Morrison & Foerster's Tokyo office is active in advising Japanese and international companies in transactions involving the internet and related technologies.
The Tokyo office's internet-related work runs the gamut from forming internet start‑ups, to sophisticated strategic alliance, licensing and commercial transactions (including extensive experience with algorithmic search and search advertising arrangements), to acquisitions of some of the world's leading internet companies.
In addition, the office is increasingly advising clients regarding cloud computing services and hybrid software/hardware platforms that are tightly integrated with internet or cloud-based services. We also represent many of Japan’s most successful online gaming companies, including Nexon, GREE, Zynga Japan, and DeNA, in a wide variety of strategic transactions.
Among the most significant recent internet matters handled by Morrison & Foerster's Tokyo attorneys:
- Yahoo! Japan/Google. We represented Yahoo! Japan, Japan's leading Internet portal and search provider, in its search transaction with Google, under which Yahoo! Japan will migrate its web search and search advertising to platforms provided by Google.
- Rakuten/Baidu. We represented Rakuten, Japan's largest online retailer (and the world's second largest internet retailer by revenues), in its joint venture with Baidu to develop a Chinese e-commerce business leveraging Rakuten's successful Japanese model and Baidu's leading position in China.
- Softbank/Alibaba. We represented Softank in its investment in Alibaba and TaoBao, China's largest e-commerce business, including in connection with Yahoo!'s $1 billion investment in Alibaba and Tao Bao - China's largest internet investment to date. Softbank is Alibaba's second largest shareholder, with a 30% stake.
- Dow Jones/SBI Holdings. We represented Dow Jones in its joint venture with SBI Holdings to provide the Wall Street Journal online in Japan.
Other notable internet matters the office has handled include:
- GREE/OpenFeint. We represented GREE, Inc., a leading Japanese social networking and gaming services company, in its $100 million acquisition of OpenFeint Inc., a California-based mobile social gaming network provider with 75 million registered users.
- DeNA/Ngmoco. We represented GCA Savvian as financial advisor to DeNA, a Japanese social game company, in its acquisition of Ngmoco, a Silicon Valley iPhone game developer, for $400 million.
- Rakuten/Linkshare. We represented Rakuten in its purchase of Linkshare Corporation, a leader in the US online affiliate marketing business, for $425 million. This was Rakuten's first major acquisition in the United States.
- Rakuten/Ctrip. We represented Rakuten in its acquisition of a 20% interest in Nasdaq listed Ctrip, China's largest travel consolidator.
- Yahoo! Japan/Overture. We represented Yahoo Japan in its acquisition of the online advertising firm Overture KK, including with respect to the stock purchase agreement and associated services agreement.
- Yahoo! Japan/Google and Overture. We represented Yahoo Japan in simultaneous transactions with Google and Overture for the provision of search advertising services for Yahoo Japan's site.
- Konami. We represented Konami, a leading video game developer and publisher in the launch of its worldwide online gaming service.
- Expedia/Airlink. We represented Expedia KK, the Japanese subsidiary of the leading US internet travel business Expedia, in its alliance with Airlink, pursuant to which Expedia now offers over 35,000 overseas tour packages to its customers in Japan.
- Sega/CNC Broadband Entertainment and T2. We represented Sega in its entrance into the China online gaming market through licenses to CNC Broadband Entertainment for the CTRacer massively multiplayer online (MMO) game and with T2 for the Shenmue Online MMO role-playing game.
- Nexon/BoomBang Games. We represented Nexon, one of the world's 5 largest online gaming companies, in its equity investment in BoomBang Games S.L., a company based in Barcelona, Spain, which operates an on-line virtual community targeted principally at young people in Spanish-speaking countries worldwide.
- Nexon/Fantage.com. We represented Nexon in its 30% common stock investment in Fantage.com, a New Jersey company that operates next generation virtual community sites.
- Morningstar/Motley Fool. We represented Morningstar Japan in the formation of its joint venture with The Motley Fool to establish an online financial service in Japan.
- Razorfish/Sony. We represented Razorfish in the formation of its joint venture with Sony to provide digital consulting services in Japan.
- Softbank/World Bank. We represented Softbank in its $500 million global joint venture with the World Bank to seed Internet companies throughout the developing world, including the establishment of venture funds in China and Latin America. This was the World Bank's first joint venture with a Japanese concern.
- Softbank/Internet joint ventures. We represented Softbank in the formation of numerous joint ventures with leading US or global internet companies including:
- Ariba (for business-to-business ecommerce platform services in Japan and Korea)
- broadcast.com (for digital distribution of films and streaming video);
- E*Trade (for on-line securities trading);
- Insweb (for online insurance brokerage services);
- Microsoft and 7-11(for CarPoint, Microsoft's on-line automobile purchase service); and
- Priceline (for sale of travel products to consumers).