Thomas Jackson is a litigation partner and chair of the Firm’s Technology Practice Group. He devotes a substantial part of his practice to the areas of computer software licensing and acquisitions, information technology and security, privacy and computer crime, as well as trade association law and practice and antitrust litigation and counseling. He concentrates his litigation practice in the fields of technology law, antitrust, class action defense, privacy and information law and complex commercial litigation.

Mr. Jackson has represented software developers and distributors, new media companies, Internet service and content providers and users of Internet-based products and services. He has been involved in a wide variety of matters in the technology field, including the negotiation and drafting of software license and software development agreements, information technology services agreements, software distribution agreements and technology transfer agreements.

He has litigated and tried major cases for over 30 years. He has been involved in trials and litigated proceedings in the federal and state courts and before administrative agencies and tribunals and has handled litigations, alternative dispute resolution proceedings and settlements in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, employer liability, taxation, securities law and copyright and trademark law, as well as cases involving computer software acquisitions, licensing and royalties disputes, Internet-related trademark and domain name disputes and other areas of the information technology field.

Mr. Jackson also serves as outside general counsel to a major trade association and a software company.

He advises attorneys in the firm’s litigation and corporate departments on electronic discovery issues and has written and spoken on the subjects of e-discovery and data and privacy protection. He recently co-authored the article “E is Key – Electronic Discovery,” which appeared in The New York Law Journal.

Mr. Jackson has also written and lectured on various other subjects. He authored a chapter entitled “U.S. Antitrust and Intellectual Property in Mergers and Acquisitions” in the book Intellectual Property Assets in Mergers and Acquisitions. He spoke at the IQPC 2nd eDiscovery for Financial Services Conference in New York City on the subject of Cross Border Discovery Issues and the Conflict Between U.S. e-Discovery Rules and the EU Data Protection Directive and National Privacy Laws of the EU States. He was one of the principal speakers at the CanApple New Media Forum in New York City hosted by the Consulate General of Canada and has been a participant in the European Lawyers Union Annual Conference on Technology and Communications.

Mr. Jackson is a member of the Information Security, Privacy and Computer Crime and Law and E-Discovery and Digital Evidence Committees and the Cloud Computing Working Group of the Section of Science and Technology; the Communications and Digital Technology Industries, Intellectual Property, Mergers and Acquisitions and Privacy and Information Security Committees of the Section of Antitrust Law; the Antitrust Litigation, Commercial and Business Litigation,  Intellectual Property Litigation and Pretrial Practice and Discovery Committees of the Section of Litigation; and the IP Licensing and Software Technology Committees of the Section of Intellectual Property Law of the American Bar Association. He is a member of the Chief Legal Counsel Task Group of the American National Standards Institute Homeland Security Standards Panel and Internet Security Alliance joint initiative on The Financial Impact of Cyber Risk and a contributor to the pending publication The Financial Impact of Cyber Risk: Framework for Responding to the 50 Questions Every CFO Should Ask.

He is a past member of the Committee on Second Circuit Courts of the Federal Bar Council and a past chair of its Subcommittee on Technology in the Courts, and a past member of the Committee on Antitrust and Trade Regulation of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is also a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association Commercial Tribunal and has served as an arbitrator in various commercial matters.

Representative matters that he has handled include:

• Representing a processed egg products manufacturer in the defense of a series of antitrust class actions alleging a conspiracy to allocate customers and markets and to fix the prices of shell eggs and egg products.
• Representing the developers of a successful software program in an arbitration proceeding against a major software company in connection with a royalty dispute that resulted in a substantial award in favor of the developers and the recovery of their rights to the software.
• Representing a software company in preparing license agreements, outsourcing agreements, agreements with third-party developers and software distributors, and non-disclosure agreements and handling litigations involving the unauthorized use of its software.
• Representing a major internet services provider in negotiating and licensing third-party content and in connection with subscriber privacy and subpoena compliance issues under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and Internet access, content blocking and telecommunications issues, as well as in a variety of technology-related litigations.
• Representing a major chemical company and its corporate parent in connection with the successful defense of an action brought by the Federal Trade Commission to enjoin the acquisition of the polyvinyl chloride assets of another company.
• Filing amicus curiae briefs on behalf of a major trade association client successfully opposing a challenge to a state sales-below-cost law on federal preemption and antitrust grounds.
  

Recent Conferences, Symposia & Workshops:

• RSA 2010 Conference "Security Decoded" (San Francisco, March 1 - 5, 2010)
• ISA-ANSI Cybersecurity Workshop | Cyber Risk Phase II Workshop IV (New York, December 10, 2009)
• ANSI-HSSP Eighth Annual Plenary Meeting (Washington, DC, October 21, 2009)
• ISA-ANSI Cybersecurity Workshop | Cyber Risk Phase II Workshop III (New York, September 29, 2009)
• IQPC 2nd eDiscovery for Financial Services Conference (New York, February 25 - 27, 2009)

Professional Memberships:

• American Bar Association
• Association of the Bar of the City of New York
• Federal Bar Council

Foreign Language Competencies:

• French