McDonald's Antitrust Suits Spotlight Risks Of AI Pricing Tools

A pair of recent class actions filed against McDonald's in Illinois federal court show how antitrust challenges can arise when companies use artificial intelligence pricing tools and personalize prices for individual consumers, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

Planning Personal Phone Collections Before Discovery Begins

For counsel planning a personal phone collection as part of the litigation discovery process, it's important to take early steps to ensure that necessary information will be obtained without exposing unrelated information or running into access issues, says Jeremy Horowitz at MARA Forensics.

How NYC Consumer Bill Could Expand Private Claims

New York City's proposed Power Act could expose companies to sweeping private claims under its prohibition on unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices, making regulatory compliance reviews and litigation-risk planning essential for businesses serving city residents, says Brian Turetsky at Hinshaw.

What FTC Publicis Deal Means For Data Infrastructure M&A

The Federal Trade Commission's recent proposed resolution to its concerns over Publicis' $2.2 billion acquisition of LiveRamp shows how the FTC may treat deals involving important data infrastructure layers, even when the parties operate at different levels of the technology stack, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

NYC Power Act May Spur Algorithmic Pricing And Other Suits

New York City’s proposed Power Act would create a private right of action for unfair, deceptive, abusive and unlawful practices, broadening litigation exposure for businesses using algorithmic and other types of pricing technology, though its path to enactment still remains uncertain, say attorneys at Skadden.

Opinion

Judges Must Turn To Merits Earlier To Fix Civil Justice System

The U.S. justice system is long overdue for a cultural shift that encourages judges to engage with the merits of a case from the outset, which would help to cut through procedural complexities and deliver high-quality justice efficiently and at lower cost, says Steven Kayman at Rottenberg Lipman.

Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

How Groq-Nvidia Suit Tests Venture Capital Exit Math

A recent Delaware Court of Chancery suit concerning Nvidia's acquihire of certain Groq employees highlights that when such deals are challenged, the economic dispute turns on reconciling technology, people, cash and continuing ownership rather than on the headline number, says Ben Dubin at VC Expert Services.

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.

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.

FTC Highlights Path To Preserve Board Rights In A Rival Co.

The Federal Trade Commission's move to add key guardrails permitting firearms manufacturer Beretta to retain two directors as it takes a 25% stake in competitor Ruger illustrates how parties may maintain board rights in certain circumstances without running afoul of Section 8 of the Clayton Act, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

Defending Hospital Antisteering Clauses From DOJ Scrutiny

The Trump administration has recently made clear that pursuing antitrust challenges to antisteering provisions in hospital-insurer contracts is a priority — but a review of similar cases against hospital systems and important precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court illuminates some potential defenses in such cases, says Derek Moore at Rule Garza.

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.

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.

Mass. High Court Raises Bar For Trade Secret Injunctions

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's recent decision in Daikin v. Russo confirms that trade secret plaintiffs must prove irreparable harm under ordinary equitable principles when seeking a preliminary injunction, putting an end to potential theories of automatic presumption, says Gregory Bombard at Greenberg Traurig.