Technology has been the driving force behind the Indian economy for the last two decades. After the dot-com era, tech start-ups took over the pivotal task of bringing in foreign investment and creating jobs in India. Indian lawyers who understand the technology and tech-driven transactions have played a significant role in supporting the growth and development of Indian technology MNCs. India has had the SPDI Rules since 2011 and now a proposed data privacy statute – the Data Protection Bill, on par with GDPR, is being deliberated upon in Parliament.

Argus Partners has developed a strong and robust technology and data privacy practice, which spans transactional, corporate, and regulatory advisory, as well technology-related disputes and litigation. Experienced attorneys are based out of our New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore offices, and the Firm services clients across the globe on Indian legal issues relating to technology and data privacy.

Advisory
We advise some of the largest financial institutions, investors, as well as tech companies, and other corporations on technology regulations (including the recent intermediary rules) and data privacy laws (including legal issues arising out of the migration of data across borders). With the added benefit of relevant domain expertise, our services also include identifying legal, regulatory, and contractual risks in investment transactions and in M&A in the technology sector. We also advise (both vendors and customers) entering into outsourcing, technology transfer, and licensing transactions by assisting in negotiating industry-standard agreements and implementing best practices and contractual safeguards.

Our attorneys are also experienced in advising social media companies on legal compliances applicable to them, including intermediaries’ obligations, laws regulating online content, e-commerce regulations, data privacy, and cybersecurity laws.

Disputes Resolution
The Firm provides end-to-end litigation support, including pre-litigation strategy, on complex disputes involving intermediary liability, information technology, and data privacy-related issues. Our attorneys, based out of our New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore offices, have extensive experience in representing leading social media companies in a wide variety of cases before the Supreme Court, different High Courts and lower courts across the country. Notable categories of cases include civil and criminal defamation cases; IP infringement cases; public interest litigation cases seeking regulation of social media and OTT platforms, and regulation of harmful categories of online content such as hate speech, fake news, pornography, etc.

Research and Knowledge Building Initiatives
We carry out innovative research into the potential impact of the applicable technology and data privacy regulations on Indian businesses. A number of papers relating to the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, and technology-related topics such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies, have been published on the Firm’s online Knowledge Centre, available here. Further, through our initiative, ‘Argus Talks’ (available here) and the monthly Tech Newsletter (available here), we regularly cover the latest developments in the area of technology and data privacy.