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

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

The European Union (EU) has made reform of the e-commerce rules in Europe one of its main priorities for 2018.The European Commission has already published two proposed Directives relating to cross-border e-commerce but legislative progress has been slow – a situation that the Commission plans to correct in 2018.The Commission’s stated aim is to establish a more harmonised set of rules for the supply of digital content and sale of online goods across the EU, and to make it easier and less costly for businesses to engage in cross-border commerce. But what most e-commerce providers will focus on is the increased rights for EU consumers, particularly in the context of defects. The new rules will apply to online e-commerce providers, whether EU-based or not.These changes are part of a wider programme of reform affecting all businesses operating in the Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) sectors in Europe.

Autodesk

HM Revenue and Customs

Home Office, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health

Intel

ITworx

lastminute.com

NYSE-listed health tech company

One of UK's largest public EV charging networks

Phoenix Group

Telenor

UK Border Agency

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Alistair Maughan co-leads Morrison & Foerster's European Technology & Commercial Practice.

Alistair Maughan

Alistair advises on the deployment of new technology platforms involving, for example, the internet of things, AI and machine-learning, and blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

DocuSign, Inc

enercity AG

SoftBank Vision Fund

TDK and its subsidiary EPCOS

Tele Columbus

United Internet/1&1

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Kristina has more than 20 years of experience advising clients across many industries, including the software, internet, mobility, media, and consumer electronics industries, with a particular focus o

Kristina Ehle

Kristina Ehle has more than 20 years of experience advising clients across many industries, including the software, internet, mobility, media, and consumer electronics industries, with a particular focus on technology-driven and IP-heavy transactions.

One of UK’s largest public EV charging networks

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Associate

Sana Ashcroft is an associate based in the London office of Morrison & Foerster and is a member of the Technology Transactions Group.
Sana advises on a wide range of domestic and cross-border commerci

Sana Ashcroft

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Proceed To Check Out? The Impact Of 2018 European E-Commerce Reforms

UK Regulations: Urgent Action Required from Loan-Based Crowdfunding Platforms

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The European Union (EU) has made reform of the e-commerce rules in Europe one of its main priorities for 2018.
The European Commission has already published two

Proceed To Check Out? The Impact Of 2018 European E-Commerce Reforms

The European Union’s annual Work Programme states that, in 2018, the European Commission will prioritize the following technology issues:<ul><li>Establishing a regulatory framework for online communications;</li><li>Reforming copyrights in the digital single market (DSM);</li><li>Regulating contracts that concern the supply of digital content;</li><li>Preventing traders from geo-blocking (i.e., discriminating against customers located in other EU Member States); </li><li>Regulating cross-border package-delivery services; and</li><li>Establishing online privacy legislation.</li></ul>

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Regulatory Changes Ahead: The 2018 Landscape for Technology Businesses in Europe

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The European Union’s annual Work Programme states that, in 2018, the European Commission will prioritize the following technology issues:

Establishing a regula

Regulatory Changes Ahead: The 2018 Landscape for Technology Businesses in Europe

Many consumers are knowledgeable enough about cryptocurrencies to be able to identify which tokens they want to purchase, but not tech-savvy enough to know how to purchase those tokens. Businesses that can provide better instruction on token purchasing or create more user-friendly interfaces are therefore likely to find many eager customers.Read our article in <a href="https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2018/01/126724-kno-mo-seemingly-small-yet-actually-chasmic-gap-crypto-knowledge-crypto-capability/">Crowdfund Insider</a>.

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KNO-MO? The Seemingly Small (Yet Actually Chasmic) Gap Between Crypto Knowledge & Crypto Capability

Paying Employees in Cryptocurrency: Is That Lawful? 

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Many consumers are knowledgeable enough about cryptocurrencies to be able to identify which tokens they want to purchase, but not tech-savvy enough to know how 

KNO-MO? The Seemingly Small (Yet Actually Chasmic) Gap Between Crypto Knowledge & Crypto Capability

A form of economic extortion, ransomware attacks rose by 250% last year, and the United States was harder hit than any other country.Learn just how much this plague on the cybersecurity landscape is costing companies. Take a look at our ransomware infographic.<img border="none" title="Click to enlarge" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4504" usemap="#Map" width="645" alt="Ransomware Attacks" src="https://media2.mofo.com/v3/images/blt5775cc69c999c255/blt1d79b13a42068fcd/627317bf8e09542a15b7df03/180316-ransomware-infographic.jpg?format=auto&quality=60" type="asset" sys-style-type="download">

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The Cost of Ransomware Attacks

A form of economic extortion, ransomware attacks rose by 250% last year, and the United States was harder hit than any other country.
Learn just how much this p

The Cost of Ransomware Attacks

Delaware, the state where more than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies are incorporated, has taken steps to facilitate a favorable legal and regulatory environment for the development of blockchain technology.The state’s initiatives are designed to, among other things, enable companies to precisely keep track of who owns a company’s stock, and diminish the likelihood of security interest perfection errors which can result in lenders losing billions of dollars.Learn about two real-life corporate disasters that resulted from pre-blockchain era mistakes in these very areas. Read Morrison & Foerster’s article in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2017/09/20/why-the-delaware-blockchain-initiative-matters-to-all-dealmakers/#3b1656907550">Forbes</a>.

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Geoff has extensive experience in representing investment banks, private debt funds, hedge funds, business development companies, asset managers, specialty finance companies, borrowers, and issuers in

Geoffrey Peck

Geoffrey R. Peck

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Senior Of Counsel

Mark Wojciechowski is a partner in the Financial Transactions Group of Morrison & Foerster’s New York office.

Mark S. Wojciechowski

Mark Wojciechowski is a partner in the Financial Transactions Group of Morrison & Foerster’s New York office.

Mark Wojciechowski

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Why The Delaware Blockchain Initiative Matters To All Dealmakers

Do You Want to Launch an ICO? Please, Listen to the SEC

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Delaware, the state where more than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies are incorporated, has taken steps to facilitate a favorable legal and regulatory 

Why The Delaware Blockchain Initiative Matters To All Dealmakers

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) in September 2016 released a policy that affects stakeholders in the autonomous-vehicle-technology (AV technology) industry. The policy, among other things:<ul><li>Requires entities that are planning to develop AV technology to submit to the USDOT a detailed report enabling the agency to assess the technology’s safety;</li><li>Provides that, until an AV technology is fully automated, state law will regulate issues including the technology’s licensing and insurance requirements;</li><li>Cites regulatory resources that the USDOT can access to expedite the development and deployment of AV technologies; and </li><li>Contemplates data-collection practices transparent enough to facilitate the sharing of information among AV-technology stakeholders and to expedite the development and deployment of AV technologies.</li></ul>The USDOT accepted stakeholders’ comments on this policy for 60 days following its September 20, 2016 release and expects to update the policy every year.

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USDOT Issues New Policy on Development and Deployment of Automated Vehicle Technologies

USDOT Issues New Policy on Development and Deployment of Automated Vehicle Technologies

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The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) in September 2016 released a policy that affects stakeholders in the autonomous-vehicle-technology (AV technology)

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued the Filmspeler judgement on April 26, 2017, favorable to the media industry, on the liability of sellers of set-top boxes with pre-installed add-ons enabling illegal access to motion pictures, Pay-TV, and SvoD platforms (“loaded Kodi boxes”).  This decision creates a tool against emerging forms of piracy via injunctive relief and damages that are now available from individual end users as well as companies selling loaded Kodi boxes. Liability of Sellers (No Hiding Anymore)Article 3 of the Copyright Directive provides that an act constituting a “communication to the public” of protected work requires authorization by the copyright owner. In consideration of ECJ’s broad definition of the term, the court found that the sale of the Filmspeler media player also represented an infringing act of “communication to the public”Liability of End Users (A Grey Area Turning Black)The Filmspeler judgment clarifies that even the mere act of temporary reproduction on a multimedia player violates copyright law. ConsequencesFor the media industry, the decision strengthens the rights of holders in the fight against piracy who can now take action against sellers of fully loaded Kodi boxes, as well as against individual end users.

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Partner and Co-Chair Global Media

Christoph has more than 25 years of experience as an M&A and regulatory lawyer in the telecommunications, media, and technology industries. He focuses particularly on complex transactions and strategi

Christoph Wagner

Dr. Christoph Wagner is a partner in the Berlin office and Co-Chair of the firm’s global media group. Dr. Wagner is a leading TMT, M&A and regulatory lawyer, with a particular focus on transactions and on strategic regulatory advice in the media and communications industries.

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Counsel

With her enthusiasm for technology-driven issues, Patricia Ernst has built a recognized practice at the interface of compliance and technology.

Patricia C. Ernst

Patricia Ernst is a counsel in Morrison Foerster’s Berlin office and a member of our Corporate Department. She advises German and international clients on all aspects of intellectual property law with an emphasis on copyright and media law matters. Her practice focusses on film, media and entertainment.