Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis

The EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) became effective on July 10, and on the same day, the European Commission adopted an Adequacy Decision relating to the DPF, as a successor of the EU-US Privacy Shield. While only those companies subject to the jurisdiction of either the Federal Trade Commission or the US Department of Transportation are eligible to self-certify their compliance with the DPF, the scope of eligibility is likely to broaden in the future.

In our prior post in this two-part series on less commonly discussed technology commercialization options, we addressed how open-source software (OSS) providers may make money on their products. In this Part 2, we’ll look at another technology commercialization strategy, white labeling.

When the topic of technology commercialization strategies comes up, the most common options typically mentioned include the sale of a technology or building a business around technology by selling products or providing licenses or subscriptions to technology-based solutions.

Please join us on May 10, 2023 at 12:00 pm ET to learn about key points to consider when terminating cloud service arrangements. Morgan Lewis partner Chris Archer, of counsel Emily Lowe, and associate Jonathan Traub will discuss the importance of drafting termination clauses and addressing the transition to new vendors with a view toward efficiently protecting an organization’s business interests.

In 2023, many companies are looking to get ahead of the issues that are expected to shape the next few years. In our industry outlook, “The Trends—and Traps—That Will Shape 2023,” our lawyers provide a high-level overview of what’s in store for various global industry sectors, highlighting some of the top tech trends and global regulatory developments.

Please join us on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, at 12:00 pm–1:00 pm ET, as Morgan Lewis partner Peter Watt-Morse and associates Katherine O’Keefe and James Mulligan discuss issues unique to Anything as a Service (XaaS) agreements and important factors for service providers and their customers to consider.

As we reach the end of the year 2022, we have once again compiled all the links to our Contract Corner blog posts, a regular feature of Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis. In these posts, members of our global technology, outsourcing, and commercial transactions practice highlight particular contract provisions, review the issues, and propose negotiating and drafting tips.

In a recent LawFlash, a team of Morgan Lewis lawyers reviewed the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal for a new rule and rule amendments that, if adopted as proposed, would require registered investment advisers to meet certain requirements when outsourcing “Covered Services.” The rule includes heightened requirements for due diligence, monitoring, and reporting, including amendments to Form ADV.

In any service relationship, continuity of service provider personnel often impacts service quality. Excessive personnel turnover on an account can negatively impact day-to-day operations and the ability to respond to issues. Assignment and management of personnel are primarily business issues that are the responsibility of the service provider. However, there are important provisions that can be included in service agreements that can help address these issues.

IT service provider performance has long been measured by service level agreements (SLAs) that set quantifiable standards for many aspects of a sourcing arrangement. These standards range from how quickly customer support is provided and an incident is resolved to application uptime and availability, and beyond.