Michael Bywell

Examples of Michael's work in this area include:

• Investigatory work in relation to cyber-security incidents and theft of confidential information.
• Acting for enterprise software users in defending licensing claims by vendor side organisations.
• Advising in relation to liability issues arising from illegal online activity.

Michael's experience includes:

• Filing a CPR 19.6 representative action in the High Court against Marriott International on behalf of Martin Bryant, representing millions of affected individuals concerning a major data breach involving the Starwood guest reservation database when unknown persons gained access to hundreds of millions of guest records between July 2014 and September 2018.
• Filing a CPR 19.6 legal claim in the High Court on behalf of class representative, journalist Peter Jukes, against Facebook in respect of a loss of control over his personal data and that of other affected Facebook users in England and Wales. The claim alleges Facebook failed to comply with its statutory duties under the Data Protection Act 1998 when it allowed a third-party app called This is Your Digital Life to access not only the personal information of users who downloaded the app, but also the personal information of their Facebook friends – without their knowledge.
• UK litigation arising from allegations of unlawful disclosure of personal information, breach of confidence and related complaints.
• Representing a UK based technology and outsourcing organisation on several matters arising from breaches of licensing arrangements by employees and customers.
• Advising a leading telecoms provider on disputes arising from the construction of a pan-European telecommunications network.
• Advising on disputes relating to a troubled IT implementation in the mobile phone sector.
• Acting on data protection and breach of confidence disputes for a mobile phone company.
• Several customer facing, contractual disputes for telecommunications companies including performance complaints and termination issues.
• Advisory work on international dispute resolution strategies for a mobile phone company.
• Representing Electronic Data Systems (as was) in Airtours v EDS, one of the largest and most complex IT cases to come before the English courts.
• Representing EDS in relation to its high-profile dispute with HMRC over the performance of a new IT system to support tax credits.
• Acting for a global vendor on matters arising from a large-scale IT services contract in the transport sector.
• Representing a leading New Zealand software company in litigation arising from distribution arrangements in the UK.
• Public sector, customer side advisory work relating to large-scale technology projects including the London Congestion Charging Scheme.
• Several customer side matters arising from troubled ERP implementations.
• Representing Internet businesses in relation to troubled app and agile development projects.
• Advisory and dispute resolution work in relation to a large tech transformation programme in the financial services sector.