On November 26-27, the Estonian University of Tartu, in collaboration with the Estonian Science Council, organized the international distance scientific conference titled ‘Digital Consumer Contract Law and New Technologies.’ Esteemed law professors from Western Europe, including Hugh Beale, Gerald Spindler, Marco Loos, Martin Schmidt-Kessel, Brigitta Zöchling-Jud, André Janssen, Martin Ebers, and others, as well as national civil law experts from Estonia, Poland, and Lithuania, participated and delivered presentations. The conference focused on topics such as the new Digital Content and Usage Purchase and Sale Directives, information technology, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, smart contracts, LegalTech, and various aspects of digitization.

Dr. Laurynas Didžiulis, Associate Professor of the Private Law Department at the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University, presented a report on the 2019 implementation of the Digital Content Directive in Lithuanian contract law. His report explored the place of consumer protection law in the Lithuanian legal system, the coexistence of real and intellectual property rights to digital content, European Court of Justice practices, the qualification of digital content contracts, and the transposition of the directive into Lithuanian law. Articles based on conference presentations will be published in the international Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology, and E-Commerce Law in Germany.

Other members of the VU TF community, including Associate Professor Danguolė Bublienė, attended the conference presentations and participated in discussions.