Find Lawyers in Frankfurt/Main, Germany for Technology Law

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.