Chapter 21 covers the effect of bankruptcy and insovency laws on IP licensing transactions. It covers the automatic stay of proceedings (US v. Inslaw), what is included in the bankruptcy estate, the effect of bankruptcy on executory contracts, including Lubrizol and Section 365(n) of the Bankruptcy Code (Prize Frize), the assignment by the bankruptcy estate (Pioneer Ford), the ban on ipso facto clauses and the use of technology escrow agreements to avoid some of these issues.

The author examines the impact of blockchain and smart contracts on the legal profession. After all, the lawyer is entitled to draft smart contracts. For a few years now, in information technology, the lawyer has promoted the writing of so-called agile contracts in connection with projects run by “agileȁ methods. However, the smart contract, whether described as a contract or simple algorithm, challenges the lawyer by its philosophy (“code is law”) and by its writers who are no longer jurists but developers. He discusses whether this technology will be “killing off” the legal profession. Before over-hastily assuming this apocalyptic demise of the lawyer, the author suggests to think about the role and the status of the lawyer in his general mission of advice and defense, and considers whether information technology can be a substitute for the lawyer or simply a new tool that could be used.