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Latest Analysis
View more analysis >Exploring Competition in Cloud and AI Podcast: Episode 2 – Alternative Visions
We have teamed up with the LIDC (International League of Competition Law) to share a series of podcasts examining some of the increasingly pressing questions around cloud computing, AI and competition law. Over seven episodes, recorded in November 2024, Ben Evans, Shruti Hiremath and guests will look beyond the current position to identify some of…
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Another Chinese court finds that AI-generated images can be protected by copyright: the Changshu People’s Court and the ‘half heart’ case
Chinese courts take a different approach to the issue of AI generating copyright protected images, the DLA Piper team reports. On 7 March 2025, the Changshu People’s Court (in China’s Jiangsu province) announced that it had recently concluded a case on the topical issue of whether AI-generated works can be protected by copyright. In the…
Exploring Competition in Cloud and AI Podcast: Episode 1 – The Status Quo
We have teamed up with the LIDC (International League of Competition Law) to share a series of podcasts examining some of the increasingly pressing questions around cloud computing, AI and competition law. Over seven episodes, recorded in November 2024, Ben Evans, Shruti Hiremath and guests will look beyond the current position to identify some of…
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Software Quality and Testing: A Primer
William Hooper asks: What do lawyers need to know about the assurance of quality in software to contract for it effectively? How do litigators draw on this to prove or defend a claim? His view is that avoiding “system melt-down” seems wiser than dealing with it afterwards. What is Software Testing? Suppliers test systems to…
The ability of AI to increase access to justice.
Beth Gilmour explores the potential benefits and limitations of using AI to increase access to justice in the winning article of the SCL AI Group Junior Lawyer Article Competition Introducing DisruptionImagine someone, sitting anxiously in a waiting room at a solicitor’s office they hastily found online. They clutch a notice of eviction in their hands,…
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Latest News
View more news >Business and Trade Committee issues report on strengthening UK-EU relations: techlaw aspects
The House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee has published a report ahead of the UK-EU summit in May. The Committee highlights that the UK government has described raising growth as its number one mission and has a target for the UK to achieve the highest rate of sustained growth in the G7. Currently…
Ofcom launches first investigation of individual service provider under Online Safety Act 2023
Ofcom has launched an investigation into whether the provider of an online suicide forum has failed to comply with its duties under the Online Safety Act 2023. This is the first investigation opened into an individual online service provider under the OSA. Specifically, Ofcom is investigating whether this provider has failed to: Due to its…
This Week’s Techlaw News Round-Up
UK law Electronic Communications (Networks and Services) (Designated Vendor Directions) (Penalties) Order 2025 The Electronic Communications (Networks and Services) (Designated Vendor Directions) (Penalties) Order 2025 SI 2025/443 has been made. It makes consequential amendments to the Electronic Communications (Networks and Services) (Penalties) (Rules for Calculation of Turnover) Order 2003, SI 2003/2712 which in summary covers…
ICO reports on use of children’s data in financial services sector
The ICO’s Assurance department has recently approached organisations in the financial services sector to review how they process information. The review looked at how they use children’s data and how they use AI and automated decision making. The ICO also wanted to gather views on experiences of implementing good data protection practice, compliance challenges, competing…
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ICO publishes anonymisation guidance
The Information Commissioner’s Office has published guidance about anonymisation and pseudonymisation techniques, aimed at helping organisations handle personal data in compliance with data protection laws. Anonymisation is the process of representing data in such a way that individuals are not identifiable. Once data is anonymised, it falls outside the scope of data protection laws. Pseudonymisation…
Latest Cases
View more cases >
Another Chinese court finds that AI-generated images can be protected by copyright: the Changshu People’s Court and the ‘half heart’ case
Chinese courts take a different approach to the issue of AI generating copyright protected images, the DLA Piper team reports. On 7 March 2025, the Changshu People’s Court (in China’s Jiangsu province) announced that it had recently concluded a case on the topical issue of whether AI-generated works can be protected by copyright. In the…
Monster Jackpot wins the day
The High Court has recently considered a dispute arising from a miscommunication regarding the claimant’s winnings on an online game. The claimant in Durber v PPB Entertainment Ltd [2025] EWHC 498 (KB) played the Wild Hatter game in October 2020 – a two-part game involving a fruit machine and a wheel of fortune. After spinning…
Court of Appeal dismisses appeal in EE v Virgin Mobile case
The Court of Appeal has recently dismissed the appeal in EE Ltd v Virgin Mobile Telecoms Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 70. The case arose in the context of a dispute between EE and Virgin Mobile. VM had stated that EE’s claim was for loss of profit and, therefore, the claim was excluded by the following…
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High Court rules on targeting advertising to “recovering online gambling addict”
The High Court has ruled in the case of RTM v Bonne Terre Ltd and Another EWHC 111 (KB). The claimant RTM described himself as a recovering online gambling addict. He was a private individual with no national profile. He was anonymised in the litigation because of the risk that the privacy interests he was…
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GDPR and rail transport: gender identity is not necessary data for the purchase of a transport ticket
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in Case C‑394/23 Mousse v CNIL and SNCF that asking customers to state their gender title (Mr or Ms) when buying train tickets is not necessary for the contract and may violate GDPR rules, especially the principle of data minimisation. Mousse (a LGTB association) complained…
Latest Event Reports
View more event reports >The SCL AI Conference: Key Takeaways
Mauricio Figueroa summarises the key points from the SCL AI Conference hosted by Herbert Smith Freehills on 8th October. Practitioners, lawmakers, academics, trainees, in-house lawyers, and civil society representatives gathered at Herbert Smith Freehills’ offices in London for the annual Society for Computers and Law AI conference. The event brought together experts to explore the…
SCL 50th Anniversary Conference 2023 – Rising Star Impression
Victor Gurr, Trainee Solicitor, Gisby Harrison Solicitors was nominated to attend the recent SCL 50th Anniversary Conference on 10 October 2023 as a tech law “rising star”. “Rising stars” are invited to record their impressions of the Conference in any form they choose (in previous years these have been event reports, infographs and even poems!). These…
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SCL 50th Anniversary Conference Event Report: “The Dragon Under the Sofa and other stories”
What separates humanity from technology? The sudden omniscience of ChatGPT in November 2022 has prompted a good deal of philosophising on that question with the apparent gap between the human and the machine growing ever less defined. There is as yet little common ground on where the boundary lies but one oft cited difference is…
The SCL 50th Anniversary Conference – a visual overview
Gerald Brent, Associate, Addleshaw Goddard, provides a visual summary of some of the key elements from the recent SCL 50th Anniversary Conference….
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Key Takeaways from the SCL Privacy and DP Group Event: Ad Tech – Bring Everyone to the Table
Speakers Anita Bapat (Kemp Little LLP) Tom O’Flynn (Google) James Evan (Verizon media) Alex Abrahams (DMGT) Karishma Brahmbhatt (Allen & Overy LLP) Event Overview With ad-tech a key focus for data protection authorities such as the ICO and CNIL, panellists James, Alex and Tom methodically described ad-tech infrastructure, and the various players involved within the…
