Bálint Halász

As a partner and co-Head of Country of the Budapest office, I am heading the IP, Data Protection and TMT teams.

I advise on intellectual property, information technology and privacy and data protection matters for our national and international clients from various sectors including electronics, pharmaceuticals, retail and IT.

Over the years, I have developed extensive experience in relation to patents, trade marks, designs, copyright, unfair competition and customs measures. I have supported our clients in the protection and enforcement of their IP rights, including infringement litigation, anti-piracy strategies and alternative dispute resolution. My practice focuses on contentious litigation matters, as well as the management of our clients' IP portfolios.

My practice areas also include IT and privacy and data protection law, and in recent years I have also dealt with licence matters in the IT and life sciences sectors, and with issues of online reputation management.

As well as having a degree in Computer Science, I am currently completing my PhD at the Research Centre for Information and Communication Technology Law at the University of Pécs here in Hungary. In addition, I have published a number of professional papers on domain names and IT and IP-related issues in the legal press, including publications such as 'Infocommunication and Law'. I have also contributed to the 'Commentary on Hungarian Trademark Law', in which I wrote the chapter on domain names. As well as writing, I also lecture in IT and IP law at university level.

I joined the team here at Bird & Bird back in 2008 after having worked for four years at a Hungarian boutique law firm specialising in IP. Today, I am a member of the Budapest Bar, the Hungarian Council of Copyright Experts, the Hungarian Group of AIPPI, the Hungarian Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copyright, the Hungarian Trademark Association, the Hungarian Copyright Forum Association, Licensing Executives Society International and ITechLaw.

I speak English and German in addition to my native Hungarian.

• I advised a multinational company offering health information technologies and clinical research in relation to GDPR compliance. This work included a thorough analysis of the interplay between the GDPR and health related Hungarian sectorial laws.
• For several years I advised a mobile telecommunications service provider in various matters, including IP and Data Protection. As far as latter is considered I assisted them in a wide range of matters including handling data subject access requests, creating internal and external policies and protocols, putting in place data processing agreements, and with my colleagues we were also involved in their GDPR data mapping project.
• I advised a multinational client in the market research sector on their GDPR compliance. This also included review of their ongoing projects, such as certain clinical studies. This included arranging for valid consents from data subjects, advising on transfer of databases consisting of study participants' health data, and setting up joint controller structures regarding the studies.
• For several years we supported the in-house legal team of a manufacturing company in the automotive sector in relation to their GDPR compliance project. This project was noteworthy because of the size and complexity of the organisation.

• I have represented various clients in the life sciences and telecommunications sector in patent litigation matters before the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office and courts. Such matters include preliminary injunction, revocation and non-infringement proceedings.
• I advised a pharmaceutical company in a dispute in relation to a television advertisement which was challenged by its competitor claiming that our client copied certain elements of their TV advertisement.
• I advised a video game publisher in copyright infringement litigation before Hungarian courts. This matter was particularly interesting because the original game was published almost two decades ago.
• I have also advised start-ups predominantly in the IT and life sciences sector in relation to IP and data protection matters. I did due diligence and transactional work as well as licencing deals.
• I represented a telecommunications service provider in a litigation matter in relation to Hungarian data retention regulations. A Hungarian privacy watchdog commenced action against our client after the CJEU declared that the EU Data Retention Directive is invalid. Since Hungary did not amend its national data retention rules, Hungarian telcos remained obliged to retain traffic and metadata. The privacy watchdog referred the case to the Hungarian Constitutional Court.