IT law
IT has become a vital part of corporate business processes. The competition within the sector is fierce. Houthoff's experienced IT Team understands the opportunities and risks within the IT sector. Opportunities, for instance, for financial institutions where we can see a growing interest in cloud solutions. The fast pace of innovation is creating new legal issues. Our specialists offer creative and practical solutions for these issues to internet companies, IT suppliers and buyers, telecom companies and innovative tech companies.
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“One client mentioned that 'The Houthoff team is smart, business-minded, and has a solid understanding of the technicalities and nuances of the law'.”Chambers Europe, TMT: IT & IT Outsourcing (2024 Edition) -
“One client states that: ‘The Houthoff team is comprised of real professionals. We have a very short line to contact them and to discuss eventual information related to an specific case. We built a very good working relationship with them and I see them more as real colleagues than as an external partner. They take every single case very serious’."Legal 500, Data Privacy and Data Protection (2024 Edition)
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RecommendedChambers Europe, TMT: IT & IT Outsourcing (2023 Edition)
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“A client reports that Houthoff's strong point is its crisp and short advice, with a commercial view on the issues’.”Chambers Europe, TMT: IT & IT Outsourcing (2022 Edition)
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“Clients approve of the quality of the services provided and appreciate the team’s ‘client-focused and commercial’ attitude.”Chambers Europe, TMT: IT & IT Outsourcing (2020 Edition)
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“This practice is unique in their friendly and practical approach. They give good, quick and workable advice. The firm is also very easily accessible.”Legal 500, IT (2020 Edition)
Our expertise in IT
IT services are complex. This means that clear agreements are essential. Clients engage our IT specialists to review and draft outsourcing agreements, software licences, service level agreements (SLAs), processing agreements, project agreements and agreements regarding the development of software, the purchase of hardware and the use of cloud services. These agreements often require extensive knowledge of IT – knowledge that more and more companies are outsourcing or insourcing. Our IT Team has a comprehensive knowledge of these business practices and works closely with our employment law specialists. Houthoff has also acquired a market-leading position in the financial sector.The processing and security of personal data is important in the IT sector. Companies need to be aware of the risk of heavy fines for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation from May 2018. Our IT Team assesses whether clients are compliant with the relevant laws and regulations. In practice, complex IT projects have an above-average chance of failing. Our IT specialists have the knowledge and the years of litigation experience required to significantly reduce this risk. They assist and advise large international parties to ensure that the legal and strategic aspects of the planning and execution run smoothly.
Houthoff has an unrivalled track record as a legal adviser within the IT sector. And, thanks to our membership of the TechLaw Group, a leading international network of law firms in more than 60 countries, we can assist our clients and provide the highest quality assistance anywhere in the world. In close collaboration with our specialists in areas such as M&A, competition law, labour law, intellectual property law, privacy law, contract law and financial regulatory law, our IT Team can offer solutions that ensure that our clients grow and thrive.
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Represented Ola Cabs in data access request proceedings before the Amsterdam District Court. This was the first judgment by an EU court on data portability.
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Advised Marktplaats, a classified advertising site based in the Netherlands, on preliminary relief proceedings brought by a professional advertiser who was blocked from the platform.
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Advised Siemens with its acquisition of Culgi. Culgi provides expertise and develops software solutions for multiscale chemistry simulation, from quantum chemistry to molecular dynamics.
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Houthoff has advised IK Investment Partners on the acquisition of a majority stake in 2Connect and its (indirect) Romanian and China based subsidiaries from its founder.
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Houthoff advised the shareholders (Waterland Private Equity and management) on the sale of the Infradata group to IK Investment Partners
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Houthoff advised Poiesz Supermarkten B.V., a chain of supermarkets in the Northern Netherlands, on the acquisition of Zorggroep Friesland B.V., sole shareholder of Van Smaak B.V.. Van Smaak B.V. delivers meals to healthcare institutions and individual customers and has the whole relating process (including the purchase of the raw materials, processing and logistics) in house.
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Successfully representing Rotterdam's Erasmus University Medical Centre, one of the largest and most authoritative scientific University Medical Centres in Europe, in summary proceedings before the Rotterdam interim injunction judge against a spin-off company about the licensing and development of software for laboratory information management and the early detection of hospital-acquired infections (HAI's).
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Houthoff advised a Netherlands based insurance company on the outsourcing of the administrative handling of car insurance claims to an India-based business process outsourcing service provider.
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Houthoff advised a multinational financial services company on the outsourcing of the administrative servicing of a consumer mortgage portfolio to a Netherlands-based financial services provider.
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Houthoff is representing the association of realtors, VBO Makelaar, in ongoing civil proceedings before the court of Amsterdam against Funda. Funda is the largest online real estate portal in the Netherlands and a subsidiary of the largest association of realtors in the Netherlands, NVM. The case is one of the few Dutch cases based on abuse of dominance. The case revolves around discriminatory practices by Funda to the detriment of VBO Makelaar's members.
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Houthoff advised the bankruptcy trustees of DSB Bank on the outsourcing of its IT-department to IT-service provider SLTN.
