Israel Desks - February 2020 Edition

16 However, what continues to make the technology sector in the U.S. of even greater interest into the new decade are “the increasing challenges faced by the very large technology firms that have held sway over Silicon Valley for so long.” “Not only are they struggling to sustain technological innovation at the rate they once were (look at Alphabet’s delayed roll out of driverless cars), but they are also facing political pressure in the form of scrutiny over their tax affairs and dominance of the market, with stronger antitrust measures proposed by figures ranging from William Barr to Elizabeth Warren,” Rosen adds. These challenges of U.S. tech companies don’t come out with difficulties for their Israeli counterparts. “It’s precisely because these tech firms dominate the U.S. market and are able to fight litigation with seemingly bottomless pockets that they can often hold up the success of Israeli entrepreneurs though patent infringements or other wrongdoing,” says Rosen. For Kobre & Kim, “it is why we have built an intellectual property practice centered on taking on these firms to cater from Israeli start-ups in our Tel Aviv office, compete with a conflict-free profile and a litigation fund designed for ‘David v. Goliath’ style litigation.” As elections come to Israel and the U.S. thisMarch andNovember, there is always some level of uncertainty. “But there is clearly very tight alignment between the two countries that has grown considerably in the last few years,” says Lustman. With more states engaging with Israel and should elections go as expected in the two countries, “I would expect this to grow in the immediate term,” Lustman adds. Time will tell.