Digital finance products sit under two kinds of pressure at once. They operate in a supervised environment where the terms offered to customers, the handling of their information and the disclosures made about a product all matter; and they compete in a market where the name, the interface and the underlying software are what distinguish one platform from another, and are the first things a competitor imitates.
We advise payment, lending and digital finance businesses on protecting that commercial layer, trademark registration for platform and product names through the Department of Industry, copyright in the software and interface under the Copyright Act 2059, and confidentiality terms around models, pricing logic and customer information, and on the agreements holding the product together: terms of service, merchant and partner arrangements, technology licensing and vendor terms. Where a product collects personal information, we advise on obligations under the Individual Privacy Act 2075 and on the electronic record and transaction questions arising under the Electronic Transactions Act 2063.
We also advise on how customer-facing claims and terms sit with the Consumer Protection Act 2018, since a product marketed on rates, fees or guarantees can attract complaints on the basis of how it was described rather than how it performs. This work runs alongside our corporate and commercial practice, and with our advertising practice where a launch campaign is involved.