Technology

Expert Analysis

• What Cos. Can Learn From FTC Data Queries To Tech Giants

  

  The Federal Trade Commission's recent queries to nine major social media and video streaming companies on how they gather, use and present personal information offer useful insights to other businesses on the agency's concerns and interests around privacy and data collection, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

• How Cos. Can Comply With Portland Facial Recognition Ban

  

  Due to the breadth of Portland, Oregon's, recent ban on facial recognition technology, companies both within and outside the city should take several actionable steps to leverage the technology while satisfying their compliance obligations, say Jeffrey Rosenthal and David Oberly at Blank Rome.

• Rebuttal

  US Courts Have Limited Ability To Set FRAND Rates Globally

  

  A recent Law360 guest article overlooked the critical point that U.S. courts lack the authority to engage in rate-setting for global portfolios of standard-essential patents on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms if the licensee does not agree to be bound by the court's determination, says Timothy Syrett at WilmerHale.

• Predictions For How Telehealth Law Will Evolve In 2021

  

  Following the significant activity COVID-19 brought to telemedicine and digital health policy in 2020, legislators will likely continue reducing barriers to virtual care this year, but regulators' enforcement efforts will rise as well, says Nathaniel Lacktman at Foley & Lardner.

• Granted Motions To Amend Rising Under PTAB Pilot Program

  

  A review of recent America Invents Act trial proceedings in which patent owners used two new options under the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's pilot program to make motions to amend their claims indicates they are benefitting from substantially higher grant rates, say Roger Lee and Adam Banes at Buchanan Ingersoll.

• Law Firms Should Note GCs' Growing Focus On Biz Strategies

  

  Amid the challenges of the pandemic, a shifting digital landscape, and increasing calls for diversity and inclusion, general counsel responsibilities are expanding into six new areas, highlighting the need for both in-house and outside counsel to serve as strategic and empathetic business leaders, say Wendy King at FTI Consulting and David Horrigan at Relativity.

• How Defense Production Act May Affect Vaccine Supply Chain

  

  Direct contractors, subcontractors and suppliers in the vaccine supply chain should prepare for President Joe Biden’s expanded use of the Defense Production Act to accelerate immunization efforts, which could disrupt existing business plans and commitments, but also provide financial incentives, and reduced breach of contract and antitrust liability, say attorneys at White & Case.

• Opinion

  What The Oracle-TikTok Saga Means For Oracle Licensees

  

  Though Oracle's attempts to take control of TikTok and become a competitive provider of third-party cloud-hosting services appear to have failed, Oracle's licensees should still consider themselves targets for aggressive cloud sales tactics and anticipate forthcoming audit activity, say Arthur Beeman, Joel Muchmore and Melissa Wehri at Beeman & Muchmore.

• 6 Changes The Legal Industry Should Prepare For

  

  As clients increasingly demand better efficiency, predictability and cost-effectiveness from their legal partners, especially during the pandemic, law firms and other legal service providers may need to explore new ways to bundle and deliver services — and move away from billing by time, says Joey Seeber at Level Legal.

• Arizona May Have Nudged US Law Firms Toward Future IPOs

  

  No U.S. law firm has its shares listed on a public stock exchange unlike some lucrative overseas counterparts, but by allowing nonattorneys to become stakeholders in law firms, Arizona may have paved the way for this to change should other U.S. states — particularly New York — follow suit, says Marc Lieberman at Kutak Rock.

• How SEC Can Address 'Inherent Dilemma' Of Its Mandate

  

  Tom Selman at Scopus Financial suggests three ways the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission might reconcile the rights of market participants with the regulator's responsibility to protect investors, on the heels of Commissioner Hester Peirce's recent remarks calling out this "inherent conflict."

• Addressing The Security Risks Of University Foreign Funding

  

  Higher education institutions that accept foreign funding should address serious concomitant security risks by identifying specific sources and establishing compliance procedures that promote transparency, protect data and research, and account for U.S. national security interests, say attorneys at Manatt.

• 6 Priorities For Employment-Based Immigration Reform

  

  Maria Fernanda Gandarez and Avram Morell at Pryor Cashman propose six practical changes the incoming Biden administration should make to improve employment-based immigration for U.S. employers and remove barriers preventing foreign talent from contributing to economic recovery in the U.S.

• Lessons From Economic Testimony In 2020 Merger Litigation

  

  A look back at 2020 antitrust cases shows why economic evidence is likely to remain a key element in merger-enforcement litigation, despite the occasional anomaly, says Julie Elmer at Freshfields.

• Fed. Circ. Ruling Shows Novelty's Role In Patent Eligibility

  

  The recent Federal Circuit decision Simio v. FlexSim is the latest in a trend concerning a class of inventions that are patent ineligible because they’re not novel despite purporting to improve computer technology, and is informative for winning or surviving early motions to dismiss, say Braden Katterheinrich and JD Schneider at Faegre Drinker.