AI, Data & Digital

Privacy and Data Protection

• We advise a cloud technology company on the design and development of an innovative social media platform. This large project encompasses advice on compliance with all applicable EU, UK and US digital laws and forthcoming regulations (e.g., data protection, privacy, cybersecurity, content moderation, AI, etc.), as well as strategic advice on company’s development and growth.
• We assist an application for undergraduate college admission that applicants use to apply to colleges and universities across the United States, as well as in Canada, China, Japan, and many European countries, with compliance with all applicable EU, UK and US privacy and data protection laws.
• We have been advising a machinery manufacturing company on the applicability of the Digital Services Act Regulation to the client’s design and social media platform. We have further been assisting the client on compliance with the obligations imposed by this new regulation.
• We represent an advertising and marketing technology company based in Irving, Texas, on a number of matters arising from government inquiries into the management and use of consumer data.
• We advise a mining company on legal remedies against a global provider of financial market data for multiple violations of the founder’s right to privacy. We have been providing advice on the choice of the legal forum and the defense strategy. Steptoe team has further been instructing and coordinating advice from local counsel in the relevant jurisdictions.
• We advise a leading global genealogy platform on: (i) the development, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of its global data privacy program; (ii) engagement with privacy regulators; and (iii) cyber incident response.

Artificial Intelligence

• We represent the AI Data Integrity Coalition that advocates for transparency and disclosure of data sources for Large Language and Foundation Models of Generative AI (GAI)companies. We also advocate for attribution and provenance of GAI outputs.
• We represent a major global publishing house around AI and copyright, data protection and use, as well as licensing opportunities and AI legislative and regulatory developments around the world.

Cybersecurity

• We represented the CEO of a cybersecurity company in presenting testimony to the United States Senate Commerce Sub-Committee on Consumer Protection regarding bug bounties. We also advise the company on certain federal agency and legislative developments relating to cybersecurity, as well as engage with the pertinent agency and Congressional staff and members of Congress as appropriate.

 Internet, Telecom and Media

• We advise a major online lodging marketplace on regulatory and legislative proposals and efforts in the Short-Term Rental space. We have reviewed, analyzed and advocated on dozens of international, federal, state, and local existing and proposed Short-Term Rental ordinances, laws, and regulations. We also provide advice and counsel regarding general internet law developments, including new EU laws such as the Digital Markets and Digital Services Act, and US federal and state housing and other anti-discrimination laws.
• Representing the internet industry, we have achieved victories or partial victories in favor of net neutrality protections in all three Court of Appeals cases that have been decided over the last 12 years on this important subject.
• We successfully fought against the previous presidential administration’s effort to abridge the freedom of social media platforms.
• We won a landmark case before the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit against the FCC's "broadcast flag" requirement, which would have prevented the internet redistribution of high definition television content.
• We won the plug and play case in the DC Circuit, and an important case striking down internet video taxes in the Seventh Circuit.

 Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

• We advise a digital asset trade association on public policy issues involving anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance matters, as well as tax policy matters, and assist with comments to bodies like the US Treasury Department, the Financial Action Task Force, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
• We advise a crypto research company and its principals on political law issues as the company announced their intention to be significant participants in the public policy debates involving digital assets. We also help them ensure their compliance with applicable laws in doing so.
• We advise a software development company on the US aspects of structuring and forming a cryptocurrency fund, including the drafting of US fund formation documents, as well as discussions with client’s BVI, Cayman, and European counsel and client’s tax consulting firm. We also assist the client in drafting agreements with its business partners in connection with the US aspects of its cryptocurrency fund.

Litigation

• We represented a software technology company in a patent infringement case against a Canadian multinational e-commerce company related to mobile phone and website functionality. We served as first chair trial counsel and won a $40 million jury verdict, where the jury found all asserted claims at trial were infringed and valid.
• We defended an electronic learning toy company in a Federal Trade Commission investigation and a series of consumer class actions – among the first of their kind – asserting diminished value claims based on a data breach involving online products and applications. Steptoe resolved the claims following aggressive motion practice with protective measures and retail credits.
• We successfully resolved claims against a prominent genetic test company for allegedly violating the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act in its handling of genetic testing material acquired from patients in other states because one of the payors for the genetic tests was located in Illinois.
• We prosecuted claims against thieves who set up a phony website in the name of a global media-buying company and solicited prospective employees and advertisers to the website only to steal their personal and financial information. We quickly obtained a restraining order and injunction allowing us to seize the website and dismantle it, freeze the accounts into which funds had gone, and assist law enforcement in shutting down the overseas thieves as well as their US accomplice.
• We are advising a Chinese consumer electronics company in multi-year litigation in multiple courts and countries on a $600 million trade secret case.
• We represent numerous companies, including the world’s leading learning company, a global appliance company, and a nationwide security company, in threatened class action lawsuits or arbitration alleging numerous theories of violations under California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, California Penal Code § 630, et seq. Several theories allege that our clients aided and abetted third-party vendors to have simultaneous, real-time access to the website user’s chat communications without the user’s knowledge or consent. 
• We represent several companies in matters concerning their website session replay technology where a user’s interactions are allegedly intercepted, recorded, and transmitted to third parties without consent during a user’s communications with the website, including mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and search terms in real time while the user browses the website. These cases typically resolve either prior to the filing of a lawsuit, or early on in the pleadings stage.
• We represent one of the leading brands serving digital and software-based businesses in: (i) a putative class action filed against it in federal district court in San Diego; and (ii) a putative class action filed against it in the Northern District of Florida alleging violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act do-not-call laws as well as the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act autodialer laws.

 Enforcement and Investigation

• We represent an American television provider in appealing a Federal Communication Commission (FCC) order that approved a huge constellation of 7,500 satellites (representing triple the total number of satellites launched into orbit since the dawn of the space age) and is involved in several other ongoing proceedings regarding an American spacecraft manufacturer’s application.
• We represent a coalition of wireless companies, Steptoe successfully convinced the FCC to open a rulemaking about the 12 GHz band — a crucial portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
• We assist a social media platform with complex FCC experimental licensing issues. Representation includes preparation of FCC applications, negotiation with FCC staff and the Interagency Radio Advisory Committee, coordination with incumbent FCC licenses for consent to use their spectrum, and reporting to the FCC as required.
• We represent a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange company and a cryptocurrency stablecoin in connection with investigations relating to clients by multiple enforcement agencies, including the New York Attorney General's Office and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.