Technology, Media & Telecommunications

The blurring boundaries within the media and entertainment space continually redefine who is a partner and who is a competitor, creating a contentious environment that makes effective and experienced legal representation essential. Winston’s Media & Entertainment Group has a long history of helping the world’s tech pioneers clear the hurdles they face in developing and distributing innovative, content-rich communication channels that are accessible anywhere and anytime. Our extensive roots in Silicon Valley and other key tech hubs allow us to support the legal needs and business objectives of innovative companies with disruptive business models and aggressive targets. The firm also has deep roots in traditional media and entertainment, representing some of the world’s most prominent print, music, and broadcast companies in matters that have redefined the industry.

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The adoption of FinTech by consumers and third parties requires sound risk management frameworks to identify, manage, and control the associated risks of delivering these products. Our FinTech attorneys support clients throughout the entire business life cycle, from proof of concept through maturity, and understand the intellectual property, data security, commercial, and regulatory issues associated with each phase, such as IP licenses and transfers, international privacy compliance, investments, BSA/AML and OFAC regulations, and responses to supervisory concerns and enforcement actions. We possess a particular strength in counseling financial institutions and payments firms on strategy, legal risk, and requirements at a national and state level and assist with the licensing process and related issues for domestic payment firms and international companies entering the U.S. market.

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Innovation in health care technology continues to transform the industry and dramatically alter business models. As organizations race to harness patient data, personalize care, implement new technologies, communicate with patients, and revolutionize business partnerships, they must contend with a range of legal challenges. Winston’s Health Care Technology Solutions Group— an interdisciplinary team that includes deeply experienced practitioners in health care regulation, privacy, cybersecurity, technology, and class action defense, as well as a former federal privacy regulator and a federal cybersecurity prosecutor, provides strategic advice to help clients navigate this dynamic and rapidly changing legal landscape. We advise in areas such as big data, privacy and cybersecurity, blockchain, artificial intelligence, mobile health and wearables, technology infrastructure, and telehealth. Enlisting capabilities from across practices, we are uniquely positioned to help clients in this sector develop innovative business models within the constraints of shifting regulations, stay aligned the latest regulations, anticipate challenges, and defend significant litigation actions as new health care technologies evolve.

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The global race by nations to reach autonomy in semiconductor production has led to an influx of capital in the industry spurred by government statutes like the United States Chips and Science Act and the European Chips Act. In this highly competitive industry, legal strategy is an extension of business strategy, and zealous and effective advocacy is essential. Winston’s Semiconductor & Materials Science Group represents more than half of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers in navigating their litigation and transactional needs.

Our technically trained, cross-practice team has experience with all related technologies, including photolithography, etching, polishing, deposition, chips, wafers, transistors, flash memory, DRAMs, LED and LCD, and nano-scale elements, among others. We have represented several leading semiconductor companies in patent litigation in all the leading U.S. patent jurisdictions, and we have an operational partnership with locally qualified IP attorneys at YuandaWinston, our strategic alliance in China. This allows us to pursue a comprehensive legal strategy that spans confidential arbitration of IP disputes at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, to enforcement and civil actions in PRC courts, to actions before Federal District Courts and the ITC.

We also represent semiconductor and materials science companies meet their transactional goals through acquisitions and divestitures, antitrust review, structuring IP-driven joint ventures and strategic alliance agreements, compliance with securities laws, and the full life cycle of project development, including real estate transactions and environmental permitting.

Winston’s Software, Big Data & AI Group has represented dozens of SaaS and cloud companies, helping them to make the journey from early-stage ventures to established industry players. Our attorneys have experience across industries, ranging from health care to transportation, allowing us to help platform companies craft effective and highly tailored go-to-market strategies. We draw upon our extensive work in private equity and M&A to provide our clients with granular intelligence on the financing and investment market, and routinely counsel both software vendors and customers in connection with drafting and negotiating technology and commercial contracts and service agreements for the development, testing, manufacture, marketing, and sale and purchase of technology products and services.

Our deal team is supported by the firm’s more than 500 litigators. While one of the end-goals of technology advancement is to avoid litigation, constant innovation inevitably results in disputes. Winston is known as a trial lawyers’ firm, and we stand ready to help our tech clients protect their products and services. We regularly represent clients in this sector in all types of litigation that can arise in running a business, including matters related to contracts, trade secrets, unfair competition, securities, and corporate transactions, among others. In addition, Winston’s technically trained IP attorneys are well-versed in helping software clients safeguard their most valuable assets, advising on patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

With platform companies playing the roles of both utilities and gatekeepers, companies across industries must anticipate increased regulatory scrutiny and antitrust enforcement due to the intersection of data-driven marketing and privacy rights. Our team also advises clients on the evolving legal and regulatory frameworks put forth by the U.S., Canada, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation surrounding big data and AI-based algorithms, security concerns, and other harmful uses of this technology. We help companies identify data sources; implement tools like AI, cloud, and machine learning to better harness and store data; and protect both sensitive data and the innovation behind it.

The maturation of 5G technology heralds the start of a dynamic new chapter for technology infrastructure—but also one that promises to be contentious, with winners and losers emerging from extensive market battles. Winston’s Technology Infrastructure Group provides clients with the legal firepower they need to manage FRAND, patent, and antitrust issues in an environment where intellectual property is broadly scattered and standards are still being set. While we help companies with issues relating to products, marketing, licensing, and business models, we also have extensive experience with matters involving investors, funding, and other corporate concerns.

Our Technology Infrastructure team’s capabilities are enhanced by the breadth of its experience. In addition to working closely with technology infrastructure firms, we also help companies across industries manage the large-scale hardware and software procurement that comes with changes in wireless technologies, and we have worked extensively with investors and lenders in structuring financing agreements.

With new products backed by $100 million, bet-the-company development budgets, stadiums with naming rights, and stars with endorsement deals, videogames and gaming now have all the trappings—and legal complexities—of major film studios and traditional sports leagues. Enterprises in this industry need advice and counsel with experience across a range of legal disciplines. Our global depth allows us to provide comprehensive, holistic legal solutions to our client roster, which includes creators of some of the most-played and highest-grossing video games on the market today.

We help our videogame clients strategically and creatively protect their intellectual property through litigating trade secret, trademark, and copyright matters, as well as licensing and other technology transaction disputes. We represent videogame clients in mergers, acquisitions, SPAC IPOs and business combinations, restructuring, and other corporate transactions, and have helped esports companies to establish global sports leagues, sell franchises, and develop proactive legal solutions for antitrust issues that arise from league operations. We also represent both rights owners and videogame companies in licensing issues for game content and those surrounding the creation, sale, and licensing of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

To our lottery and gaming clients, we provide regulatory and compliance advice related to anti-money laundering, gaming board investigations, government regulations, consumer-facing privacy policies, and website terms of use.