Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis

As aerospace and defense programs become increasingly reliant on complex, multitiered supply chains and emerging technologies, disputes over intellectual property, supply, pricing, and performance are on the rise. To better understand the litigation landscape we spoke with Michelle Pector, a partner in our Houston office. Michelle is a seasoned trial lawyer and trusted counselor who serves as co-chair of the firm’s aerospace and defense industry team and leader of the energy litigation practice.

As companies expand their use of artificial intelligence, copyright law has become a central area of risk and uncertainty. Building on a recent Tech Marathon webinar presented by Morgan Lewis, we highlight key takeaways from recent court decisions testing fair use in AI training as well as legislative proposals on copyright disclosure and digital replicas. The landscape is shifting quickly, and technology lawyers should be prepared to help clients evaluate AI-related rights and manage risks in transactions.

Clauses dealing with intellectual property (IP) rights in commercial agreements can present nuanced challenges, particularly when they relate to information exchange. Two such clauses that often surface in technology contracts are residuals clauses and affirmative feedback licenses. While both relate to information shared during the course of a commercial relationship, they serve very different purposes and have distinct implications for IP ownership, confidentiality, and future use.

We are excited to welcome Mathilde Carle as a partner in Morgan Lewis’s Paris office and as a guest contributor to our Tech & Sourcing Spotlight series to discuss intellectual property (IP) protection and other related issues in agreements to design, build, license, host, and support digital solutions, including automation, AI, and software as a service (SaaS) products.

We invite you to join us for the next installment of the Tech & Sourcing webinar series Data 2025 on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 12 pm ET.

As we look ahead to 2025, it's clear that the next few years will bring about groundbreaking shifts across industries, with technologies such as AI, quantum computing, data centers, robotics, and autonomous vehicles leading the charge. These innovations are far more than buzzwords—they have the potential to redefine how we live, work, and interact. In this article, we dive into the top technologies set to make a significant impact in 2025 and explore why they’re worth watching closely.

Open-source software (OSS) and artificial intelligence (AI) are commonly used terms in today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape. Both are pivotal in shaping modern technology but are rooted in different goals and philosophies. OSS promotes collaboration and transparency, while AI looks to mimic human behaviors. Despite their objective differences, there are intriguing intersections between OSS and AI, which this article will explore.

In today’s rapidly evolving marketplace, innovation is not just a competitive edge but rather an expectation. Customers increasingly rely on their vendors to provide cutting-edge technology and stay ahead of industry trends. As such, a critical question arises: Should customers require service providers to agree to a contractual obligation to continually evolve and innovate their service offerings?

In many standard service agreements, providers will typically be required to deliver their services in accordance with generally accepted industry standards and practices and with professionalism and a level of skill appropriate to the agreement’s demands. While this standard often serves as a benchmark, it is rarely spelled out in detail. To reduce ambiguity, some agreements may go a step further, introducing a defined term to capture the expected service quality.

We invite you to join us for the next installment of the Morgan Lewis M&A Academy webinar series on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 11:30 am ET.