Paul Arne advises clients in legal and business issues involving computer technology and the internet, with a special emphasis on complex transactions and difficult legal issues. His practice focuses on the law and business of technology, privacy, security and revenue recognition worldwide:
- when a lot of money is on the line,
- when the issues are complex,
- when the business relationships are strategic, or
- when it’s a bet-the-company transaction.
Paul also draws on his many years of experience to serve as a contract drafting resource for attorneys at the firm.
Paul speaks, writes and advises in legal areas where the application of the law to the newness of technology creates uncertainty. Recent publications and presentations involve:
- Identifying risks in blockchain implementations
- New state laws related to blockchain
- Latest open source developments
- Emerging law related to screen scraping and other data gathering methods
- Software development agreements in light of Agile methodologies
- The protection, or not, of APIs and other interfaces
While Section Chair, Paul guided the Technology Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia in further embracing privacy and security attorneys, resulting in its rebranding to the Privacy & Technology Section.
Paul founded and chairs the firm’s Open Source Practice.
Paul’s publications have appeared in Journal of Internet Law, The Computer & Internet Lawyer, Georgia State Bar Journal, numerous Practicing Law Institute books, and The SciTech Lawyer. His 1995 article “Old Wine in New Bottles: the Emerging Law of the Internet,” was cited in the 9th Circuit’s En Banc decision (concurring opinion) in Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com.
Representative Experience
Some of the more strategic relationships Paul has guided include:
- Back office computing for department store chain to the data center of a competing department store chain
- Development of distributed sales force automation software for all U.S. sales activities of a large pharmaceutical company
- Outside counsel for the development of all sell-side form agreements for a healthcare IT company with multi-billion dollar annual revenues
- Developed form agreements for a company transitioning from a services to a product company, for use in the U.S., EU, EMEA, and AsiaPac
- License of a family of analytics software for use in all products of a multi-billion dollar technology company
All major transactions associated with an S&P 500 company’s transition to a customer-facing services oriented architecture (40+ transactions)
