William O’Connor’s drone practice is taking off. He leads Morrison & Foerster’s unmanned-aircraft practice out of the San Diego office, helping companies obtain exemptions for commercial use of the technology. The Federal Aviation Administration released its proposed new rules in mid-February, and is accepting comments on them until April 24. O’Connor spoke with The Recorder about the current climate for drones, the agency’s proposal and his hopes for the future of drone regulations.
Let’s start by talking about the legal services necessary for businesses that want to use drones for commercial uses. We’re providing advice regarding regulatory matters having to do with the FAA, and that includes operating under the current regulatory framework—or lack thereof, really—[as well as] developing long-term strategies for clients to understand the regulatory issues and plan for them in the future. That also includes participating in the rule-making process that the FAA is mandated to complete by Congress. It’s behind schedule, but we just had a notice of some new proposed regulations that came out in mid-February. They probably won’t go until effect until 2016. But we’re working with clients to understand those proposed rules, and to participate in the comment process. So that’s the FAA regulatory piece. We are also processing applications for clients to begin commercial operations now, and we’ve done that for drone manufacturers, utility companies, aero-inspection companies and the like. But we’re also—if I can give you the full menu—advising on IP matters, transactional issues, including investment opportunities, privacy and data security, licensing, technology-transfer issues, contracts, etc.
