Expert Analysis

• What To Expect From Calif.'s Incoming Health AI Laws

  

  California's new statewide ground rules for artificial intelligence in clinical care, set to take effect on Jan. 1, reveal the Legislature's choice to regulate healthcare AI primarily though institutions, rather than direct product regulation, and providers should shape their compliance plans accordingly, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

• Opinion

  The Invisible AI Danger That May Undermine Legal Profession

  

  A public database tracking cases involving hallucinations generated by artificial intelligence recently surpassed 2,200 entries, but the bigger risk underlying attorneys’ use of such tools is that they will slowly surrender their judgment to AI and lose analytical skills, says Massachusetts District Court Associate Justice Brian Palmucci.

• Full Policy Payment May Not Bar Insurer Bad Faith In 9th Circ.

  

  Establishing that an insurer acted within its contractual rights likely disposes of a breach-of-contract claim, however, following the Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Quilbillies v. First American Title Insurance, the same showing may not dispose of bad faith, says Tracy Garcia at Cozen O'Connor.

• How Cos. Using AI Agents Can Avoid Protected Data Incidents

  

  For businesses whose deployed artificial intelligence agents could enter other companies' systems and steal protected data, deployers can take several steps before an incident to test the configured agent, such as limiting it to approved systems and destinations and requiring human escalation when tasks stall, says Steven Carlson at von Briesen & Roper.

• Courts Signal Higher FCRA Bar For Identity Theft Claims

  

  Recent rulings adopting a heightened, "objectively and readily verifiable" inaccuracy standard may give credit furnishers stronger defenses to identity theft-related Fair Credit Reporting Act claims in the Ninth Circuit, while requiring them to continue documenting thorough dispute investigations, says Brian Kiolbasa at Ballard Spahr.

• 10 Ways AI Labs Can Limit Antitrust Risks Of Safety Pacts

  

  The OpenAI CEO’s recent call for artificial intelligence laboratories to collectively slow development to allow safety research to catch up invites antitrust scrutiny, but the risks to coordinating competitors can be managed by carefully structuring pacing agreements and layering their approach to compliance, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

• 9th Circ. Waters Ruling Shows Sackett's Ripple Effects

  

  The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Inland Empire Waterkeeper v. Corona Clay demonstrates that the U.S. Supreme Court's "waters of the U.S." ruling in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can reopen cases already tried to verdict, thus changing expectations around citizen suits and stormwater enforcement in California, says Jacob Lubarsky at Rogers Joseph.

• Calif. High Court Ruling Eases Path To Excess Coverage Suits

  

  Following a recent California Supreme Court ruling in Fox Paine v. Twin City Fire Insurance, policyholders will have an easier time sustaining suits against excess insurers, leading the latter to settle more frequently, buy back more policies, increase premiums and change policy language, says Charles Grosenick at Brown & Winters.

• FINRA Disputes Highlight Timeliness In Arbitrator Bias Claims

  

  Recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority litigation over arbitrator neutrality shows that the strength of challenges depends not only on what counsel discovers, but also on how early it is uncovered and how concretely it can be demonstrated, says Dax White at White Law.

• How AI Could Help Judges Spot Their Own Biases

  

  In close cases where there’s room for discretion, artificial intelligence could challenge judges’ implicit biases by running counterfactual tests at scale — but any judicial use of such tools would need guardrails, say Arnold Peter at Peter Law and Nancy Rapoport at University of Nevada.

• Reggaeton Dispute Tests Boundaries Of Musical Rhythm IP

  

  Browne v. Donalds, a music copyright dispute currently pending in California federal court, may set significant precedent for whether a foundational musical rhythm or style can be owned and exclusively controlled through copyright law, says Jameel Diaz at Omnus Law.

• Compete Act Reinforces Calif.'s Antitrust Leadership Role

  

  California's recent passage of the Compete Act, which expands the state's principal antitrust statute's focus on concerted multifirm conduct to business dealings between two or more firms, underscores California's leadership in state antitrust enforcement as attorneys general move to fill perceived gaps left by reduced federal oversight, say attorneys at Skadden.

• NHTSA Vehicle Recorder Rule Highlights Crash Data Protocols

  

  An amended rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will soon require vehicle event data recorders to capture more information about crashes — but to turn that data into evidence, attorneys, claims professionals and fleet managers must properly obtain and preserve it after an incident occurs, says Andrew Haling at Pathway Law.

• AI Litigation Risks Are Expanding To Affiliated Cos.

  

  Litigation targeting artificial intelligence companies is underway, with claims reaching beyond primary developers and operators to include parties that supply technology and data, invest in and profit from platforms, validate systems, and provide services — so participants in the extended AI ecosystem must prepare, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

• 3 Eligibility Rulings Show Risks Of Broad Claim Constructions

  

  Several recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, including its ruling in Berkeley v. W.W. Grainger, highlight the importance of identifying the inventive aspects of a patent early in the case so that patentees do not inadvertently read the inventive features out of their own claims, say attorneys at MoFo.