IT Disputes

Our specialist Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team are adept at handling even the most complex IT or Technology dispute.

This area of law requires a hybrid of skillsets capable of understanding not only the technical aspects of the dispute but also the ability to make sense of often highly complex contracts between a range of parties. 

Most businesses and organisations enter into contractual relationships with technology providers, whether in relation to networking, telecoms, computing, security, cloud business applications or any other IT related needs.  As such, contractual disputes occur all too frequently.

Our IT Disputes Expertise

Our IT Disputes expertise includes advising on the following areas:

• IT delivery and performance disputes

• Cybersecurity breaches

• Breach of licensing terms

• Failure to fulfil obligations in the context of Joint Ventures and partnerships

• Employment disputes due to theft or misuse of company data

• Intellectual property (i.e. computer software code and design)

• Compliance breaches (i.e. data protection/GDPR, Basel II and III for financial services, healthcare, and public sector)

One area of common dispute relates to service level agreements, whereby promised performance targets in relation to service response or resolution times have been routinely breached.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

We can assist clients at any stage of a dispute with a technology provider, whether putting the other party on notice regarding performance concerns, entering into alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") or formal litigation.

We understand that formal litigation is not always advantageous in contexts whereby the relationship with a third-party IT provider is strategically imperative, and there is no desire to terminate contractual relations.  It may be that it has taken considerable time, money and resource to reach a specific point in a joint venture or partnership project, and hence the goal is to purely resolve a specific matter and preserve the relationship.  In such cases, ADR can be truly effective.

IT Security Breaches

Our litigation team can also advise in relation to disputes arising from mis-selling, whereby a technology provider of any type has misrepresented their technical or delivery capabilities.  In such situations, you may be seeking to terminate your contract or to find ways to resolve the matter, perhaps by seeking damages for losses.

We are also able to provide legal guidance in relation to breaches of your IT security, including breaches of data and intellectual property.  If an IT provider or information processor (as in the context of the GDPR) has placed data held by your organisation at risk or caused it to be unlawfully acquired through a cyber attack, we can assist you.