Intellectual Property (IP), IT & Commercial contracting and Privacy Law

Solution

Intellectual Property (IP) and IT solutions

Companies are facing an increasing number of business challenges globally including more rigorous regulations and enforcement by local authorities in the countries where they operate. At the same time digitization and technological advancements have increased the complexity of business operations.

Deloitte Legal invests time to understand the needs and operational nuances of our clients. We offer a broad base of commercial business law services in multiple jurisdictions. Our experience and global reach allow us to provide businesses facing complex legal regulations, Intellectual Property (IP), IT and privacy issues with personalized, tailor-made services.

Legal and contractual framework of supply chain management and distribution networks

Legal and contractual frameworks for supply chain management and distribution networks are essential to helping businesses operate smoothly worldwide.

Deloitte Legal professionals have extensive experience in supporting cross-border transactions in all major industries. Our approach focuses on avoiding disputes and litigation by drafting and negotiating appropriate, unambiguous and enforceable contracts.

Deloitte Legal specialists take businesses' commercial objectives and translate them into robust contractual documentation including general terms and conditions appropriate to a variety of distribution (e.g. agency, dealership), supply and transportation agreements as well as export regulations and customs.

Restructuring business functions and outsourcing

Today's globalized economy has opened up new opportunities for businesses looking to find cost savings through progressive sourcing arrangements. Centralization of business functions that take advantage of economies of scale, offshoring or outsourcing work to low cost providers and co-sourcing are common practices. Deloitte Legal assists companies with an array of sourcing arrangements and covers technology infrastructure and support, business process outsourcing, manufacturing, and telecommunications.

Our approach focuses first on the commercial objectives of the business. We help companies establish the flexible working relationships and effective contracts needed to be competitive in today's market. We can support businesses at any stage of the lifecycle including:

  • Negotiation of new contracts
  • Re-evaluation and renegotiation of current outsourcing arrangements
  • Commercial Contracts Advisory, such as license-, transfer- and R&D agreements

Statutory and regulatory compliance

Companies today need to comply with what can be a daunting multitude of national and international legislation and regulations, and need effective business processes to ensure compliance and prevention of regulatory issues. Deloitte Legal provides businesses with guidance on statutory and regulatory obligations relevant to their industry and their operational base including:

  • Trade conventions
  • Fiscal and financial regulations
  • Intellectual property restraints
  • Environmental regulations.

Deloitte Legal spends the time necessary to understand the unique needs and operational nuances of individual companies. We offer a broad base of commercial business solutions and have a large global footprint. Our experience allows us to provide businesses facing complex legal regulations and challenges cohesive, practical advice.

Privacy & Data Protection

Inthe Netherlands, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Dutch GDPR Implementation Act apply to the processing of personal data.

The protection of personal data is important within every company or organisation. It can be a differentiator and a competitive advantage, especially in this digital world. 

Deloitte Legal assists businesses with:

  • Assessing the level of personal data protection of an organisation via a privacy gap assessment and assisting in solving the gaps identified
  • The performance of Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) to identify and mitigate privacy risks to an acceptable level
  • Carrying out privacy-by-design and –default activities; we advise businesses on compliance in the development of their services and products
  • Personal data transfers to countries outside EEA, e.g. drafting Data Transfer Impact Assessments (DTIAs), Binding Corporate Rules (BCR’s), privacy manuals & policies
  • Review and draft data protection clauses and/or privacy related contracts (data processing agreements (DPAs) and joint controllership agreements) and/or (online) privacy statements
  • Data retention obligations and policies
  • Cookie policies
  • Raising privacy awareness by providing awareness trainings to businesses
  • Act as a (Legal) Subject Matter Resource within the Internal Audit department. Review and draft data protection clauses and/or privacy related contracts and/or (online) privacy statements

In addition, we offer the Data Advisory Desk’ through which we advise organizations in the field of data compliance. We take a holistic approach in our Data Advisory Desk services: we focus on different European and local data protection laws, including sector-specific laws. Moreover, depending on the issue, we include contractual requirements and intellectual property rights in our approach to protect and commercialize your data.

IT, Cloud Computing and Big Data

Technology is rapidly evolving and data becomes more and more the engine of our daily life. Outsourcing, SaaS, PaaS, Cloud, Smart City and Big Data are popular buzz words. Technologic developments can reduce company costs and make IT outsourcing more interesting. However, to ensure business continuity and proper handling of (personal) data, the underlying contracts are essential because often this is the only means the company has to control the IT supplier.
Deloitte Legal helps businesses with:

  • (IT) contact drafting and negotiations, e.g. Software as a Service, Shared Services, Service Level Agreements, SAP ERP, Maintenance & Support etc.;
  • Providing advice and assistance in relation to cloud contacts; 
  • Electronic signature validation;
  • Providing advice on ‘Open data’ and ‘Big data’ related legal matters.

Making more of your IP assets

Proper IP management – identifying IP, protecting and maintaining IP and commercially optimizing IP becomes more and more important to keep a competitive market position.

Deloitte Legal combines a broad and deep base of knowledge and experience in local legislation with global reach to provide cross-jurisdiction legal advice. With our innovative tooling and an integrated approach (combining multiple service lines) Deloitte advises you on:

  • Handling of all IP matters, identification, registration, protection and/or (re-)structuring of IP (e.g. trademarks, patents, design rights, plant variety rights, copyrights, database rights). 
  • Advising and drafting IP related contracts; license-, transfer- and R&D agreements and representation before authorities.
  • IP monetization – identifying core and non-IP, advising and preparing a plan to align business and IP strategy to commercialize and optimize the IP.

More information?

For more information about Commercial, IP, IT and Privacy Law, please get in touch with Maaike van Velzen.

Contact

Maaike van Velzen

Maaike van Velzen

Partner

My experience lies in supporting companies in IP and standards matters in the field of intellectual property (IP), IT, and Data protection. More specifically I have gained broad experience in defining... More