Publications

Data-driven insights into class action risk across Europe

March 2024

February 2024

With big deals fuelling record levels of M&A activity, a steady stream of innovative and disruptive technologies, new and increasingly complex regulatory challenges and a thriving start-up community...

We were delighted to bring you this year’s Forum, “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law”, from Amsterdam. The theme “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law” aimed to:Uncover the latest breakthroughs: Dive into the forefront of life sciences advances, including biotechnology, genetics, pharmaceuticals, and medical devicesAddress the regulatory gap: Engage in interactive workshops to bridge the divide between rapid innovation and the development of legal frame­work­sNav­ig­ate global challenges: Explore the impact of globalisation, ethical considerations, privacy concerns, and societal implications on the life sciences sectorFoster collaboration: Connect with legal and scientific minds, exchange ideas, and build valuable re­la­tion­shipsP­resent­a­tions were delivered by fantastic industry speakers, including Annemiek Verkamman (Managing Director, Hollandbio), Charida Dorder (Member of the Dutch AI Coalition), Wouter Boon (Associate Professor, Utrecht University) and Marc Kaptein (Medical Director, Pfizer), as they shared their expertise, thoughts and insights on how the sector is “Blurring Boundaries”. We were also joined by Simon Neill (Senior Legal Director) at Johnson & John­son and Joep Rijnierse (Senior Medical Director) at Amgen in our workshops. This webpage has been designed to keep you updated on the Forum, our speakers, as well as provide you with the useful resources complementing the theme “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law”. You will also find on this page details on how to stay connected with CMS through our upcoming webinar series, On the Pulse Webinar Series 2023 - Autumn (cms. law); free eAlert service, Law-Now; and social media channels.

Assisting companies scale their digital therapeutics (DTx) internationally

We are pleased to share with you the 2024 edition of the European M&A Outlook, published by CMS in association with Mergermarket.

Data-driven insights into class action risk across Europe, a key concern for major corporates

Patented technology often ranks among a company's most valued as­sets. Pro­tect­ing your business from patent in­fringe­ment – or defending yourself against patent infringement claims of third parties – can be a complex and intensive process. CMS International Patent Litigation Guide (4th edition) is your essential tool to get an overview of the options and pathways to enforce patents in the courts of 18 major jurisdictions. Drawing on the expertise of CMS patent law specialists, this essential and fully-updated guide provides clear and concise coverage of patent infringement proceedings and practice. For each jurisdiction, you can quickly assess and compare critical issues such as:Standing - Who is entitled to sue for patent infringement, the number of parties that can be included in proceedings and time limits in which infringement claims must be boughtTiming and Forum – Where proceedings are brought, typical duration of trials and the handling of FRAND/compulsory licenses in court pro­ceed­ing­sEvid­ence – Use of expert witnesses, disclosure requirements and rules on seizure of evid­ence/doc­u­ment­s­Ap­peals – Routes, grounds and timings for appeal – and the potential interim enforcement of first instance de­cisionsCosts – Estimated legal costs, appeal costs and recoverability of litigation costsIn addition, the CMS International Patent Litigation Guide covers topics like Alternative Dispute Resolution, Remedies and Injunctions – and your CMS Patent Law team in each market. For dedicated information on the enforcement of European Patents before the Unified Patent Court please also visit our CMS UPC Insight  webpage.

The Life Sciences and Healthcare Sector is highly tech­no­logy-driv­en and an increasingly dynamic approach is taken when adopting busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies. This sector’s above-average uptake in technology is reflected in its prioritisation of measures against IT failure. However, the sector is often underprepared for technology risks, with many businesses still not having processes in place to manage key risks despite current and future concerns around disputes arising from this area. This report is a deep dive into data first produced for the report Technology Transformation: Managing Risks in a Changing Landscape. This saw over 500 people surveyed from multiple industries across the world. Here we look in detail at the 75 respondents from the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector, and their perspectives on the risks associated with busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies, including emerging technologies. Download the Technology Transformation Life Sciences and Healthcare report now to read about:Drivers of technology adoption in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectorNew risks emerging and traditional barriers to risk man­age­ment­Cur­rent technology risks in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectorFuture risks, including IP concerns and AIPreferred approaches to technology dispute resolution for the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector

A warm welcome... ... to the fourth edition of the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report – the anniversary edition celebrating five years of GDPR. In the five years since the GDPR became applicable its powerful framework for imposing fines has certainly helped to raise awareness and encourage compliance efforts – just as the European legislator intended. At the same time, the risk of fines of up to EUR 20 million or 4% of a company’s global annual turnover can also lead to fear and reluctance or ignorance about compliance issues. We still believe that facts are better than fear. This is why we continuously update our list of publicly known fines in the GDPR  Enforcement Tracker and started the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report as an annual deep dive approach to provide you with more insights into the world of GDPR fines. As in the three previous editions, the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report starts with the Executive Summary (also available as a PDF version), followed by the “Numbers and Figures” section and the “Enforcement Insights per business sector” (also including the overarching employment category. The “Enforcement Insights per country” provide background on the specific enforcement framework under national law. Some remarks on our methodology can be found at the very end of the report.