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Tech Legal Outlook 2023

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Tech Legal Outlook 2023

Disruptive forces are shaping the outlook for 2023: geopolitical tensions, climate change, high energy prices, and rapidly increasing interest rates are having a profound impact on the global economy. Tech companies are not immune to such forces, and we have already seen a significant revaluation of the sector. These macro headwinds come at a time of continuing intense regulatory scrutiny of the tech sector and the increasing cost and risk of litigation, particularly class actions.

Yet harnessing technology advances remains a key enabler for businesses to access new opportunities or evolve their operating model. Certain tech verticals will therefore continue to attract significant investment as companies and investors adapt to a new market dynamic and organisations pursue a digital and more sustainable future.

We consider the key global trends in the technology sector that we believe will shape the legal outlook for businesses in 2023 and beyond.

Key themes

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1.1

Unlocking value in digital spaces - the role of NFTs

As the digital economy evolves, businesses continue to look to new ways of engaging with customers in a digitally native format, including using NFTs and tokenisation. As new applications and use cases for NFTs emerge, businesses will need to navigate the legal and risk issues to leverage the opportunities NFTs offer.

1.2

Financing net zero tech

Many different technologies will need to be rapidly developed and scaled if the world is going to achieve the transition to net zero by 2050. They will require significant public and private investment in 2023 and beyond.

1.3

IP collaborations and scaling net zero tech

To achieve net zero by 2050, trillions of dollars of investment is needed in net zero technologies. Harnessing the intellectual property rights in these technologies is key to enabling the investment and collaborations needed to develop, scale, and deploy these technologies in 2023 and beyond.

1.4

Regulators circling on investments in future tech

With rapid change forced by digitalisation, energy transition and deglobalisation, companies continue to invest in new technologies to future-proof their business and adjust to the new geopolitical realities. Yet they need to take account of increased governmental scrutiny and regulation and the need for potential filings in almost all transactions.

2.1

Global data flows

In a world where digital connectivity is critical to consumers, businesses and economies, there is a desire for more robust data and cyber protections, and a perceived need to safeguard national security interests. In 2023, we expect businesses to face increasing compliance requirements with the development of national and potentially supranational frameworks seeking to regulate increasingly global data flows.

2.2

New competition tools

In 2022, governments, regulators, and competition authorities focused intently on the tech sector. With new competition tools, greater scrutiny of mergers and a desire to keep pace with tech developments such as the metaverse, competition law will continue to shape the digital economy in 2023 and beyond.

2.3

Competition litigation and the rise of class actions

Until relatively recently, competition class actions were primarily a US phenomenon, but a flurry of recent claims in the UK and the EU mark a shift in the risk outlook for the tech sector. Claimants are pursuing class actions in multiple jurisdictions with firms willing to pursue novel claims, even without a prior infringement finding by a competition authority.

Tech Legal Outlook 2023



Download the publication to find out more about key global trends in the technology sector that we believe will shape the legal outlook for your business in 2023 and beyond

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front cover of tech legal outlook pdf

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