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Holly K. Towle  Partner
Seattle  +1.206.370.8334
Fax +1.206.623.7022
holly.towle@klgates.com Add to Outlook Contacts


Areas of Practice • Representative Experience • Professional/Civic Activities • Speaking Engagements • Bar Admissions • Education • Additional Information

Areas of Practice

Holly K. Towle is a partner with K&L Gates, an international law firm. Ms. Towle's practice focuses on privacy and data security, commercial law as impacted by use of electronic media and information assets, payment systems, intellectual property such as software, and information and database issues. She is the author of The Law of Electronic Transactions (2003-2010 A.S. Pratt & Sons), an information rich treatise explaining the legal landscape of commercial law when electronics or electronic settings are used.

Ms. Towle counsels national and international businesses, merchants, educational institutions, non-profits and financial institutions, including licensors and licensees, on a wide variety of issues regarding developments in and compliance with laws regarding e-commercial law, payment systems, electronic signatures and contracting, software licensing and online access contracts, information due diligence, and consumer regulatory compliance. She also identifies and analyzes for litigation counsel, "information economy" issues for use in defending or maintaining litigation. Ms. Towle is a member of the American Law Institute, is listed among the top 25 Information Technology lawyers in the Best of the Best USA 2008, and is included in the Guide to the World's Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers, in An International Who's Who of E-Commerce Lawyers and in the Financial Institutions Law and the Information Technology sections of The Best Lawyers in America.

Ms. Towle speaks and is published nationally and internationally. For almost a decade, she commented on behalf of trade organizations or other clients on proposed state and federal legislation regarding computer information transactions, electronic commerce, software licensing, proposed revisions to UCC Article 2 and consumer protection rules, and continues to assess new legislative proposals for clients. Additionally, Ms. Towle serves as chair of the E-Commerce Payment Committee of the Science and Technology Section of the American Bar Association, as well as chair of the Law of Commerce in Cyberspace, a committee of the Business Section of the Washington State Bar Association.

Representative Experience
  • Design electronic employment application program.
  • Draft access agreement for national franchisor-franchisee intranet to make electronic myriad franchise activities and electronic payment of royalties.
  • Formulate defenses for international litigation regarding liability of information providers.
  • Draft agreements, screens and terms of use for intranet with original equipment manufacturers
  • Identify and draft corrective language for various state bills regarding, SPAM, liability of internet service providers, privacy, data protection and trade secrets.
  • Draft privacy, security and identify theft policies
  • Draft website terms of use for international retailer of goods; international software publisher; forms supplier; filing service; loyalty programs; contact lens site etc.
  • Assist with design of electronic loan program for compliance under electronic commerce and federal consumer credit laws
  • Appear and participate as observer for software industry trade organization in meetings of Drafting Committee for Computer Information Transactions, National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
  • Assist with establishment of back-room, provider, and end-user contracts for online service, including credit card processing or payment contracts at each level.
  • Analyze web sites for compliance with electronic commerce and consumer legal issues, including FTC rules, European Union Distance Contract Directive and Data Protection Directive.
  • Assist with design of Internet site for direct and indirect retail distribution of software, goods and services.
  • Assist with design of Internet distribution international billing system.
  • Draft consignment structure for protection of software placed with telemarketers.
  • Draft and negotiate for licensee, enterprise license and joint software development with foreign entity.
  • Negotiate and draft worldwide accounts receivable billing agreement and software development contract for same.
  • Counsel cellular telephone company regarding operational issues, dealer agreements, national programs and compliance with federal regulations.
  • Review and revision of commercial and consumer forms of out-of-state or domestic financial institutions and form providers for use in Washington.
  • Sales of state-chartered banks to out-of-state and domestic holding companies, including preparation of regulatory applications and formation of related phantom and actual holding companies or bank subsidiaries.
  • Counsel foreign acquisition of U.S. financial institution by foreign national.

Professional/Civic Activities
  • Member, Board of Directors, Internet Law & Regulation (Pike & Fischer)
  • Member, Editorial Board, Computer Law Review International.
  • Member, CCH Computer Law Advisory Council
  • Member, Board of Directors, Twenty–Second Century Foundation (including assistance in drafting Foundation’s successful brief in Davidson & Associates v. Jung (8th Cir., 2005)
  • Member, Advisory Board, E–Commerce Law (Aspen Law & Business)
  • Member, Board of Editorial Advisers to E–Commerce Law Report (Glasser LegalWorks)

Speaking Engagements
  • Visiting professor of law, The University of Sydney, Australia 2003:  postgraduate intensive course on "Issues in Electronic Commerce"
  • "Contracts for Online Services," for Society of Computers and Law program on Doing Business Online program, London, England, and for Trinity College Law School's conference on The Internet: Emerging Legal Issues.
  • "Merger & Acquisition Due Diligence in an E-Information Age" (Georgia, 2005)
  • Keynote speaker regarding e-business for National Association of Women Business Owners (CA)
  • Featured speaker for "E-Commerce and Technology Law Institute," Ann Arbor Michigan (MI state bar and University of Michigan Law School).
  • "Collisions At The Intersection (Bioinformatics and Information Laws)."
  • "Open Source Risk Management Issues," International IT Law Conference (CA)
  • "From Sarbanes-Oxley to Google-Hacking, and Beyond:  The State of Information Security 2005" (WA)
  • "Software Embedded in Devices - Do You Know What You May Be Giving Away," Shidler Center for Law, Commerce and Technology.
  • Contracts for Online Content Utilizing Technological Measures,  LSI Digital Media Technology Rights & Transactions Conference (Los Angeles)
  • "E-Mail Contracts and Policies," Practising Law Institute (New York).
  • Panelist, "Employee Use of the Internet:  Rights, Responsibilities & Risk Management" (Shidler Center for Law, Commerce + Technology)
  • "Impact of New and Emerging "Electronic" Law Rules on the Real Estate Transaction" (WA)
  • "Paperless Lending:  We Are Not There Yet, But How Do We Get There?," Tech Mecca (Austin, TX).
  • "Looking with License - Website Terms of Use - What Do We Need? Do They Work" (Seattle, WA)
  • "Software Licensing and UCITA", Practising Law Institute (San Francisco, 2003)
  • Participant in panel, "The Law of Electronic Commerce: Where It Is and Where It's Headed," for the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, MI
  • "Contracts and Payments," Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and The University of Texas School of Law, San Francisco.
  • Participant in roundtable conference on copyright issues and the national information infrastructure, Rutgers School of Law, Newark, NJ.
  • Panelist, "Whose Law Applies in Global Electronic Commerce," Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., public policy forum on E-Commerce and Internet Regulation, Washington, D.C.
  • "Service Level Agreements," Computer Law Review International (June 2002).
  • "Legal Issues Involved in Linking Agreements," NY and San Francisco Practising Law Institute's Understanding Electronic Contracting; "Creating a Linking Agreement" reprinted in Internet Law & Business, Center for Business, Technology & Law, University of Texas Business School (June 2002).
  • "eGovernment:  impact of federal E-Sign on governments; UETA and e-signatures," LSI
  • "Information and Database Licensing" and "Analysis of a Complex Content Licensing Agreement" for Practising Law Institute Advance Licensing Agreements seminar, San Francisco.
  • "When You're Just the Same as Everyone Else:  Consumer Protection Laws do Apply in Cyberspace," Practising Law Institute, Atlanta and Palo Alto.
  • "Current Developments On Internet Issues," Fifteenth Annual Institute on Intellectual Property Law, University Of Houston Law Center Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law, Galveston, Texas.
  • Co-Chair of Annual Doing Business Online Conference:  U.S. and Canada, including presentations on "E-Contracts and ExtraNets,"  "Problems with E-mail" regarding contract formation or amendment, "Dissecting Website Errors," and "Contract Issues:  Is Your Agreement Worth The Paper It Isn't Written On?"
  • Co-Chair "Representing Technology Companies in the New Business Environment," Practising Law Institute, Atlanta and Palo Alto.
  • "Legal Developments in Electronic Contracting," successive presentations for Practising Law Institute's annual Internet Law Institute, San Francisco.
  • Panelist, Washington CEO's "E-Commerce Summit, High Impact Strategies for the New Millennium," Seattle, Washington.
  • "The Consumer Protection Provisions of E-Sign," for Cyberspace Licensing in the Electronic Age, Glasser LegalWorks, New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
  • "eCommerce Contract Law," Practising Law Institute's eCommerce Strategies for Success in the Digital Economy, San Francisco.
  • "Online Contracting and Financial Services," Practising Law Institute's Understanding Electronic Contracting (UCITA, E-Signature, Federal, State and Foreign Regulations), New York and San Francisco.
  • "Legal Issues Involved in Linking Agreements," Practising Law Institute's Understanding Electronic Contracting:  The Impact of Regulation s, New Laws and New Agreements, New York and San Francisco.
  • "Recent Developments in Intellectual Property Law & E-Commerce," PriceWaterhouseCoopers General Counsel Forum, Seattle, WA.
  • "Information Licensing," Practising Law Institute's Advanced Licensing Agreements, San Francisco.
  • "UCITA (the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act):  What It Is and How It May Affect Risk Allocations and Contract Negotiations," for annual Computer and Cyberspace Law program, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio.
  • "UCITA and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act," annual Intellectual Property Institute, Washington State Bar Association, Seattle, WA and similar presentations for Glasser LegalWorks, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles.
  • "Trade Secrets" and "Online Issues," for the University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN.
  • "Electronic Financial Services: Issues and Update," for Advanced Computer Law program, Ohio CLE Institute and Computer Law Association.
  • "Privacy and Security Issues Online," Library Associations convention.
  • Participant in two annual programs on Intellectual Property and Commercial Issues in the Digital Information Age, University of Minnesota.
  • "Contracting for Electronic Commerce and Online Services," for Online and Internet Law:  Today's Hot Legal and Business Issues, Glasser LegalWorks, San Francisco.
  • "Getting on the E-Commerce Bandwagon," Institute For Corporate Counsel, University of Southern California Law School, Los Angeles, CA.
  • Mass Market and Consumer Contracts in Computer Information, for Practising Law Institute's The UCITA Revolution, The New E-Commerce Model for Software and Database Licensing, New York and San Francisco.
  • "Electronic Financial Transactions" and "Online Services," for Specialized Professional Institute's seminar on Emerging Issues in Information Law, NM.
  • "Emerging Issues in Information Law," New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • "Licensing and Information Assets:  Online and Multi-Media," for State Bar of Texas, Advanced Intellectual Property Law Course.
  • "On-line Distribution and Licensing of Software," for The Computer Law Association, Inc., Monterey, California, and for American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association Mid-Winter Institute, Florida.
  • Speaker, "UCC Update with Professor James White," regarding proposed UCC Article 2B, Oregon State Bar CLE.
  • "The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act and its Likely Impact on Intellectual Property Licensing," successive annual presentations at advanced seminars on the Intellectual Property License for Practising Law Institute, San Francisco.
  • Participant in conference on the impact of Article 2B of the UCC, sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, UC Berkeley, CA.

Bar Admissions
  • Bar of Washington
Education
  • J.D., University of Washington School of Law Law Review, Member American Law Institute
  • A.B., Whitman College
Additional Information
Publications
  • Towle, Holly K. and Nimmer, Raymond T., "The Law of Electronic Commercial Transactions" (A.S. PRATT & SONS, 2003)(https://secure.sheshunoff.com/store/F53.html).
  • Towle, Holly K., Brennan, Lorin, and Wolfson, Joel Rothstein, "The Complete UCITA" (Glasser LegalWorks 2004).
  • "E-Signatures:  A U.S. Viewpoint," Frankfurt, Germany, for Computer Law Review International and The Computer Law Association.
  • "Identity Theft:  Myths, Methods and New Law," 30 Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal 237(2004)
  • "E-Signatures - Basics of the U.S. Structure," 38 Houston Law Rev. 921(2001).
  • "A Refresher Course on E-SIGN's Consumer Disclosure Rules," Internet Law Reporter(2004)
  • "The European Union Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment:  A study in trans-Atlantic zealotry," Rutgers' Computer and Technology Law Journal(2004)
  • "UCC Revised Article 2 - Its Impact on Licensing" (WA, Ill)
  • "Open Source Issues in Business," Journal of Internet Law
  • "State Law Regulation of E-Commerce," 37 Computer Law Reporter 560 (No. 5 2003)
  • "Electronic Commerce Payment Mechanisms:  Digital Cash, Smart Cards & Encryption," for Computer Law Institute, Ohio CLE Institute and CLA; also published in Commercial Law Adviser (July, Issue No. 127).
  • "Online Contract Formation by Conduct," Computer Law Review International (4/2001).
  • Contributor of Chapter regarding International Legal Developments for China's IT Policy & Legislation, Vol. II, TransAsia Publishing Ltd. (2001).
  • "The Politics of Licensing Law," 36 Houston Law Review 121 (1999).
  • "No Guiding Light," by Holly Towle, CIO Magazine, (August 2000), awarded Public Relations Society of America Totem Award.
  • "Mass Market Transactions in the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act," 38 Duquesne 371 (2000).
  • "A Debate On Proposed Article 2B's Effect On Consumers," a two-part series in the UCC Bulletin, Clark Boardman Callaghan (September and November 1997).
  • "2B or Not 2B," By Holly K. Towle (2B part), 13, No. 1, Computer Law Association 7 (1998).
  • "UCC Article 2B:  Drawing the Digital Information Line," by Raymond T. Nimmer and Holly K. Towle, Corporate Legal Times (January 1996).


PRACTICES & INDUSTRIES
Depository Institutions
IP Litigation
Licensing and E-merging Commerce
Mortgage Banking & Consumer Financial Products
Outsourcing and Commercial Transactions
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights & Related Transactions
Privacy, Data Protection and Information Management
Telecom, Media and Technology
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