Publication
South by Southwest Headwinds for Tech
This week’s South by Southwest is one of the biggest tech events in the world, boasting 75,000 delegates and 5,000 speakers.
We use cookies and other similar technology to collect data about you to allow us to deliver our online services, measure our website audience and improve your browsing experience. Full details on the cookies we use are set out in our Cookies policy. Please click OK to signify your consent to our use of cookies.
You can withdraw your consent by clicking “manage cookies” and following the instructions shown.
Lawyer jobs being taken by robots is a popular media theme these days. However, after having attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference last week, I think the robots may, in fact, be needing us. In the next few years, technology will take us to a level of complexity that is almost unimaginable. That complexity will stretch our existing legal frameworks and require highly skilled lawyers to navigate outcomes.
SXSW is one of the most important technology events on the global calendar. More than 75,000 delegates descended on Austin, Texas, to hear over 5,000 speakers ranging from IT company execs, Hollywood celebrities and no less than six 2020 presidential candidates, including Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz. The big tech companies pay millions to completely transform sleepy restaurants into “Experience Spaces” to capture the eye of SXSW’s young “influencer” crowd. In fact, the event has been called the “Millennials’ Woodstock.”
The big theme from the event was the ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Eminent futurist Amy Webb was asked at the end of her session on tech trends — attended by more than 2,000 people — why she had not mentioned AI. She said the answer is simple: “AI is in everything and every industry, now and in the future.” AI was everywhere at SXSW — in sessions from healthcare, transport and finance, all the way to storytelling. So too was the concern about bias in AI, with at least six sessions dealing with this topic in whole or in part.
Publication
On 14 September 2022, the General Court (GC) confirmed the decision of the European Commission (EC or the Commission) fining Google for having imposed unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices and mobile network operators to consolidate its dominant position on the search engine market.
Publication
On 10 January 2023, the European Commission (Commission) published draft guidelines on the application of a new EU antitrust exemption for sustainability agreements involving producers of agricultural products (the draft Guidelines).
Publication
The European Commission (EC) is expected to adopt a new legislative package making material changes to the “regulation of compulsory licensing of patents” and the “revision of the legislation on supplementary protection certificates (SPCs)”.
Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest legal news, information and events...
© Norton Rose Fulbright LLP 2023