Terence Bergin KC

Terence has extensive specialist experience and expertise in Tech and Telecoms. He is increasingly instructed on disputes in the blockchain / cryptocurrency space, particularly involving fraud, E-commerce and Fintech matters.

He is frequently instructed in relation to the obtaining or resisting of injunctive relief, often mandatory. He advises and appears in complex applications for pre-action and specific disclosure.

He has appeared in many of the most important cases relating to the supply of computer and related systems, some of which have established or clarified the principles which underpin this branch of the law.

He works for suppliers and users. His clients have included major and international IT suppliers, Government departments, major software houses, national retailers, public transport providers, local authorities, leading and international telecoms providers.

His cases have involved many different types of technology and software, such as e-Government; flight booking; metals trading front and back-office; telecoms network management; web-crawling; vehicle tracking; benefits administration; and stock-broking transaction settlement.

He has very good technical understanding and maintains a keen interest in developments in technology, allowing him to understand the complexities of all manner of systems. He gets quickly and efficiently to the heart of complex factual and legal disputes and seeks always to provide a commercial rather than purely legal analysis.

In addition to supply disputes, he has also acted or advised in many matters involving communications (regulatory, contractual and wayleave disputes), the licensing of software, and various aspects of e-commerce and internet publishing, including domain name disputes and data protection.

Featured Technology & Telecoms cases

• Representing a German software house producing a visualisation and configurator system for Rolls Royce.

• Advising a SaaS supplier in relation to the data protection issues of employee network data scraping and enhancement.

• Defending a substantial claim for alleged breach of a licensing agreement in relation to the IPR in audio-visual equipment used to create composite systems for sale worldwide.

• Advising an international automotive business concerning termination of a software development contract for a data system for the full life-cycle management of a vehicle, from product conception through to product planning, launch of the vehicle and thereafter the management of that vehicle in the marketplace.

• Advising a Local Authority purchasing organisation as to the termination of a software development contract.

• Representing a software house in a dispute in relation to its ATM software.

• Working with the NHS on its Connecting for Health program with different suppliers; then the largest-ever civilian IT procurement.

• Advising an online games provider as to a dispute with its ISP.

• Acting for software house in dispute relating to the development of a computerised telephone network management system.

• Acting for software house alleged to have failed to provide effective £3m database driven IT system, but blaming its local authority clients for failing in their contractual obligations to cleanse pre-existing data for use in the system.

• Resisting on behalf of the Council an application to restrain the Council from terminating for poor performance by the applicant the contract under which the Council had outsourced IT and other functions.

• Acting for the Cabinet Office in a case concerning e-Government software.

• Acting for the Claimant claiming damages for defective vehicle tracking software.