Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • May 20, 2024

    Bungie Takes Aim At Cheat Code Sellers In Copyright Trial

    Video game studio Bungie kicked off a Seattle copyright trial on Monday by telling federal jurors a group of cheat code sellers deleted financial records and other data and even fabricated a fake press release about the sale of their website to throw Bungie and its attorneys off their scent.

  • May 20, 2024

    SolarWinds Accuses SEC Of 'Troubling Pattern' Of Distortion

    SolarWinds Corp. is calling out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for what it deems to be a "troubling pattern" of overstating its case against the government contractor, saying that a recent admission by the agency "dooms" claims that the company knew a customer had been hacked and failed to report it.

  • May 20, 2024

    Colo. Gov. Voices 'Reservations' In Signing AI Bias Bill

    Colorado's governor has approved the nation's first framework to clamp down on algorithmic discrimination in certain artificial intelligence technologies, although he expressed several "reservations" about the measure that he urged the Legislature to address before the law takes effect in 2026. 

  • May 20, 2024

    CFPB Fines Debt Relief Co. $400K For Charging Illegal Fees

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday ordered Western Benefits Group to pay a $400,000 civil money penalty and permanently cease operations after finding that the company charged illegal advanced fees for student loan debt relief services and falsely told consumers the advanced fees would be applied toward paying down their debt.

  • May 20, 2024

    Transparency Act Violates Constitution, Groups Tell 11th Circ.

    The Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements violate the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination and other constitutional provisions, libertarian think tank Cato Institute and others said Monday in urging the Eleventh Circuit to uphold an Alabama district court's ruling against the law.

  • May 20, 2024

    Ultragenyx Must Face Suit Over Use Of Henrietta Lacks' Cells

    The family of the late Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were harvested without her knowledge to create the first immortalized human cell line, can purse their suit alleging Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical "made a fortune" using her stolen cells to develop gene therapy treatments, a Maryland federal judge ruled Monday.

  • May 20, 2024

    Texas' Naive Witness 'Unacceptable' In Google Ad Tech Suit

    A judge overseeing a Texas-led lawsuit accusing Google of anti-competitive conduct in the display advertising market has ordered the attorneys general bringing the litigation to provide an adequate witness who can speak to certain facts about the investigation, calling their failure to do so "puzzling and unacceptable."

  • May 20, 2024

    USPTO Says Patent Applicants' Data Was Mistakenly Leaked

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has said it accidentally released certain patent information that shouldn't have been made public during a more than monthlong period, marking another time the office has incorrectly released information.

  • May 20, 2024

    Auto Accessory Co. Secures Partial Coverage For BIPA Row

    An insurer must defend an automotive accessory company in a proposed class action alleging violations of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, the Seventh Circuit ruled, finding that unlike the company's primary and excess commercial general liability policies, an umbrella policy "lacks an exclusion pertaining to nonpublic information."

  • May 20, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware was full of drama last week, as proposed changes to the state's corporate law statutes raised eyebrows and a professor's friend-of-the-court brief sparked a very unfriendly public exchange. Delaware's court of equity banged the gavel on pipeline and social media disputes, and shareholders filed new suits alleging insider trading, vote bungling, unfair stock buybacks and merger shenanigans. In case you missed any of it, here's the recap of all the top news last week from Delaware's Chancery Court.

  • May 20, 2024

    Latham-Led CyberArk Buying PE-Backed Venafi In $1.54B Deal

    Latham & Watkins LLP is guiding Newton, Massachusetts-based CyberArk on a new deal to buy fellow cybersecurity company Venafi from Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo, represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, at an enterprise value of $1.54 billion, CyberArk said Monday. 

  • May 20, 2024

    Assange Gets Final Appeal In Fight Against US Extradition

    Julian Assange won a lifeline in his long-running fight against extradition to the U.S. on Monday as an English court granted him permission to challenge assurances from American authorities that the WikiLeaks founder would not face discrimination at trial.

  • May 17, 2024

    TikTok, Feds Ask DC Circ. To Fast-Track Potential Ban Row

    TikTok, a group of its creators and the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday all asked the D.C. Circuit to fast-track challenges to a new federal law that would exclude the popular app from the U.S. market unless it cuts ties with its Chinese parent company.

  • May 17, 2024

    Feds Say Duo Ran $73M 'Pig Butchering' Laundering Scheme

    Two Chinese citizens have been arrested on charges of being kingpins in a money laundering operation that processed more than $73 million of funds that were stolen in so-called pig butchering cryptocurrency schemes.

  • May 17, 2024

    Meet The Attys Fighting Efforts To Ban TikTok

    Facing a potential federal ban, TikTok and creators on the platform have tapped a bevy of BigLaw heavyweights, including attorneys who have successfully led challenges to prior moves to shut down the popular social media platform and limit children's online activities, as well as a pair of litigators who've argued dozens of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

  • May 17, 2024

    Scammer Cops To SIM Scheme Including $400M Crypto Theft

    A Colorado woman on Thursday pled guilty in D.C. federal court for her part in a SIM swapping scheme that appears to encompass more than $400 million stolen from the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

  • May 17, 2024

    Furniture Co. Says Insurer Wrongly Denied Hacking Coverage

    A Pittsburgh furniture company accused its insurer of bad faith and breach of contract for failing to cover more than $530,000 in losses due to monthslong hacking that began in 2021.

  • May 17, 2024

    Koch-Tied Group Says Transparency Law Offends Federalism

    The Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional because it does not regulate interstate commerce yet mandates that state-registered entities disclose personal information, a conservative group affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday.

  • May 17, 2024

    Utilities Need More Airwaves To Drive Growth, FCC Hears

    Utilities need more spectrum to keep their networks running smoothly as they move toward digitizing the electric grid, which is already under significant strain, a wireless service provider has told the Federal Communications Commission.

  • May 17, 2024

    Ga. OB-GYN Office Says Data Breach Class Action Falls Flat

    An Atlanta OB-GYN practice has urged a Georgia federal judge to dismiss a proposed class suit over a data breach that allegedly impacted the personal and protected health information of tens of thousands of patients, arguing the lead plaintiff has failed to meet the requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act.

  • May 16, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Let Alexa Users Revive Voice Data Privacy Row

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday refused to reinstate a proposed class action alleging Amazon's Alexa software illegally collects voice data to target users with advertisements, agreeing with the lower court that the e-commerce giant had clearly disclosed the practice and the plaintiffs hadn't shown they were harmed.

  • May 16, 2024

    Hunter Biden's Suit May Turn On If A Hard Drive Is A Computer

    A California federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden's lawsuit against a former Trump White House aide for accessing data allegedly taken from a copy of Biden's laptop said Thursday that case may hinge on if a hard drive copy qualifies as a "computer" under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

  • May 16, 2024

    Jolie May Have To Turn Over Her NDAs In Pitt's Winery Suit

    Angelina Jolie may have to disclose many of the nondisclosure agreements she's signed to Brad Pitt's legal team in the former couple's dispute over a multimillion-dollar French winery, a Los Angeles judge said Thursday in a tentative ruling.

  • May 16, 2024

    Clean Energy CEO Gets 6 Years For Forgeries Netting $1.1M

    The CEO of a Pennsylvania clean energy company was sentenced to six years in federal prison for defrauding investors out of $1.1 million and falsifying documents to cover his tracks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

  • May 16, 2024

    Prosecutors Say Fake Fortune 500 Workers Funded N. Korea

    The Biden administration alleged that North Korea may have raised $6.8 million to develop nuclear weapons by installing remote information technology workers at Fortune 500 businesses, announcing charges Thursday against two individuals accused of helping agents pose as U.S. employees.

Expert Analysis

  • The Opportunities, Risks And Rewards Of AI Acquisitions

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    As artificial intelligence acquisitions become an increasing area of focus for investors and technology buyers, entities should pay special attention to target identification, due diligence and more when structuring and executing a transaction with a company that has an AI-centric business model, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Legal Issues To Watch As Deepfake Voices Proliferate

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    With increasingly sophisticated and accessible voice-cloning technology raising social, ethical and legal questions, particularly in the entertainment industry and politics, further legislative intervention and court proceedings seem very likely, say Shruti Chopra and Paul Joseph at Linklaters.

  • AI And Trade Controls: A Guide To Expanding Restrictions

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    With restrictions on trade related to commodities, software and technology integral to high-performing artificial intelligence capabilities expected to expand — particularly between the U.S. and China — companies must carefully consider the export classification of the items they design, produce or procure, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Car Apps, Abuse Survivor Safety And The FCC: Key Questions

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    A recent request for comment from the Federal Communications Commission, concerning how to protect the privacy of domestic violence survivors who use connected car services, raises key questions, including whether the FCC has the legal authority to limit access to a vehicle's connected features to survivors only, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Opinion

    'Natural Person' Or Not, AI-Made IP Deserves Protection

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    The entire legal edifice rests on a determination that an artificial system is not a so-called natural person, and although this may appear to be straightforward on its face, rapid advances in technology may soon force us to revisit our understanding of a natural person, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

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    In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • A GC's Guide To Multijurisdictional Regulatory Compliance

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    Overlapping cybersecurity regulation has created an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape with elevated oversight for organizations across the globe, but general counsel can help develop a best-in-class approach to manage these complexities by building a compliance strategy holistically, say David Dunn and Meredith Griffanti at FTI Consulting.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Examining Illinois Genetic Privacy Law Amid Deluge Of Claims

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    After a federal court certified an Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act class action in August, claims under the law have skyrocketed, so employers, insurers and others that collect health and genetic information should ensure compliance with the act to limit litigation risk, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • 8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy

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    The rapidly expanding digital creator economy — funding for which more than doubled in the U.S. in the first quarter — comes with its own set of unique legal issues investors must carefully consider before diving in, say Louis Lehot and Alan Pate at Foley & Lardner.

  • Action Steps To Address New Restrictions On Outbound Data

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    Companies should immediately assess all their data-based operations so they can consider strategies to effectively mitigate new compliance risks brought on by recently implemented transaction restrictions, including a Justice Department proposal and landmark data legislation, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

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