Digital and Technology Law

The Digital and Technology law team provides clients with advisory and litigation support in developing legal strategies which consider all aspects of advanced technologies.

Our team supports its clients in all their projects, whether they are an investor, a start-up, an innovative company already established in the digital economy and innovation, a company with an R&D department, an entity starting a digital transition or occasionally confronted with technological issues.

We advise our clients whether they are maintaining or enhancing their investments in technology, when they need legal support on an innovative project, to control cybersecurity risks, and ensur compliance of their personal data processing and files.

Our lawyers work alongside their clients to develop a legal strategy which considers all aspects of advanced technologies, by coordinating the actions of other Alerion practices across the firm:

- legal practice areas: intellectual property, press , employment, corporate, competition, distribution and insurance law, etc.;

- tax: transfer pricing, VAT, customs, etc.;

- finance: audits, assessments, FinTech, etc. ;

- compliance: data privacy, pharmacovigilance, medical device vigilance, etc.

Our solutions include, if necessary, the input of other professionals (IT experts, auditors, patent attorneys, experts from other countries with whom we have established trustful professional relationships, etc.), whose actions we coordinate.

Maintaining and enhancing the value of your technological investments
  • Acquisition and vendor due diligence;
  • Financing and restructuring transactions involving technology assets;
  • Research tax credit (RTC) and innovation tax credit (ITC).
Securing your technology environment
  • E-reputation (press-related offenses, defamation and slander, incitement to racial hatred, right of reply, image rights, identity theft);
  • Data Privacy (compliance with French and European regulations (GDPR): audits, assistance to DPOs, special mission of external DPO, strategic guidance and advice, documentation relating to retention periods and legal basis for data processing);
  • Privacy policy, code of ethics and IT policy;
  • Cybersecurity and IT security;
  • Cybercrime: support in the event of breaches of automated data processing systems and implementation of strategies to improve the fight against online fraud (notification of breaches and criminal proceedings);
  • Management of services related to the IoT (geo-tracking, medical devices);
  • Offensive and competitive monitoring, emergency measures (domain names, websites);
  • Evidence gathering (system and internet reports, infringement seizures, etc.);
  • Tech litigation (legal expert opinions, civil liability claims, domain name recovery, court applications, etc.);
  • Assistance before independent administrative authorities (CNIL, ARCEP, APP, CPPAP, ANSM, AFNIC, etc.).
Managing your innovative projects
  • Analysis, assessment and validation of the legal feasibility of innovative projects with regard to regulatory and technological constraints;
  • IT contracts (development and subcontracting, agile methods, licensing, transfer and development of software and software packages, maintenance, integration, outsourcing, hosting, cloud computing, SaaS contracts, ASP (Application Service Provider) contracts, etc.);
  • Technology contracts (R&D, know-how and technology transfer, confidentiality, consortiums, etc.);
  • Drafting Quality Assurance Plans (QAP) and Service Level Agreements (SLA);
  • Legal framework for online activities (GTCs, legal notices, privacy policy and cookies policy, etc.) and contractual agreements for a full range of services provided via B to B and B to C platforms;
  • Assistance in dematerializing operations (electronic signature, blockchain, etc.);
  • Negotiating technology partnership agreements.
  • Litigation based on contractual liability against IT service providers for not having delivered an e-commerce platform corresponding to the contractual specifications.
  • Participation regularly in due diligence audits carried out by Alerion’s Corporate Law and M&A department to analyse IT contracts and the conditions of their assignment.
  • Drafting contracts required for launching a platform dedicated to distance services in different economic sectors.
  • Mapping and recommendations for personal data processing compliance with the GDPR, in particular for retention periods.
  • Advising on rights of reply and defamation actions for digital media players.
  • Participating in missions for the Council of Europe or the European Commission to supervise cybersecurity and promote the fight against cybercrime in foreign countries.