In a recent post, we addressed the US Department of Justice’s recent recommendations to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) to provide incentives for online platforms to address illicit material on their platforms, and the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act (PACT), legislation proposed by two US senators that is also aimed at reforming Section 230 of the CDA. Since the time of that post, we’ve continued to track developments regarding Section 230 of the CDA and we have some updates for our readers.
TECHNOLOGY, OUTSOURCING, AND COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS
NEWS FOR LAWYERS AND SOURCING PROFESSIONALS
NEWS FOR LAWYERS AND SOURCING PROFESSIONALS
Information Services Group (ISG) reported that the global outsourcing industry is slowly recovering from the industry’s dip in performance during the second quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Data measuring commercial outsourcing contracts with annual contract values (ACV) of $5 million or more show that third-quarter ACV for the global market rose 3% to $14.6 billion.
Morgan Lewis partner Reece Hirsch will moderate and present on a panel titled “Digital Health Privacy: OCR and FTC Perspectives” during the virtual 2020 Privacy + Security Forum on October 22.
The session will address the latest issues and trends in digital health privacy regulation, featuring the perspectives of senior regulators from the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The panel will examine the overlapping jurisdictions of the OCR and FTC with respect to a variety of digital health products, including mobile apps, activity trackers, and voice assistants, focusing on a series of hypotheticals.
We hope you'll join Reece on Thursday, October 22, 2020, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm ET.
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently released a report titled “Public Views on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy,” which addresses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on various intellectual property (IP) regimes. Per the USPTO’s press release announcing the report, the report “represents the agency’s firm commitment to keeping pace with this rapidly changing and critical technology.”
We are kicking off our Tech & Sourcing webinar series on October 13 with our first event, Service Engagements and Business Continuity: A Fresh Look. Morgan Lewis partners Barbara Melby and Michael Pillion will address the evolving approaches in services engagements, including how to address and allocate responsibility for unanticipated business interruptions and business continuity requirements. Barbara and Michael will discuss the following topics:
- Industry views on business continuity and the current challenges
- Current thinking on contract terms and considerations relating to business continuity
- A fresh look at force majeure and excused event clauses
We hope you'll join us on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, from 12:00 to 1:00 pm ET.
In December 2019, we published a blog post introducing open banking; here, we provide an update for 2020. To briefly summarize, open banking comprises a set of rules which permit third-party providers (TPPs) of financial services to access a customer’s financial data with their explicit consent.
In the United Kingdom, open banking is delivered through the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), which was established by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). All TPPs must be authorized by the UK’s financial regulator, the FCA. As of July 2020, there are 267 regulated providers, up from 104 at the beginning of 2019.
On Monday 21 September, the UK High Court (Patents) delivered its judgment on the DABUS appeal, as previously reported here by Morgan Lewis.
Justice Marcus Smith dismissed the appeal brought by physicist Stephen Thaler, who claimed that his artificially intelligent (AI) creation, DABUS, had produced inventions on its own initiative. The dismissal follows a chain of disappointment for Dr. Thaler; the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), European Patent Office (EPO) and US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) all denied his initial patent applications in 2018 and 2019.
Peter Watt-Morse and Ben Klaber, members of our technology, outsourcing, and commercial transactions practice, will be presenting a one-hour session on cloud computing as part of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s (PBI’s) virtual Cyberlaw Update 2020. The session will take place Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 10:10 am ET.
Peter and Ben will discuss the impact of cloud computing with our current remote work environment; data issues regarding ownership, access, and security; and specific cloud-impacted contract provisions such as service levels, transitions, and force majeure.
To register for the Cyberlaw Update (which includes CLE credits), please visit the PBI’s website.
On 7 September 2020, the UK government published a call for views on the future relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property (IP). Though the government called for views on all areas of intellectual property law, this article shall focus on patent law.
Mike Pierides, a partner in our technology, outsourcing, and commercial transactions practice, will be presenting a session titled “Procuring RegTech – Best Practices for Sourcing Compliance-related Technology from Third Party Vendors” at the 6th International Compliance Forum.
