Information Technology Law

Dr. Andreas Leupold LL.M. was named Best Lawyers' ® 2013 Munich Information Technology "Lawyer of the Year" 2013 and has been included in The Best Lawyers® in Germany” in the fields of „Information Technology“ and „ Media“ (Copyright 2015 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC) upon recommendation of his peers. He is renowned in the IT-, Media and Gaming industries for the sustainable legal safeguarding of business models and for legal representation in litigation before court in proceedings that are of fundamental importance. He is the publishing editor of the Munich Attorneys’ Manual for IT Law, which has been issued in the third edition by the publishing house C.H. Beck and which deals with the most important legal aspects of information technology and has already found a broad range of readers due to its high practical relevance.  

Online law, „Cyber Law“ and „Net Law“ are used today as synonyms in general language for a relatively new legal area that is concerned with use of the Internet by companies and by end-users. In his legal firm Leupold Legal, Dr. Andreas Leupold LL.M has been advising and representing companies from very many different countries in these and in other areas of IT-law for more than 20 years. In particular, his clients trust his expertise in the procurement and operation of software and hardware, in the adaptation and introduction of new ERP and CRM-systems and other application software, in the outsourcing of IT infrastructures and business processes, in the drafting and negotiation of software license and project agreements as well as service level agreements (SLA´s), software support and hardware maintenance contracts, OEM contracts, with source code  depositing (software escrow), in IT asset management, in all legal questions of cloud computing (in particular in the conception and use of private cloud, public cloud and hybrid cloud models) and in the use of so-called digital optical networks, with the sales and licensing of software and the drafting of end user license agreements (EULA´s), the use of open source software, in all questions of Internet law, in online auctions and other sales formats on the  Internet, in the contractual conditions of domain and provider agreements, web design contracts, the compliance of the information and imprint obligations according to the German Telemedia Act and the provision of public access to copyright-protected works. The subject of compliance in general as well as the areas of data security and data protection are becoming more and more important for businesses and are therefore also an important area of legal advice in Dr. Andreas Leupold’s legal firm. The drafting of project, license and sales agreements, taking case law into consideration, is a further focus for Dr. Andreas Leupold since with IT-contracts that are drafted with foresight unintentional budget overruns can be prevented and later conflicts avoided. The anomalies of software and hardware leasing as well as of software and hardware renting and the correct deployment of used software belong to Dr. Andreas Leupold’s advisory service areas. In information technology, the rights of use, processing and transfer are an important topic due to new service and licensing models. For this reason Dr. Andreas Leupold continually furthers his knowledge by visiting national and international specialist congresses in Germany and other countries, in order to find the answers to new legal questions that best meet the economic interests of his clients. This is of particular benefit in the area of cloud computing and mobile applications (APPS) for smart phones and other mobile end appliances like tablet computers. His particular attention is directed here to a best possible and problem-free migration from older systems to modern IT-systems that are no longer operated in the company itself due to cost reasons but instead by external service providers.

The legal aspects of the correct use of antivirus software in all environments also belong to Dr. Andreas Leupold’s areas of legal advice. The appropriate contractual regulation of the implementation of firewalls is indispensible for safeguarding against attacks from external sources for all companies and for this reason an integral part of his practical areas of advice. In addition to that by means of the drafting of suitable security policies – also including the particular requirements for the use of smart phones and tablet PCs in companies (BYOD) in his legal firm Leupold Legal Dr. Andreas Leupold ensures a clear separation of business use from the private use of mobile end appliances by means of defined user groups (“Personae”) within the framework of human computer interaction (HCI). Legal support in the introduction of mobile device management (MDM) also belongs to this area.

Due to the legal representation in litigation for many years of one of the world-wide largest e-commerce platforms in numerous court cases he has gained considerable experience in the defense against forbearance claims and claims for compensation of damages for third party content. In the proceedings led by him for the most important online market places, Dr. Andreas Leupold has fought for and secured several landmark decisions that have defined the framework of liability for other host providers.

The large publishing houses, broadcasting corporations and radio stations have long since had to deal with the Internet as a sales channel. Dr. Andreas Leupold has accompanied renowned newspaper publishers with the introduction of multi-channel editing systems and is very well acquainted with the special challenges that television companies have to manage on their way to tri-medial operation.

The providing of new gaming services and gaming software for PCs and game consoles (“console applications”) and the migration of older games to new end appliances with the assistance of a “virtual console” and the binding of new console games to individual user accounts touches upon questions of IT and copyright law that can only be answered by those who have tried and tested knowledge in different areas of the law. With his experience for many years in IT law and also in Media & Entertainment law and Gaming and Gambling law Dr. Andreas Leupold provides the contractual legal security and defense against new license and monetization models in a media landscape that is continually changing and offers new chances unknown until now for the opening of new markets and customers groups for established market participants and also for newcomers.

Companies using industrial 3D-printing for manufacturing prototypes and additive manufacturing of consumer goods, spare parts and other products  can also profit from practical experience that Dr. Andreas Leupold has gained over many years in IT Law.