HSF's Consumer sector team (including Joel Smith, Victoria Horsey, Sarah Burke and Rachel Montagnon, from our IP group) have just a feature article published in June's PLC Magazine on Challenges in the Consumer Sector.This is the first in a series of three articles examining the current issues facing the sector.The article examines the impact of transformative technology and looks in particular at AI, AR & VR (including IP aspects), data commercialisation, Internet of Things, contextual commerce, data privacy, cyber security, targeted advertising, and on-line infringement of IP rights.For more on these and other issues affecting the Consumer sector see our Future of Consumer hub. Read more

Faced with the exponential rise of data as an asset class in its own right, organisations are now taking a fresh look at the data that are available or accessible to them and the ways in which the value of those data can be safeguarded, unlocked and maximised. Data have become a strategic and valuable asset for many organisations but protecting and exploiting that asset is not always simple.Our feature article, published in May's edition of PLC Magazine and linked in this post, considers data as an asset, how intellectual property rights can be employed to protect data, how data can be used effectively and how to minimise associated legal risks. Read more

The Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, the largest free-trade agreement between Japan and the EU (aka Japan-EU Free Trade Agreement or JEFTA) entered into force on 1 February. JEFTA eliminates most custom duties and trade barriers between Japan and the EU and sets out rules enhancing mutual intellectual property protection and recognition. JEFTA will not apply … Read more

As part of the French Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets dated 31 July 2018, French lawmakers have finally adopted a long-awaited array of confidentiality rules covering the trade secrets that are being relied upon in cases that come before civil and commercial courts. Such provision was a requirement of the EU Trade Secrets … Read more

Here’s a short video made for Practical Law, in which Herbert Smith Freehills IP and Employment Professional Support Consultants, Rachel Montagnon and Anna Henderson, discuss the impact of the UK’s recent Trade Secrets (Enforcement etc) Regulations 2018 and practical approaches to protecting confidential information and trade secrets. Key issues discussed are: The new, common definition of a trade secret What … Read more

Italian Legislative Decree 63 – 11 May 2018, implementing Directive (EU) 2016/943 on trade secrets, entered into force on 22 June 2018. The Italian legal system was already at the forefront of trade secret protection, affording twenty years’ protection to both commercial and manufacturing and industrial-technical trade secrets, in full compliance with the 1994 Agreement … Read more