Technology Law for Businesses in the Reading Area

Reading has firmly established itself as one of Europe’s leading tech and innovation hubs.

  • Reading is the main centre of the UK’s Silicon Corridor stretching from Reading to Swindon.

  • Reading is home to tech giants Cisco, Microsoft and Oracle, among others.

  • The growing number of tech businesses in Reading and surrounding areas is driven by the availability of a strong talent pool and through close access to academic research and development from the University of Oxford, the University of Reading and Henley Business School.

  • The Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis 2022 published by the Department for Digital, Culture and Sport highlights the area’s growing importance as a cyber security cluster, especially around Oxford, Reading, Swindon & Wiltshire.

  • Thames Valley Science Park, owned by Reading University is home to over 80 businesses ranging from early stage start-ups to global R&D centres.

  • The Thames Valley involves over 58,000 people in the tech and digital workforce.

As the innovation ecosystem in Reading continues to grow how can the tech lawyers at EM Law help the businesses that are thriving there and why would those businesses consider EM Law for support?

The Experts on Technology Law 

Our technology lawyers work with a wide range of SME technology businesses handling a diverse array of technology and innovation projects. We are recommended by Chambers and Partners in their UK guide for best law firms for SMEs. We’ve worked with cutting edge clients doing all kinds of interesting and fun things. Check out our video with Extend Robotics, a leading UK robotics development business based in Reading, here.

While we are based in London, we support clients across the UK – including in Reading – offering value for money, wherever our client is based. We have shared office and private meeting room space a stones’ throw from Reading station at Thames Tower.

From drafting SaaS contracts for Medtech start-ups to advising a foreign government on the procurement of an immigration management system, our software and technology lawyers have the experience and commercial acumen to help technology businesses with their legal needs whether in the UK or around the world.

While many of the legal support needs for technology businesses in Reading will be similar to the needs of technology businesses in other parts of the UK, Reading in particular is home to a large number of businesses with an AI focus.

So while a tech sector business will need help generally with:

  • intellectual property rights
  • software and technology contracts and licensing
  • data protection and privacy

Tech businesses in Reading will often need that advice to be tailored with AI law and issues in mind.

Our clients want more than a legal solution – they want the best legal solution tailored for them to achieve their specific needs. A high growth software start-up will often have a different approach to the kind of technology contracts they will want to present to their customers than the one taken by an established business more able to dictate terms. In both cases legal risk needs to be covered appropriately but there will be different approaches to risk versus ease of doing business. Our software and AI lawyers combine their technical experience and pragmatic approach to come up with the best solutions for our clients.

Services provided by our Software and Tech Lawyers

How EM Law Can Help Businesses Reliant On Technology

Businesses that supply software or which are reliant on technology in a significant way need advice on their software supply or purchase contracts to ensure that their rights are protected. The most obvious rights to be protected are intellectual property rights but aside from these there are other important provisions to take into account. For example, warranty and limitation of liability clauses. As with most commercial contracts but in particular with technology contracts, data protection issues must also be addressed and dealt with properly. Many businesses are not aware of all the issues that need to be considered or the appropriate position to adopt in negotiations. This is where EM Law can help.

Working With EM Law – A Corporate Minded Law Firm

First and foremost, EM Law’s approach is very commercial. Most of our clients are not in a position to provide contracts to their customers on a “take it or leave it” basis and on the flip side they are usually not in a position to demand many changes to the supply contract put in front of them. Our clients therefore come to us to draft contracts that, while protecting them, are going to work for their customers without heavy negotiation or they ask us to let them know what changes to the contract that they are being asked to sign are essential.

Many of our clients, even in start-up phase, are looking to make themselves attractive for investment or acquisition. The advice that we give is always provided with this in mind. We produce documentation and solutions that we expect City lawyers to review and sign off on when carrying out due diligence on behalf of a purchaser or investor.

Software and Tech Lawyers – Our Experience

Here are some examples of work performed by our software and tech lawyers.

  • advising a telecommunications business on a wide range of commercial agreements in connection with its cloud-based VOIP service including its channel provider agreements, distributor agreements, shared facilities agreements, dial-through fraud protection guarantees; service level arrangements and platform agreements
  • advising a tech company based in California on the supply of its helpdesk platform solutions to Formula 1 and other UK businesses
  • advising a major player in the international development sector on all aspects of its software supply, integration and support service to governments in Africa and Asia
  • drafting a contact for a government to use in its tender documents in connection with the procurement of an immigration management system with associated hardware purchases such as e-gates
  • drafting a contract for a large consultancy to supply to a government procuring a customs management system
  • advising an e-discovery business on a range of agreements for its e-discovery and forensics services business including terms and conditions of business, conflict policies; master services agreements and software licences
  • advising a property management software business on its software-as-a-service supply to various banks in Ghana
  • advising a traffic monitoring provider on its software-as-a-service supply to clients in the UK and overseas and on a bid to supply traffic data to an authority in the U.S
  • advising a start-up in connection with the development of a mobile app that will provide access to medical support for members of the public in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • advising the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on the procurement of a geospatial database to monitor activities in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
  • advising the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on the contractual arrangements and the IPR and general data protection regulation around a major project to collect “green projects” data in Africa and Latin America
  • advising a website design and development business on all aspects of its operations including putting in place standard website design and development agreements, SLAs, hosting agreements and licence arrangements

Tech Law FAQs

What are tech lawyers?

A tech lawyer is a lawyer that has a deep understanding of legal principles and technology clients but are capable of linking the two disciplines. They’re experts in protecting and facilitating the promotion of the latest technologies, and they help businesses at all levels get their new idea off the ground.

What does a tech lawyer do?

What tech lawyers do on a day to day basis may not be that different to what other lawyers do – advising clients, drafting agreements, dealing with disputes and so on. The difference is that tech lawyers have a deep understanding of the specific issues that relate to how businesses use and sell tech. This isn’t just SaaS. A tech lawyer could assist with the agreements necessary to produce a new type of robot, the deployment of AI based solutions, or the launch of the next big video game.

Why do you need a technology lawyer?

A technology lawyer can help you protect your intellectual property, negotiate and draft contracts, and advise you on other legal matters related to your technology business.

A technology lawyer can also help you navigate the complex legal landscape of the tech industry. In the Reading area, many tech businesses will be looking for lawyer with expertise in Generative AI.

If you are starting a tech company in Reading, or if you are involved in any aspect of the technology industry, you should consult with a technology lawyer because there are many legal issues that are unique to the tech industry.

What does tech law mean?

Tech law is a branch of law that covers legal issues specifically related to technology. This includes everything from online privacy and data protection to intellectual property law.

Tech law is a rapidly growing field, as more and more people are using technology in their everyday lives and investors are piling in to businesses that specialise in artificial intelligence solutions.

One of the key aspects of tech law is the way it intersects with other areas of law. For example, intellectual property law is important for protecting the copyrights and trademarks of tech companies. Similarly, contract law is important for setting out the terms of business deals, and tort law can be used to deal with online defamation or privacy breaches.

Get in touch if you are a Reading business needing technology law support

Like most law firms, we usually speak with our clients online but we are more than happy to meet in person in Reading.