Please join us on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 at 11:30 am to 12:30 pm ET as Morgan Lewis partners Randy Wood, and Nancy Yamaguchi provide a summary of significant market trends in M&A in the technology sector.
Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis
TECHNOLOGY TRANSACTIONS, OUTSOURCING, AND COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS NEWS FOR LAWYERS AND SOURCING PROFESSIONALS
The European Union (EU) Commission released its Draft Adequacy Decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework on December 13, which, in conjunction with President Biden’s executive order issued on October 7, will further facilitate trans-Atlantic data flows. The Draft Adequacy Decision mirrors the executive order, which established safeguards relating to the handling of personal information in the course of signals intelligence activities. If and when adopted, the adequacy decision will impact contractual requirements and processes by restoring data flows through a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework.
Although data security concerns may have held back early adoption, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated cloud usage and digital transformation within public service organizations in many countries around the world. In a recent study, Accenture surveyed 364 public service executives at both the local and federal levels in six countries—Australia, Canada, Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States—to learn about the public sector’s cloud adoptions strategies.
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security released an interim final rule (IFR) on October 7 imposing new export controls on certain advanced computing and semiconductor manufacturing destined for the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Effective management of intellectual property is crucial in the contracting stages of technology projects. Various types of intellectual property can be subject to protection in an agreement and may receive different types of treatment. For example, copyright protection, patent protection, and know-how (trade secrets) are all subject to different rules when it comes to contracting.
IT service provider performance has long been measured by service level agreements (SLAs) that set quantifiable standards for many aspects of a sourcing arrangement. These standards range from how quickly customer support is provided and an incident is resolved to application uptime and availability, and beyond.
On September 15, the EU Commission published a proposal for a Cyber Resilience Act (Proposed CRA), which builds on the 2020 EU Cybersecurity Strategy and the 2020 EU Security Union Strategy, with the aim of ensuring the cybersecurity of products with digital elements and the provision of sufficient information to consumers about the cybersecurity of the products they buy and use.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) continues to be a focus area for many companies. As technology companies shift ever increasingly toward the cloud, it is important to keep up to date with ESG issues that may arise for their own company, their vendors, and clients.
In outsourcing, technology, and commercial transactions, cost of living adjustment (COLA) mechanisms linked to price indices are coming under increasing scrutiny with current global inflationary pressures.
On July 18, 2022, the UK government published high-level proposals for its approach to regulating uses of artificial intelligence (AI), as part of its National AI Strategy and, more broadly, its UK Digital Strategy. The government is seeking public views on the approach, which is contained in a policy paper; a more detailed White Paper will be published in late 2022.