Stefan Bernhard

As a senior consultant in our Stockholm team, I specialise in legal services in connection with the IT and communications sectors, focusing on computer, copyright, trademark and other areas of intellectual property law.

I also provide advice on internet and communications law, M&A, litigation, and arbitration and mediation services.

Over the years, I have written numerous articles on IT law. I have also been strongly involved in legislative work in Sweden (computer programs and copyright, Swedish 'Anton Pillar-orders') and internationally, in particular via the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), headquatered in Paris. The ICC is a business organisation dealing with telecoms, internet related issues, electronic business, data protection and security. There I have served since the early 1980-ties in computer-related matters in ICC's commissions on intellectual property (the software directive) as well as, today, in the Commission on Digital Economy. I represented the ICC in the negotiations on the WIPO's Copyright Treaty in 1996.

For several years, I also served as vice-chair of the EBIT commission (a predecessor of the Digital Economy Commission) and I have chaired several task forces on a variety of computer-related issues, such as cryptography, jurisdiction and arbitration as well as human rights issues. Recently I have also taken part in the cybersecurity task force, providing a guide on such issues.

• My experience comprises most of the legal issues raised by computers, software as well as telecoms. It ranges from outsourcing of a major Swedish bank's activities, to the setting up of the first Swedish Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) initiative, dealing with all kinds of digital issues in a major Swedish betting company, the acquisition of IT- companies as well as acquisition of software, software platforms, data bases and data matters, as well as security matters in cyber space.