions, smartphones, and self–driving cars, relying on 40 years of experience with computer hardware and software. Scott also has significant experience with business divorce cases before courts and arbitrators, involving a mix of trade secret, patent, tort, and contract claims relating to technology development and implementation.Scott also has successfully tried general commercial arbitration and agency matters, briefed and argued various appeals in federal appellate court, and tried more than 20 cases for the Denver City Attorney’s office, most of them jury trials.Scott also has an active pro bono practice, having worked on a variety of criminal and immigration appeals, and having represented Colorado criminal defense and mental health organizations in high–profile suits against the state of Colorado for violations of the constitutional rights of defendants.At MoFo, Scott serves on the board of the Morrison & Foerster Foundation. In the broader legal community, he serves on the boards of the Colorado Lawyers Committee and Drop in the Bucket (a charity that builds wells and sanitation systems in sub–Saharan Africa).After law school, Scott clerked for the Honorable Clarence A. Brimmer, District of Wyoming, and the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Ninth Circuit. He was also previously an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

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Partner

Scott Llewellyn’s practice involves complex litigation before state and federal courts around the country, with an emphasis on patent and trade secret disputes for high-tech companies, to which he brings more than 35 years of experience with computer hardware and software, in particular relating to the processing and transmission of audio, video, voice, and other types of data. Mr. Llewellyn has also tried commercial arbitration and agency matters; briefed and argued various appeals in federal appellate court; and tried more than 20 cases for the Denver city attorney’s office, most of them jury trials.

Scott F. Llewellyn

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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.

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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.

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At the Intersection of Technology, Law, and Business

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Current State of the AI VC Financing Market

MoFo Tech Law Summit – Tech and Antitrust: Policy Shifts in the Second Trump Administration

MoFo Tech Law Summit – Responsible Tech: Policy Becomes Practice

AI Dynamics: Regulatory Landscape and Industry Insights

Introducing the MoFo Tech Law Summit – Innovation Under Regulation

In a widely anticipated decision, the Supreme Court held 5-4 that the government must obtain a warrant to acquire customer location information maintained by cellular service providers, at least where that information covers a period of a week or more. The case, Carpenter v. United States, has been closely watched by tech companies and privacy experts. The opinion, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, immediately enshrines greater protections for certain forms of location data assembled by third parties and represents a growing discomfort on the Court with the so-called “third-party doctrine”—a line of cases holding that a person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in records that he or she voluntarily discloses to a third party. In the longer run, there will likely be further litigation over whether the same logic should extend Fourth Amendment protections to other types of sensitive information in the hands of third parties as courts grapple with applying these principles in the digital age. Read our <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/zKSICQW5jXiYgy9mSMt_9Z">client alert</a>.

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Of Counsel

Bob Litt, former General Counsel for the Director of National Intelligence, is of counsel and co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Global Risk and Crisis Management group. He advises industry-leading org

Robert S. Litt

Robert Litt

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U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Location Information Is Protected by the Fourth Amendment

California Supreme Court Clarifies Standards for Whistleblower Claims Under California Labor Code Section 1102.5

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In a widely anticipated decision, the Supreme Court held 5-4 that the government must obtain a warrant to acquire customer location information maintained by ce

U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Location Information Is Protected by the Fourth Amendment

In this opinion piece, Morrison & Foerster Senior of Counsel Lokke Moerel challenges current predictions of the ways in which Artificial (AI) Intelligence is going to transform our jobs. Drawing a parallel with how using sat nav systems has impacted our navigation skills, she highlights the need for decision-making transparency and the need to rethink training in a world dominated by AI.Read <a href="https://media2.mofo.com/v3/assets/blt5775cc69c999c255/bltd16c9ce75069aa2d/627317c74886af2aa2be110a/180619-algorithms-routine-kills-expertise.pdf">the full article</a> (in English).

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Senior Of Counsel

Among the world’s best-known privacy and cybersecurity advisers, Lokke Moerel is regularly called upon by some of the most sophisticated multinational organizations to confront their global privacy and ethical challenges. Lokke routinely offers guidance to clients when implementing new technologies and digital business models and assists them with their global cybersecurity incident response and regulatory investigations.

Lokke Moerel

Lokke Moerel is among the world’s best-known privacy lawyers. She advises companies on their global information handling governance, strategy, and compliance. “An authority on data protection matters” (Chambers 2014), Lokke is consistently ranked as a leader in data protection law in Chambers Global and Legal 500. She is also professor of global ICT law at Tilburg University, member of the Cyber Security Council of the Netherlands, the advisory body of the Dutch cabinet, and member of the Board of Trustees of WWF International.What do you like best about your work? I enjoy thinking about the data privacy issues and ethical dilemma’s presented by the new technologies, and helping companies decide on how to tune them and implement on a global basis, in an emerging regulatory environment.What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Travel with my husband and three children, the modern arts, but most of all, a good book!What individual most inspired you, and why? In my former EU-based firm, there were no female role- models (I was the first female partner with children) and partners step out at age 55. After moving to MoFo, I met women years older than me and fully at the forefront of their field. What an inspiration! I still have a whole career in front of me.

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If Algorithms Take Over Routine Work, This Also Kills our Expertise

California Opens the Road to Fully Driverless Cars; Federal Policymaking Slowly Rolls Forward

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In this opinion piece, Morrison & Foerster Senior of Counsel Lokke Moerel challenges current predictions of the ways in which Artificial (AI) Intelligence is go

If Algorithms Take Over Routine Work, This Also Kills our Expertise

Many in the blockchain and cryptocurrency community were in a celebratory mood on June 14, 2018, following a landmark speech given by William Hinman, Director for the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Director Hinman’s remarks addressed, head on, a key question that has long been vexing market participants and their lawyers—namely, whether present-day sales of Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, are sales of investment contracts and, hence, securities. Perhaps even more significant, however, was the analysis behind Director Hinman’s views on Ether—that the characteristics that cause a token to be classified as a security can change so that the same token, or one issued at a later time, may be reclassified as a non-security.Director Hinman’s speech is significant in many ways. Key takeaways include:1.      Using Bitcoin and Ether as primary examples, Director Hinman clarified that tokens that are initially classified as securities can later be viewed as non-securities under certain circumstances.2.      The speech emphasized the importance of decentralization as a factor that is relevant not just to the U.S. federal securities law analysis, but also to the degree and necessity of ongoing disclosure requirements.3.      As the SEC staff has stated before, an issuer cannot simply label a token as a “utility token” in an attempt to avoid the applicability of U.S. federal securities laws.4.      Consistent with prior guidance, sales of tokens for capital raising purposes will likely continue to be deemed securities offerings.5.      There is certainly no one-size-fits-all structure or bright-line test for determining when a token is, is not, or ceases to be a security. 6.      Director Hinman signaled that the SEC staff intends to provide assistance and guidance to token sellers on the proper characterization of the sale of digital assets.Read our <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/CIUQC4xYV2fqlP1VcBBcaf">client alert</a>.

KISS

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.

Ascendent Capital Partners

Astellas 

Qatalyst Partners/Multiple Transactions

Southwest Gas

Axalta

Winterhawks Sports Group

Vimian Group AB/Multiple Transactions

Fidelio Capital/Multiple Transactions

Odevo AB/Multiple Transactions

Verdane

Aegis Ventures

Evercore Partners/Multiple Transactions

Ducera Securities/Multiple Transactions

Exantas Capital Corp.

Vonage/Multiple Transactions

Whitestone REIT/Multiple Matters

DaVita/Multiple Transactions

Inovalon/Multiple Transactions

DST Systems/Multiple Transactions

Banc of California/Proxy Contest Defense

Rao’s Specialty Foods/Advent International

TMI Hospitality/Starwood Capital Group

Kajima/IDI

Terumo/CaridianBCT

AmREIT/Takeover Defense

American Pacific/Proxy Contest Defense

NTT Data/Multiple Transactions

GMAC LLC/Transformative Transactions

HLTH Corporation/Multiple Transactions

Jean Coutu Group/Eckerd and Brooks

New York Stock Exchange/Transformative Transactions

Merrill Lynch/Entergy-Koch Energy Trading Business

Novartis AG /Multiple Transactions

JLB Group/Sneakz

Catalyst Biosciences/Targacept

Mighty Leaf Tea/Peet’s Coffee

VIEW Entertainment/ESOP

Braintrust Investments/Multiple Transactions

Robert’s American Gourmet Foods/VMG Partners

Seal-It/Printpack

Quest Diagnostics/Focus Diagnostics

Soros Fund Management/Dune Capital Management/Purchase of DreamWorks Library

Regis Corporation/Reverse Morris Trust Acquisition of Sally Beauty

Apropos Technology/Proxy Contest Defense

Specialty Laboratories/AmeriPath

Centerpulse Ltd./Sale of Multiple Business Segments

IDT/Unsolicited Offer for ITXC

Strategic Software Holdings/Unsolicited Offer and Proxy Contest

Click Commerce/Unsolicited Offer by Insight Venture Management

Dycom Industries/Arguss Communications

Barrick Gold/Homestake Mining Company

Merlin BioMed Group/Multiple Transactions

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson/Multiple Transactions

S.A. Industrias Votorantim/Lafarge S.A.

Dycom Industries/Shareholder Rights Plan

Profit Recovery Group/Shareholder Rights Plan

Syngenta AG/FLINT Fungicide Business

Welch Allyn Data Collection/PSC Inc.

Brach’s Confections/Tootsie Roll

Groupe Danone/McKesson Water Products

First Bell Bancorp/Shareholder Proposal

Consolidated Fruit (BVI) Ltd. /Chiquita Brands Investment

SMG-II/Multiple Transactions

Hochtief AG/Turner Corporation

Sulzer Medica Ltd./Guidant Corporation

Tiger Management/Provident Companies Stock Purchase

Ispat International N.V./Inland Steel

The BOC Group plc/Ohmeda Healthcare

Kollmorgen/Unsolicted Tender Offer and Proxy Contest for Pacific Scientific

Trizec Hahn/Clark USA

Raab Karcher AG/Wyle Electronics

SafeSpace Productions LLC

Bergen Brunswig/IVAX Proposed Merger of Equals

ARM Financial Group/Multiple Transactions

Cia. Bozano, Simonsen/Embraer

Museum of the City of New York

MCA (Universal Studios)/Interscope Records

National Broadcasting Company/MSNBC Joint Ventures with Microsoft

Clark USA/Occidental Petroleum/Gulf Resources

The Seagram Company/Universal Studios

Viacom Inc./Multiple Transactions

Booker plc/Marine Harvest International

Cadbury Beverages/Dr.Pepper/Seven-Up Stock Purchase

Global Co-Chair of M&A Practice

Spencer Klein

The Journey from Security to Non-Security: SEC Director Comments on Mutability of Token Treatment