Smart Legal Contracts and PDF

Does PDF have a role to play in the world of Digital Contracts, Blockchain and Crypto-Assets? Or will in-browser document formats dominate?

Smarter contracts and blockchain technologies are already transforming business processes across commercial, legal and financial sectors and yet “We still approach contracts in much the same way as we have done for centuries. Decades old software such as PDF and Microsoft Word is used to create and store agreements in a digital format, but they are basically digital copies of paper documents. This fails to take advantage of technology that allows for dynamic data access and streamlined contracting.” (Source: UK Lawtech) This session will explore the new technologies that are transforming legal contracts and discuss what the PDF community should do to ensure that the format has a future in this new era:

• What are Smart Legal Contracts?
• Crypto-assets and Cryptocurrencies
• Distributed Ledger Technologies
  • Blockchain
  • Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
  • Interplanetary File System (IPFS)
  • Smart Contracts
• Contrasting “Smart Contracts” and “Smart Legal Contracts”
  • Data Models for Contracts
  • Machine Readable, Data Rich and Collaborative
  • In-browser visualization
• Case Studies
  • Contract Automation and Management
  • Electronic Trade Documents
• Digital Representation and Ownership of Physical Assets
  • The future of PDF and Smart Legal Contracts
  • PDF Myths and Capabilities
  • Opportunities for the PDF Community

Slides download: https://pdfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/1145-Pitman.pdf