Automotive

Headquartered in Detroit since 1852, Miller Canfield intimately knows the automotive industry—not just the law but the industry's practices and people. We regularly represent OEMs, Tier 1 and 2, and next-generation vehicle suppliers and innovators worldwide. Our dominant legal expertise in the mobility area gives our clients an advantage in navigating the protocols, language and issues unique to these industries, such as supply contracts and purchasing, parts testing and certification, tooling use and ownership, software licensing, environmental law, safety regulations, and trademarks. This is especially important for companies involved in autonomous vehicles, semi-autonomous vehicles, V2X technologies, software licensing and other "next generation vehicle" industries.

Our global presence and the firm's multilingual lawyers enable Miller Canfield to help clients navigate international markets in their transactions and business operations, including inbound and outbound foreign direct investment, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial transactions. We regularly advise clients on compliance and regulatory matters involving U.S. export controls, customs issues, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. We leverage this experience to provide the most efficient and effective service available.

Product Safety, Regulatory Compliance, Recall and Warranty Risk Mitigation

Miller Canfield's automotive lawyers specialize in representing automotive manufacturers and suppliers, both North American and foreign, in matters related to automotive safety compliance, regulation, warranty and recall issues. Our esteemed team has intimate knowledge and experience in automotive safety regulations and requirements, including the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other federal, state, local and foreign governmental agencies. We advise clients on NHTSA reporting and compliance requirements, as well as compliance with the TREAD Act, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), E.U.'s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances (REACh) regulations. Other relevant expertise and significant experience the team has involve the following areas:

• Implementation of contractual supply chain protections
• Drafting product literature and warnings
• Investigation of product defect issues
• Limiting warranty charge-back obligations
• Recall responsibility and limitations
• Design warranty obligations
• Recall implementation
• Product certification and homologation
• Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) reporting and regulations
• Assist companies in implementing functional safety standards (IEC 61508, ISO 26262)
• Track new regulatory developments (e.g., FMVSS 150)
• Developing meaningful record retention policies
• Trial lawyers litigating a wide array of product liability cases, including personal injury, wrongful death, property damage and commercial disputes
• Litigation support, including electronic discovery and records management, and national discovery coordination for complex, multijurisdictional litigation.
• Compliance with state, federal and international laws, including the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and the E.U.'s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances (REACh) regulations

Commercial, Contracting, Licensing, M&A

Understanding how to navigate the esoteric purchasing and contracting practices of the automotive industry is a key to a company's success, and Miller Canfield has a wealth of experience in providing clients with effective and practical advice. Key to this practice is an understanding of how the commercial relationships in the automotive industry work, including the goals, requirements, motives and regulatory and legal boundaries for each party to a transaction. The firm's Corporate Group, Bankruptcy Group and other transactional lawyers have a vast range of experience and depth in representing automotive suppliers and their customers in such traditional and new matters, in the U.S., Canada and globally, including:

• Purchase order and supply contract negotiations
• Terms and conditions, sale acknowledgements
• UCC "battle of the forms" counseling
• Procurement process issues (Request For Quote; Statement Of Work; requirements, blanket and spot Purchase Orders; production and material releases, etc.)
• Other supply agreement drafting and negotiations (Long Term Agreements, Multi-Year Agreements, Multi-Party Agreements, etc.)
• Software licensing and other licensing agreements and arrangements
• Strategic Alliances and Joint Ventures
• Joint Development Agreements, Product and Technology Development Agreements
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Economic incentives (R&D)
• Tax advising and structuring
• Export controls and ITAR
• Financially troubled supplier assistance and workouts
• Navigating bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring, including cross-border insolvencies

Intellectual Property Protection

The firm's Intellectual Property Group has a wealth of experience in administering, managing and prosecuting the patent portfolios for several Fortune 500 automotive suppliers; and advising in-house counsel, company management and engineers. We regularly prepare and analyze patentability, validity and infringement searches and opinions, negotiate license agreements and technology assignments, and counsel and represent companies involved in IP disputes and litigation. We also assist clients in all aspects of global trademark and brand protection, working closely to help them select trademarks and develop brand protection strategies designed to fit their business needs and objectives. We currently manage more than 4,100 pending and registered marks in over 150 countries.

Miller Canfield lawyers have been at the forefront in representing foreign and domestic automotive suppliers with respect to licensing their automotive embedded software, Electronic Control Units (ECUs) system integration, counseling in the development and system modeling software, production control and automatic conveying systems and powertrain, emissions and vehicle subsystem test equipment. The firm has been an early leader in developing software licensing arrangements for automotive suppliers, having to convince automotive manufacturers and Tier 1s to look beyond the static purchase order procurement process.

Employment and Labor

We have significant experience with many of the toughest and most sophisticated employment and labor issues facing the automotive and manufacturing industries. Our experience includes:

• Handling dozens of unfair labor practice claims in the context of a single-union organizing campaign
• Providing advice and counsel on how to best implement a nationwide two-week furlough during economic crises
• Providing advice and counsel on how to best implement a reduction in force, including programs that trigger the WARN Act
• Defending wage and hour claims under the FLSA
• Defending workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims filed with the EEOC, state fair employment agencies across the country, in federal and state courts, and in arbitration
• Investigating internal complaints of workplace harassment
• Conducting nationwide Respect in the Workplace training

Litigation/International Dispute Resolution

Miller Canfield's Automotive Litigation Team has presented or defended a wide range of cases in state and federal courts across the United States, including the U.S. Court of International Trade, as well as many domestic and international arbitration tribunals. We have been privileged to work closely with hundreds of automotive companies that are active in all tiers of the automotive supply chain throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. We are actively involved with many trade organizations and continually strive to learn new technologies to aid in our representation. We pride ourselves on understanding the technology, the business issues, and the industry as whole. 

Our deep roster has the talent and experience to lead or support the most complex litigation, including our nationally respected International Dispute Resolution Section. We've represented auto companies in disputes worth up to several hundred million U.S. dollars in multiple international arbitration centers, from Europe to Asia to North America. We aim to fully understand the intricate technology underlying the design and development of the product at issue, enabling us to explain the complex science in a way that a judge, jury, arbitrator, mediator, or any other layperson understands what is at issue and what is not.

Next Generation, Autonomous Vehicles, Software and Start-up Technologies

Miller Canfield is the preeminent law firm and a recognized legal authority in the burgeoning field of next generation vehicles – including electric vehicles, automated and connected vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, robotic delivery systems, ride sharing, mobility-as-a-service, and smart infrastructure. The firm counts among its clients not only globally recognized automotive suppliers and manufacturers, but also software providers, technology companies and investment funds from North America, Europe and Asia. Miller Canfield is ideally positioned to advise companies seeking to understand how to do business in the automotive industry, as well as traditional automotive industry players working with companies providing invaluable software technologies for these next generation vehicles and related technologies and infrastructure.

Our experience includes:

• Safety Standards and Regulation (NHTSA)
• Data Privacy and Data Ownership
• OEM/Supplier/Software Provider Contracting
• Intellectual Property Rights and Software Licensing
• Product Liability
• Public Sector Infrastructure
• State Regulation
• International Law

See more about our Next Generation Vehicles and Mobility Team>>