New Technologies

Innovation and technology: our passion at the service of profession

Studio Turini has always dealt with new technologies, firstly for passion and then for work.

We were the first to deal with the Internet from a legal point of view.  Since the late 90’s, lawyer Laura Turini has managed columns on this topic in important sector magazines – just to mention “Internet News” and the dedicated column in the insert Nòva of the newspaper IlSole24ore.

Many topics have been covered during these years, from file sharing, provider responsibility, to the management of domain names disputes, to e-commerce and social networks.

In the last years the topics evolved and today the firm also deals with Blockchain and NFTs, very useful tools to implement new businesses and to offer many valid and innovative legal solutions to clients.

360° assistance on software

At the basis of it all, there is passion for software and for its many implications and application possibilities.

We assist and advise many developers and software houses both to guarantee a form of protection for new solutions created and to set up a regulation of contractual aspects which are specific and essential in this particular sector.

The first step is to understand the functioning of the software and the characteristics of its code and interfaces. How the software is made available (on premises, saas, etc), if it’s a basic software or executive software is also particularly relevant.

On this basis, the protection strategy and every contractual scheme with respect to the developers and licensee or final users are established.

Software and App: Product development and distribution

Software can manage many devices with different functions, which can go from the firmware inside of electronic means to more advanced programs which manage complex operations.

Software is also at the base of internet websites, of apps and increasingly integrated in IoT and home automation electronic devices. 

Even though they are all software, the products change shape and therefore the protection and the contractual aspects are very different from case to case.

We have faced many cases and have gained experience thanks to which we can offer targeted legal assistance and we can suggest the best contracts to set up different business models.

In our firm, the client can find professionals who speak their language and are able to assist them.

The professionals of our firm attended specific courses on software during these years and, in particular, Laura Turini attended Python programming and Legal Tech courses.

We can suggest and draft specific contracts, like escrow contracts, and can deposit software at third institutions, for particularly relevant license and transfer operations.

NFT / Blockchain

Blockchain can be adapted to many different operations and in particular it is useful for all those operations which need to keep an intangible documentary record of a certain event.

All that is registered in the Blockchain cannot be modified, unless one tampers with the hash code, that is the imprint also in time, of the file itself.

For this reason, Blockchain is for example, used for:

  • Certifying the product or service supply chain;
  • Keeping track of the product development procedure, in order to demonstrate the existence of copyright also.

Blockchains are also at the base of NFT, non-fungible tokens, that is of those tokens connected to digital assets registered, or better “minted”, precisely on the blockchain to be fixed indelibly.

Selling NFTs, an operation to manage carefully

Selling NFTs is a constantly growing business. Third-party platforms are often used to advertise and sell NFTs, which allows one to host NFTs, to sell and buy them through their platforms.

OpenSea is one of the most famous platforms, but there are many more, some dedicated to specific topics.

Before deciding where to advertise and sell an NFT, it is useful to examine attentively the contractual conditions of the used platform. Every platform has its rules and the advice of a lawyer is essential to avoid any risk.

Studio Turini assists its client, presenting risks and advantages of using a platform rather than another. Our goal is to make you conscious of the consequences of relying on a NFT service provider rather than another.

Expensive NFTs, rare NFTs: buying NFT, but be aware

The assistance of Studio Turini is particularly valuable, or better essential, also for anybody who buys NFTs.

NFT is a new tool which can have high risks.

NFT is essentially a code which includes a smart contract that “regulates” the sale of a digital asset connected to it (for example an artwork), which is nevertheless different and separated from the NFT.

Whoever buys a NFT therefore does not buy the work linked to the NFT, but the rights connected to such work, to the extent specified inside the NFT.

This forces those who buy and sell NFTs to have a clear knowledge of what rights they are acquiring, which can be obtained only through a detailed analysis of the NFT itself.

There are then important implications from the copyright point of view, which remains always to whoever created the digital work and that, generally, is not transferred together with the NFT.

There are rare NFT and very expensive NFT, whose value is determined by the market.

NFT is an investment, but it is necessary to know what we are buying, what rights we obtain and what can be possibly resold, before deciding to buy a high value NFT.

NFT and works of art

We can assist in the exam and the legal assessment of NFT in general, and in particular for ones connected to the art world.

We have a deep knowledge connected to the art and cultural heritage sector, since we have designed a system to manage rights in order to facilitate the granting of rights on museums’ works of art for commercial purposes, increasing the revenues of the museums.

The flow of rights, even pertaining to Cultural heritage, is an extremely valid tool to offer resources to Museums without depriving them of their own rights, but by increasing their assets and growing the knowledge of the work in their possession.

Metaverse or augmented virtual reality: a world to explore

The metaverse is evolving and we still can’t say what direction it will take. The experiences of virtual augmented reality are instead a concrete reality and represent, like the Metaverse, a digital reality where we can move with the impression of being in the real world.

In these digital worlds, Avatars move, which are depictions of the people who navigate them. But in these environments NFTs have a very important role also, they can be traded and have as objects very different digital assets, from shoes to T-shirts to paintings.

Studio Turini assists organizations and institutions in the creation of Metaverses, or augmented virtual realities, to allow them to present their products and services.

Domain recovery

 In the context of new technologies, domain names represent an important asset.

The domain name is what makes a website recognizable and reachable. The website is today a very important tool in business development and in the circulation of ideas. The same platforms for NFTs transactions are connected to websites.

The names of Websites are like trademarks, distinctive elements and have great value for organizations. Oftentimes we assist in phenomena of abusive registrations of internet domain names corresponding to other people’s trademarks. In these cases, one should act promptly.

Studio Turini has handled for many years the recovery of domain names.

A very useful method to recover a domain name is, besides a demand letter and a legal action, the use of specific administrative procedures on which Studio Turini has acquired great experience , working for clients and providers of primary importance.

Know-how, a precious asset in new technologies

New technologies and software are often equipped with a know-how which is very important and must be enhanced.

Know-how comprises every technical knowledge, entrepreneurial strategies, business plans, contacts and in general every commercial secret of an organization.

Art. 98 of Industrial Property Code provides that commercial secrets are company information and technical-industrial experience, including the commercial ones, subjected to the legitimate control of the holder, whenever such information are secrets, have economic value as they are secrets and are subjected to appropriate security measures.

Commercial secrets, if rightly classified and secreted, constitute a business asset, can be assigned, licensed and inserted in the company budget.

Studio Turini prepared a method of know-how classification with which it is able to identify and crystallize the commercial secret of a company, enhancing the company itself and creating a useful tool to defend itself from information leaks or industrial espionage.

Privacy and computer products, software and not only

New technologies request a rigid privacy setting. Data processing is always inherent to the development of software, apps and even in the blockchain and NFTs, therefore attention to privacy must always be high. 

Studio Turini offers consultancies on privacy and GDPR which are essential for anybody who works in the web, in software and new technologies. The implications in data processing matters are in fact complex in these sectors and must be managed accurately.

The GDPR insists that privacy must be set up “by design” and “by default”, in the sense that at the moment in which new software or an electronic device which process personal data are developed, the development must take into account from the very beginning the privacy implications and designed in compliance with the regulation on personal data processing.

Studio Turini assists developers and producers in this process, advising how they must set particular functions. 

Moreover, the GDPR imposes procedures in protection of personal data that forces companies to prepare work procedures and manage information flows in a correct way. Even from this point of view, Studio Turini supports its clients in a correct implementation of the necessary measures. 

Privacy policy is only the last chain link of a much wider examination of the security policy in compliance with the right to privacy. 

We are equipped with a specialized software for the management of patents, design, trademark, copyright's portfolios" Battista Software Project" - Studio Brevetti Turini s.r.l. Project co-financed under Tuscany POR FESR 2014-2020

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