Presented by the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Committee, Arts, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee, Space Law Committee, Media Law Committee, Technology law Committee and Communications Law Committee.

This very dynamic and well-attended session enables you to select from a menu of hot topics in the IP, communications, media and technology sectors and participate in roundtable discussions.

Topics of current interest are selected to stimulate a lively debate. Moderators on each table introduce the table topic and the participants do the rest. Background knowledge or experience within areas for discussion is not required. Our menu will include hot and 'late breaking' topics in the areas of intellectual property law, internet law and mobile technologies, privacy and data protection, technology contracting and dispute resolution, arts law and space law.

Discussion is usually around the interface of law, business and technology, with a global focus. Many topics for discussion are often the subject of considerable public and media interest. In participating in the table topics you will gain a deeper insight into these areas and be able to add your own comments. 

The format is interactive networking. The session will provide you with a great opportunity to meet many other lawyers and to discuss topics of mutual interest with them: don't forget your business cards, ecards and contact details to share. We welcome new participants in these discussions. 

The following topics will be discussed during the session, with the help of the respective moderators identified for each topic:

1. Hot topics in Privacy and Data Protection

• Processing of underage’s personal data
• Internal investigations conducted by private companies
• Cross-border data transfers
• Cooperation with investigations/criminal procedures initiated by public authorities
• Data Protection Laws - Scope / Exemptions
• Multiple sanctions due to the simultaneous violation of a data protection law and other laws (e.g. consumers; antitrust)
• Overview about sanctions and fines

2. Contracts for Clouds: what’s in the standard terms and what can you negotiate?

• What’s in a typical cloud contract?
• How do AWS, Google, and Microsoft deal with issues like choice of law and forum, liability, service levels, termination, and more?
• Are standard cloud contracts evolving?
• When can customers negotiate with cloud providers?

3. Geospatial Data management – an opportunity for growth

Geospatial information is vital for national development, policy and decision-making, programs and projects, and to achieve sustainable social, environmental and economic development. The main strength of geospatial information is that it provides the integrative platform for all digital data that has a location dimension to it. Collaborative information systems that are comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated, underpinned by geospatial information technologies and applications, are providing the evidence on where people interact with their place, events and activities. With rapid digital transformation of society and economy, issues, challenges and opportunities related to the acquisition, availability, accessibility and application of geospatial information, are common and experienced across various levels of society, government and economy. The need for sound and enabling policy and legal frameworks on geospatial information management to address these issues has become more critical as the acquisition and application of geospatial data become increasingly innovative and creative arising from new and emerging technologies, devices and solutions.

Since 2017, the UN-GGIM Working Group on Policy and Legal Frameworks for Geospatial Information Management, has been actively developing mechanisms to address the complex issues related to geospatial information, including custodianship, authority and authoritative data, open data, personal data, data privacy and confidentiality, data licensing, data security and geospatial data for public good. We will explain how the acquisition, availability, accessibility, and application of geospatial information can be addressed, through a wide array of tools and resources developed with the collaboration of the IBA.

4. 5G Delivery structures

The roll out of 5G will entail large investments for mobile carriers, not just in their having to bid for spectrum allocation but mainly for infrastructure and hardware investments. The high cell density required for the operation of 5G networks also magnifies these concerns. In the wake of fierce market competition and declining revenues per customer, carriers have been innovating how they are approaching 5G infrastructure investments, including for example, entering into infrastructure and services sharing arrangements, along with developing solutions to improve and secure their radio access networks. Join us as we discuss the challenges faced by mobile carriers and novel approaches taken by them in response.

5. Can Legal Tech create increased revenues for law firms?

What are the pitfalls? Best practices from around the globe.

6. Regulating Internet and platforms around the world

Since Apple and Meta (aka Facebook) displaced legacy enterprises and Alphabet (aka Google) declared its victory against Yahoo, regulators waited for the day digital markets would correct themselves. In the meantime, they also had greenlighted some acquisitions and seemed to have regretted clearing some in hindsight. The wait is over, though: regulators recently changed the tack, and competition policy is poised to favour increased interventions towards big tech. Although killer acquisitions and new ex ante competition tools to address the sources of big tech's market power and overcome the barriers to entry are at the centre of the heated discussions, they all come down to fostering innovation. In recent years, regulators have taken bold steps and expanded the scope of innovation theories of harm to justify interventions. Yet there are serious questions concerning whether competition authorities could genuinely grasp the nature of competition in digital markets and, if so, whether they have the foresight to predict the level of innovation in counterfactuals without compromising evidence-based enforcement. This table will get to the bottom of these questions by analysing the sources of innovation in high-tech markets: is big always bad?

7. 2022 Technology and IP Disputes Update

This topic would allow for discussion of the major cases involving technology and IP disputes in different countries including identification of trends in technology disputes and dispute resolution processes.

8. AdTech, Tracking, Cookies and Pixels – thoughts on where things are heading

Tracking devices (whether cookies, pixels or whatever) have been under scrutiny from regulators around the world. In this session we will be looking at the comparative approaches in Latin America, Europe and the US.

9. Patent Litigation Funding – Support to Patent Owners or Patent Troll in Sheep’s Clothing

Table will discuss the growing use of Litigation Funding in IP related litigation matters. Discussion will include experiences with funders and cases supported by them. The group will also explore whether funding provides access to the courts for those without means to enforce their valuable rights or whether it encourages frivolous filings that would not have otherwise been filed or few settlements in the hopes of large returns.

10. The copyright protection over “concept stores” and/or format The idea to attract the customer’s attention using the environment in which the purchasing processes are generated has been spreading over the last years. It does not refer only to the way in which products are presented but also to the general appearance and mood of the shop and to the impact that it has on customers. In this scenario, concept stores are becoming increasingly popular in retail but retailers have had varying degrees of success in protecting the format or layout of their stores. This topic will explore how different jurisdictions and different IP laws can protect concept stores and will consider a hypothetical scenario based on a recent Italian Court of Appeal decision. Participants are encouraged to share their views and experiences from their own jurisdictions in an open discussion about the practicalities of using IP laws to protect the layout of a store, the shape or configuration of different display elements, or the overall look and feel of a concept store.

11. The impact of the Digital Services Act (on intellectual property rights and technology)

The DSA will seek to set standards for accountability in the digital marketplace. Much uncertainty remains about what the practical consequences of the DSA are for e-commerce, and how the balance of interests will play out IP owners see the DSA as a step forward, that gives e-commerce platforms greater responsibility. They believe that although it could have been more ambitious, it is an improvement on the status quo. The tech industry is globally satisfied, insofar as the DSA incorporates the principle that digital service providers are immune from liability for the unlawful content they host, provided they were not aware it was unlawful or acted promptly to remove or to block access to it once made aware. However, this principle is clarified in the DSA, which adds new prohibitions and highly restrictive obligations.

This table topic will be a good opportunity for anticipating and discussing these consequences.

12. Underutilized procedural methods for getting patents allowed in the U.S. and Europe and India

In recent years the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has introduced procedural programs and reforms that are designed to expedite, simplify or improve examination for applicants. In similar fashion to the USPTO, the European Patent Office and Indian Patent Office have procedural programs that can be used as alternatives to normal patent examination. These programs, when used properly, can help applicants achieve faster favourable outcomes.

13. We are Running Out of Trademarks – Combatting this Problem with New Forms of Trademark Protection

Discussion on how brand owners are protecting their valuable trademark rights when it seems that all trademark options have been exhausted. How do you advise clients and their marketing teams when every mark they consider is unavailable?

Are more Non-Traditional Trademarks (NTMs) – a valuable addition

14. This table will have two rotating topics

a. Space Arbitration

• Available dispute resolution mechanisms (Claims Commission under the Liability Convention; ITU; ESA; national courts; international arbitration)
• The advantages of arbitration
• Need for promotion of the sector-specific arbitration rules
• Arbitration clauses in coordination agreements to ensure arbitrability of violations
• Need for dispute resolution mechanisms for disputes relating to physical collisions

b. Space Debris

Space Debris: the problem – crowding of earth orbit and growth of satellite numbers, formation of debris and the need to solve the problem - ESA and UN solutions

Impact on the long-term use of space.

15. This table will have two rotating topics

a. Fair Use

The development of fair use in the visual arts.

From Tintin to Hopper; The Andy Warhol Estate’s appeal against photographer Lynn Goldsmith, the mandatory inclusion of “Pastiche” as an exception to infringement in the EU Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market and more.

b. Antiquities / Foreign State

The second topic concerns the impact of the litigation and now appeal of Turkey’s lawsuit against Christie’s and collector Michael Steinhardt over the so-called “Stargazer” figurine. This lawsuit tests the boundaries of sovereign actors asserting cultural property rights outside their borders but in the civil litigation context.

16. "Fake News!" or Free Speech? 

Whether QAnon or Sputnik news, vaccine scaremongering or hate speech, everyone is concerned about the spread misinformation and disinformation online. Are there circumstances where restrictions on speech or bans on specific speakers can be justified? Can such restrictions be reconciled with national or international human rights regimes? Who gets to decide what is fake or real? Members of the Media Law Committee look forward to exploring these topics with you.