The Technology Disputes Law Review - 3rd Edition

Hiroyuki Tanaka is a partner at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, admitted to practise in Japan and New York. Hiroyuki’s practice areas are data protection, IT and IP. He has extensive experience of handling cases involving commercial disputes, such as IP infringement disputes and software litigation, and in advising foreign clients on Japanese data protection laws and global data compliance. He is engaged in domestic and international licensing of IP and also handles various matters involving information management. He is familiar with global data protection regulations, including the GDPR and the CCPA, and helps Japanese clients with global data protection compliance by working closely with local counsel. He has authored and co-authored a number of articles and books on contracts and disputes regarding system installation, as well as IP and data protection. He was recognised as one of the best lawyers in Japan in the technology law field in 2022. He was also recognised as a notable practitioner in the IP field by Asialaw Profiles and Asialaw Leading Lawyers in 2022 and as a Thought Leader for Japan in Who’s Who Legal: Data 2021. He has LLB and JD degrees from Keio University, and an LLM in competition, innovation and information law from New York University School of Law.

Masafumi Masuda is a partner at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, admitted to practise in Japan and New York. He utilises his background in engineering to handle dispute resolution and transactions involving a variety of technology-related issues. He has advised extensively on legal issues in numerous IT and digital matters across various industries – in particular, gaming, metaverse and web services – and is now leading such emerging practices at his firm as head of the IT practice group. He has written extensively on copyright and digital content issues, including The NFT Textbook (co-editor, Asahi Shimbun Publications, 2021); Copyright and Rules for Internet Business, 2nd edn (co-author, CRIC, 2020); The Google Books Case: Analysis and Evaluation of Court Documents (co-author, Shojihomu, 2016); and Digital Content Law and Policy (co-author, Asahi Shimbun Publications, 2012). He has also given numerous lectures and presentations. He earned his bachelor of engineering degree from the University of Tokyo (2004), his JD from Chuo Law School (2007) and an LLM in law, science and technology from Stanford Law School (2016). After studying at Stanford, he worked at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (Singapore) LLP in Singapore. He is also actively working on newly recognised interdisciplinary areas such as fintech. Having served as a drafter for the government until 2020, working on reforming financial regulations in relation to blockchain, he frequently employs his cutting-edge knowledge in blockchain-related cases. He has been recognised as one of the best lawyers in Japan in both the information technology law and the fintech practice fields since 2021.