Find Lawyers in Berlin, Germany for Technology Law
Practice Area Overview
The ongoing technologization of everyday life is an enormous challenge not only to modern societies, but even more to legal practice. New technologies give opportunities, which were completely inconceivable a few years ago. Law often cannot keep up with this speed, so Technology Law sometimes involves further development of the law.
In today’s knowledge-based economies, intellectual property, such as patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights, and know-how has a significant share in creation of value. Such IP needs legal support in all stages – when drafting contracts for projects, the outcome of which might involve IP; when dealing with employee inventors; when filing for and licensing out IP rights; when making contracts with toll manufacturers and distribution partners; when fighting against domain grabbers and enforcing IP rights against software and product pirates; when selling IP owning companies.
Technology nowadays usually is no longer pure mechanics, but more and more information technology. Hardware, software, and Internet connection form an integral part of most technological products, which also must be reflected in the legal parameters governing their development, production, sale, and use. Of course, “pure” software, hardware, and internet services are important subject matters of Technology Lawyers’ work. Hence, some IT knowledge helps Technology Lawyers in better understanding their clients’ needs and in pointing them to critical aspects that they might have overlooked.
One important thing ignored too often is the protection of personal data. The new EU General Data Protection Regulation, which becomes applicable as of 25 May, 2018, therefore stipulates a strict regulation of any collection, storage, or use of personal data and provides for enormous financial sanctions, which may amount to 20 million euros or four percent of the worldwide annual group revenues per infringement, whichever amount is higher. As the European Court of Justice recently held that the European concept of personal data is broad, and almost every contemporary device involves personal data, data protection is an emerging field of legal advice provided by Technology Lawyers.
Other important fields of Technology Law are life sciences and healthcare – such as biotechnology, new therapies, medicinal products, and medical devices –, product liability, competition law, antitrust law, distribution, e-commerce, sourcing, and often basic civil law. Even in seemingly not-so-technology-related cases, the involvement of a Technology Lawyer is useful, as, for example, in many M&A projects the specific requirements of IP or data protection law are overlooked, which may result in loss of important IP, fines, costs and the like.
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Viola Bensinger co-chairs the firm's Global Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice and also chairs the Technology Practice as well as the Litigation Practice in Germany. She advises clients from the technology, media, health care and other industries. Within the technology sector, Viola advises international internet, technology and healthcare companies in the areas digitisation projects, IT outsourcing, cloud computing, e-commerce, electronic payment, data protection, software licensing ...
Niklas Conrad is a partner in the litigation group. His practice ranges from strategic litigation advice and extrajudicial dispute resolution to rights enforcement and the representation of clients in court. Niklas assists national and international clients from all sectors and industries in the resolution of commercial disputes, including post M&A conflicts. He regularly advises clients in cross-border disputes and assists in the enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards. Nikl...
Partner, Dentons, Berlin, 2017 to date Partner, DLA Piper, Hamburg and Berlin, 2012-2017 Partner, Baker McKenzie, Berlin, 2000-2012 Associate, Baker McKenzie, Frankfurt and Toronto, 1996-2000 Freie Universität Berlin, 1996, Dr. iur. Freie Universität Berlin, 1992, Law School Apprenticeship, Deutsche Bank, Berlin
Christoph Enaux is a partner with Greenberg Traurig Germany. LLP. He chairs the German Telecommunications Sector Group as well as the German Regulatory and Competition Practice Group of Greenberg Traurig. Christoph focuses on advising domestic and international clients in the areas of German and EU telecommunications and media regulation and competition law. He advises on commercial and regulatory aspects of new business models as well as on regulatory, merger control and antitrust proceeding...
Dr Thomas Höppner is a Partner at Hausfeld, specializing in EU and German competition law and intellectual property law. His practice covers the full range of contentious and non-contentious competition law matters, including related regulatory areas such as media, telecommunications, broadcasting and energy. He has spearheaded complaints before the European Commission and taken competition claims before German courts, particularly in the context of an abuse of dominance and damage claim...
Carsten Kociok focuses his practice on the technology industry. He has broad experience in the areas of Internet, information technology, electronic and mobile payments and new media, as well as regulatory and data protection law issues. Carsten advises national and international companies from the Internet, payments and technology industries on the commercial and regulatory side of their business, in particular in the areas of e-commerce and e-business, electronic and mobile payments, servic...
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