newtech.law - legal aspects of new technologies

A couple of years ago, there were just a few lawyers interested in cryptocurrencies handling the small number of cases in this area. Businesses using this technology had little need for legal services, as the prevailing view among them was that few aspects of their operations were subject to any legal regulation.

2017 was undoubtedly the year of the ICO—raising funds by distribution of blockchain tokens. Although neither initial coin offerings nor tokens were entirely new, in 2017 they exploded with full force, generating a huge growth in interest in blockchain technology.

The Global Legal Hackathon last weekend (23–25 February 2018) offered an excellent opportunity to grasp the potential that can be released from cooperation between lawyers and IT specialists. Legal Tech solutions are more than just technological novelties. They are solutions that can protect our legal system against a serious crisis.

The Lex Mundi working group for blockchain has prepared a Global Token Sales Guide summarising the different regulatory regimes for ICOs (initial coin offerings) in key jurisdictions around the world. Wardyński & Partners authored the section on Poland.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now capable of producing ever-more complex creations which are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from works made by human beings. Recent news shows that this reality is truly upon us. First, there were the algorithm-created paintings whose complexity and unconventional style were anonymously judged to be superior to human efforts. Then, a novel written by a Japanese AI algorithm made it past the initial selection round for a national literary prize.

Technological advance and resultant socio-economic “revolutions” have always triggered significant developments in international economic law.

In the 15^th and 16^th centuries, inventions in navigation and cartography and the discoveries of new lands and trade routes led to innovations in economic organization, the “commercial revolution”, globalization of trade and the beginnings of international trade law.