BlackBerry and Facebook have agreed to end a patent dispute accusing each other of infringing numerous patents relating to messaging technology.
New York lawmakers and the Federal Trade Commission are the latest to step up pressure on companies to be upfront with consumers about the use of their biometric data, signaling that more laws and regulatory scrutiny are expected for the increasingly popular technology, attorneys say.
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated five claims of a Florida company's image editing patent at the heart of a $4.3 million jury verdict against Samsung, reversing an earlier decision that upheld the claims.
After sending out thousands of racist robocalls in an attempt to sway public opinion against Black and Jewish political candidates, an Idaho white supremacist is being hit with nearly $10 million in fines from the Federal Communications Commission.
The White House announced Friday it has finalized a four-pronged strategy to help the U.S. roll out safe and effective 5G networks, including promoting "core security principles" in new wireless infrastructure and encouraging global allies to do the same.
The Justice Department's top antitrust enforcer, Makan Delrahim, has been sticking song references in the titles of his policy speeches throughout his tenure, most recently announcing a decision about music licensing groups in remarks titled "And the Beat Goes On." Here, Law360 takes a look at the songs Delrahim has cited ahead of his expected departure from the agency Tuesday.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a photographer's case alleging that the University of Houston unconstitutionally took his copyrighted image without permission, which a lower appellate court tossed.
Audiovisual technicians for an event services provider cannot vote to unionize because the company laid them off due to the coronavirus pandemic with no expectation of their returning anytime soon, a National Labor Relations Board official has ruled.
A federal judge is ordering porn studio Malibu Media to repay the legal bills of one of the thousands of internet users it has sued for copyright infringement, at one point wondering if the company leverages "ridicule and embarrassment" to win settlements.
The U.S. Supreme Court will wade into a more than two-decade-old dispute over media ownership rules on Tuesday and at long last attempt to address the Federal Communications Commission's contrasting obligations to promote both competition and diversity among radio and TV station owners and to eliminate unnecessary constraints on who can hold broadcast properties.
Amazon was hit Thursday with a proposed class action accusing the tech giant of putting a "stranglehold" on the e-book business by scheming with book publishers on price restraints that caused customers to overpay for digital books if they didn't shop on Amazon's website.
ViacomCBS filed suit in California federal court Thursday, alleging Great Divide Insurance Co. reneged on its coverage agreement by refusing to protect the media giant from losses when it was forced to delay or cancel production for its television shows and live events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mobile gaming company Playtika began trading on the Nasdaq Friday after pricing an upsized $1.9 billion initial public offering that was guided by Latham & Watkins LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.
An Eleventh Circuit panel appeared to lean Friday toward a Venezuelan court-appointed oversight board in a dispute over who controls the country's LaTele network in its long-running copyright fight with U.S.-based Spanish-language network Telemundo, but questioned arguments that it should not even hear the former company president's appeal.
Florida-based real estate firm Midtown Development has purchased a Miami retail center that also includes office space from a venture of three real estate firms for $65.5 million, according to a Friday announcement from sell-side broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
The founder of a Silicon Valley video streaming service and an investment manager have been indicted for allegedly orchestrating a pump-and-dump stock fraud scheme, Illinois federal prosecutors announced Friday.
The Ninth Circuit suggested on Thursday that immigration officials likely unlawfully retaliated against an activist poet by placing him in immigration detention after he spoke at a rally, ordering a lower court to reevaluate his claims.
In Law360's latest roundup of new actions at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, convenience store giant Circle K is fighting to block a cannabis company's application to register "K" for hemp-focused marketing services — plus three other cases you need to know.
A D.C. federal judge handed John Bolton a victory in a bitter clash over his tell-all White House memoir, ruling that the former national security adviser-turned-critic is entitled to probe whether President Donald Trump or senior government officials acted in bad faith to delay or block publication.
The U.S. Department of Justice will leave in place a pair of court orders that have governed music licensing groups BMI and ASCAP for nearly 80 years, saying Friday that there isn't enough consensus to change or kill them right now.
Europe's top regulators have dismissed an appeal for the third time in a case brought by an individual who has accused the bloc's banking watchdog of failing to stop intellectual property violations linked to a television script he wanted to sell to streaming giant Netflix.
The Polish company behind the highly anticipated video game Cyberpunk 2077 knew the bug-ridden game was "virtually unplayable" on Xbox and PlayStation systems but misled investors as to its technical viability and pressed on with its release, actions that tanked the company's stock value, shareholders said Thursday.
Clothing designer Mossimo Giannulli asked a Massachusetts federal court to release him from his 5-month "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal prison term into home confinement, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and his 56 days confined in solitary quarantine while behind bars.
Yoko Ono Lennon told a New York federal court Thursday that she's reached a deal to end her suit alleging the former assistant of her late husband and Beatles frontman John Lennon violated a 2003 court order in which he promised to stop publishing and speaking publicly about Lennon or Ono.
A California federal judge on Thursday questioned a $110 million fee bid by attorneys representing Illinois Facebook users in a "groundbreaking" $650 million proposed settlement of claims that the social media giant's facial recognition technology violated their biometric privacy rights, suggesting that a fraction of that might be more appropriate.
An Illinois state appeals court's recent decision in Basile v. Prometheus Global Media calls attention to the unique jurisdictional challenges that arise when opposing parties invoke anti-SLAPP statutes from different states in the course of litigation, says Phillip Zisook at Schoenberg Finkel.
The D.C. Circuit’s recent opinion in Akhmetshin v. Browder, leaving the government contacts exception's application to foreign lobbyists unsettled, may compel courts to clarify the availability of First Amendment defamation defenses to foreign companies involved in lobbying, says Joe Meadows at Bean Kinney.
Some recent litigation developments demonstrate efforts by law firms and their clients to search for opportunities in the COVID-19 economic fallout, while others — such as the rise of contingency fee arrangements — reflect acceleration of tendencies that were already underway, says William Weisman at Therium Capital.
In the face of rising client demands due to the pandemic and the changing regulatory environment, and with remote work continuing for the foreseeable future, lawyers should invest in their well-being by establishing inspiring yet realistic goals for 2021 — one month at a time, says Krista Larson at Morgan Lewis.
Clickwrap litigation is expected to increase this year, following several 2020 judgments that show the courts' growing sophistication on assessing online user agreements and a continued surge in user growth fueled by COVID-19, says Brian Powers of PactSafe.
The Second Circuit's recent ruling in Brandon v. NPG Records, barring copyright infringement claims already litigated in a Florida federal court in favor of Spike Lee and Prince’s estate, offers lessons on supplementary copyright registration and significant federal procedural issues, say Matthew Nelles and Adriana Kostencki at Nelles Kostencki.
"Confidential" and other search terms commonly used to locate privileged documents during e-discovery are pretty ineffective, so practitioners should consider including specific types of keywords that are demonstrably better at targeting privilege, say Robert Keeling at Sidley and Rishi Chhatwal at AT&T.
For the world of advertising, 2021 will bring new challenges and considerations shaped not only by the ongoing pandemic, but also by new legal developments regarding social media, cannabis and consumer privacy, say Jason Gordon and Casey Perrino at Reed Smith.
Lawyers working remotely during the pandemic while physically outside the jurisdictions in which they are licensed will find some comfort in a recent American Bar Association opinion sanctioning such practice, but there is ambiguity regarding the contours of what's allowed, say attorneys at Harris Wiltshire.
Whether geared toward a global audience or a particular client, a law firm's articles, blog posts and client alerts should strive to be original by harnessing a few editorial tools and following the right distribution sequence, say Steven Andersen and Tal Donahue at Infinite Global.
Derek Adams at Potomac Law, and Ellen London and Steven Deolus at Alto Litigation, examine the evolution of the Paycheck Protection Program, the impact of constant changes to eligibility and reporting rules, and enforcement developments to expect this year.
Perspectives
Judges should take into consideration the several points of law enforcement and prosecutorial discretion — from traffic stops to charging decisions and sentencing recommendations — that often lead to race-based disparate treatment before a criminal defendant even reaches the courthouse, say Judge Juan Villaseñor and Laurel Quinto at Colorado's Eighth Judicial District Court.
Lawyers should remember that the basics of interpersonal relationships have not changed despite the completely virtual environment caused by the pandemic, and should leverage the new year as an excuse to connect with clients in several ways, say Megan Senese and Courtney Hudson at Pillsbury.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act saw important legal developments over the course of 2020, but the law's ultimate constitutionality and the future of consumer protection from unwanted calls will likely hinge on the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming ruling in Facebook v. Duguid, says Scott Shaffer at Olshan Frome.
Companies must prepare to navigate a storm of antitrust forces on the horizon, with the potential for more aggressive antitrust enforcement under the Biden administration, including agency focus on acquisitions of nascent competitors, the life sciences industry and monetary remedies, say attorneys at Cooley.