Technology, Media and Telecommunications [TMT] The TMT practice is particularly strong with our Senior Partner Rodney D. Ryder heading this practice area. He is the author of the first and only section-wise analysis of the Indian Information Technology Act 2000. Rodney has been ranked as a leading Information Technology and Intellectual Property lawyer by Asia Law and Practice and listed as a leading Regulatory Communications lawyer by Who’sWhoLegal, United Kingdom.

Rodney is legal counsel to the Office of the Controller of Certifying Authorities, Ministry of Information Technology on legal modifications and amendments to the Information Technology Rules and Procedures. In addition, he has also advised clients on their applications to be instated as Certifying Authorities under the Indian Information Technology Act [2000]. In the area of Internet-related crime, he advises NASSCOM, the Government of India and in particular, the Computer Emergency Response Team [CERT].

Mr. Ryder’s second book, Intellectual Property and the Internet, published by LexisNexis is perhaps the only one of its kind in Asia. The text has been acknowledged to be an authoritative work by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and has been quoted in the first and only judgement by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India on domain names. He is advisor to the National Internet Exchange of India [NIXI] and a member of the panel of independent and neutral arbitrators with NIXI.

Mr Ryder is legal counsel to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India and to the National Internet Exchange of India [NIXI], which manages the .in [Indian Country Code Top Level Domain Extensions]. He also India Counsel to Facebook, Schlumberger, TCS, the Tata Group and IndianOil [at No. 125 in the Global Fortune 500, incidentally India’s highest ranked corporation]. He advises the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] on Internet Security and Cyber Crime.

Information Technology

The firm’s key services in this sector include advising, negotiating and drafting contracts in connection with:

• The procurement and delivery of IT systems and services
• Outsourcing projects and managed services
• Software development and distribution, including VAR and OEM arrangements
• Dispute resolution
• Joint Ventures and other strategic alliances, with full corporate documentation where appropriate (merger and acquisition, business purchase and sale agreements, shareholder arrangements, governance terms)
• E-commerce and Internet-based businesses, including website development, hosting, and content management
• Data protection and privacy principles, security
• Project finance and other funding arrangements
• Intellectual property management, enforcement and commercialisation
• Directors’ and key staff packages, as well as general employment and consultancy agreements, advice concerning staff transfer and protection of employment regulations
• Regulatory compliance, such as may affect utilities, former state monopolies, the banking and finance sectors and other regulated industries
• Competition issues [in this area we are assisting companies in India in addition to foreign clients]
• Public procurement law, practice and procedure, best practice
• Contract management, best practice

In the area of Electronic Commerce, law and practice, our services include:

• Advising on strategic alliances in the e-commerce field
• Establishment of e-procurement exchanges and multi-party trading arrangements
• The establishment and operation of web sites
• Design, hosting and maintenance agreements
• On-line terms of trade
• Data protection and privacy issues
• Copyright protection and brand strategies
• Linking agreements, strategic partnerships, collaboration agreements and joint ventures

On-line advertising and ad serving

The firm specializes in advising and undertaking IT protocols for E-banking, payment systems for on-line transactions and compliance with financial services legislation