Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis

In a recent Lawflash, our colleagues Ken Kulak and Ariel Braunstein reported that at the Leaders Summit on Climate, hosted by the Biden-Harris administration on April 22 and 23 in Washington, DC, President Joseph Biden set aggressive goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and set forth his aim to encourage the investment in and use of new green technology and to explore pollution reduction strategies.

The European Commission (the Commission) began to invite feedback on April 1 on its roadmap to strengthen the Code of Practice on Disinformation (the Code) via new guidance. The roadmap was released in response to perceived failings of the Code to date to tackle the spread of disinformation on online platforms.

The EU Commission recently released its proposal to legislate a European Union–wide artificial intelligence (AI) framework. The EU Commission’s intention is that the proposed regulation on AI will provide greater safety and fundamental rights protection, while also supporting innovation and enabling trust without preventing innovation.

Picking up where we left off on April 6, below are some additional key issues to consider and address when negotiating an application purchase agreement.

When negotiating a digital health collaboration agreement between a tech company and a life sciences company, whether for the development of artificial intelligence or other software, the provision of data hosting and analysis services, or a more complex collaboration, the parties should consider the following.

The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a policy statement (PS7/21) and a supervisory statement (SS2/21) on clarifying and modernizing regulatory expectations of outsourcing and third-party risk management on March 29. The expectations in PS7/21 and SS2/21 are relevant to banks, PRA-designated investment firms, insurers, and branches of overseas banks and insurers and apply not just to “outsourcing” but also non-outsourcing material or high-risk service arrangements. The expectations apply at a legal entity level rather than at a group level (save for expectations on intragroup arrangements).

We recently noted that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the outcome of a review into the factors that determine failure or success when implementing technology change in the financial services sector and discussed the importance of this review for firms seeking to improve the operational resiliency of their technology change management process.

The purchase of applications (or apps) is a comprehensive arrangement that includes the transfer of a variety of rights and assets, including intellectual property (IP) rights, software, human resources, equipment, and infrastructure, as well as the transfer of related contracts, accounts, and data. In this Contract Corner, we highlight key considerations for developing an application purchase agreement.

Having recently announced the launch of the new UK Cyber Security Council, the UK government has followed up by announcing its plans to publish a new National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (the AI Strategy) later this year.

Maryland enacted a state tax on digital advertising gross revenues on February 12, after overriding the governor’s veto. The passed law, which is the first of its kind in the United States, imposes “a tax on certain annual gross revenues derived from certain digital advertising services in the State” and requires those whose revenues will meet a revenue threshold to complete and file with the state comptroller a specific tax return to reflect such position. Failure to pay such taxes as required could result in interest owed on such unpaid taxes or criminal penalties for failing to file or falsely filing a return.