The Federal Circuit appeared likely to vacate a $12.7 million copyright infringement award against the federal government on Wednesday, pressing attorneys for a software developer and the government to answer what instructions should be given to the claims court on remand.
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Fed. Circ. Leans Toward Vacating $12.7M Copyright Award

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Federal Circuit appeared likely to vacate a $12.7 million copyright infringement award against the federal government on Wednesday, pressing attorneys for a software developer and the government to answer what instructions should be given to the claims court on remand.

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Judge Says $40B Ligado Suit Looks 'Destined' For High Court

By Christopher Cole

Network company Ligado's nearly $40 billion lawsuit accusing the government of wrongly blocking its use of a certain slice of the airwaves seems likely to eventually land in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit's chief judge said Wednesday.

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Fed. Circ. Backs Infringement Immunity For NASA Contractor

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday endorsed a California federal judge's decision that a NASA contractor doesn't have to face a patent infringement suit from a pair of California men, given that its allegedly infringing use was authorized by the federal government.

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'Extraordinary Circumstances': Elon Musk Faces USAID Depo

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Maryland federal judge on Wednesday said billionaire Elon Musk must testify in litigation filed by U.S. Agency for International Development employees claiming he illegally dismantled the foreign aid agency while head of the advisory organization known as the Department of Government Efficiency, saying "extraordinary circumstances justify the deposition."

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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LITIGATION

Brief

Aerospace Workers Ask 4th Circ. To Revive 401(k) Fund Suit

By Elaine Briseño

Workers who alleged RTX Corp. illegally used forfeited retirement funds to pay the company's 401(k) contribution have asked the Fourth Circuit to revive their case after a Virginia federal judge ruled they had failed to state a claim.

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Brief

Chancery Asked For 120-Day Stay Of Virgin Galactic Suit

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has been asked to temporarily pause a stockholder derivative suit accusing Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and other leaders of the spaceflight company of concealing safety risks while selling stock, as related litigation over similar allegations moves toward possible settlement in federal court.

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PEOPLE

Ex-Pentagon GC Joins Bradley Arant's National Security Team

By Jack Rodgers

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has hired the former legal adviser to the National Security Council, who is joining the team in Nashville, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., to work with the firm's Government Enforcement & Investigations and Defense & National Security teams, the firm announced Tuesday.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

New Biotech Nat'l Security Controls May Have Blunted Impact

While the newly enacted federal prohibition against contracting with certain biotechnology providers associated with countries of concern may have consequences on U.S. companies' ability to develop drugs, the restrictions may prove to be less problematic for the industry than the significant publicity around their passage would suggest, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

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Bid Protest Data Contradicts Claims That System Is Inefficient

Recently released data debunks the narrative that the federal procurement system is overwhelmed by excessive or meritless bid protests, revealing instead that the process is healthy and functioning as intended, says Joshua Duvall at Duvy Law.

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Takeaways From The DOJ Fraud Section's 2025 Year In Review

Former acting Principal Deputy Chief Sean Tonolli of the U.S. Department of Justice's Fraud Section, now at Cahill Gordon, analyzes key findings from the section’s annual report — including the changes implemented to adapt to the new administration’s priorities — and lays out what to watch for this year.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Resilience

Resilience is a skill acquired through daily practices that focus on learning from missteps, recovering quickly without internalizing defeat and moving forward with intention, says Nicholas Meza at Quarles & Brady.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Paul Weiss' Karp Steps Back After Epstein Email Revelations

By Hailey Konnath and Aebra Coe

Longtime Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP chair Brad S. Karp has resigned from his leadership role, the firm announced Wednesday, a move that comes after the U.S. Department of Justice released numerous emails between Karp and Jeffrey Epstein.

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Baker McKenzie To Downsize Business Professional Jobs

By Tracey Read

Baker McKenzie, which has a legal services hub in Tampa, Florida, is in the process of downsizing business professionals' jobs, a firm spokesperson confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Wednesday.

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Ex-DLA Piper Partner Aims To Toss Claim He Raped Associate

By Jack Karp

Allegations that an ex-DLA Piper partner raped a former Boston-based associate in Delaware in 2022 should be tossed since the Massachusetts state court the case was filed in has no jurisdiction over the Delaware claim, according to the accused former partner.

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Goldstein Accountant Admits Tax Return Errors

By Jared Foretek

A star government witness and the top outside accountant for SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein and his law firm admitted to making mistakes on Goldstein's tax returns and offering the grand jury erroneous testimony, under cross-examination in the U.S. Supreme Court lawyer's tax fraud trial Wednesday.

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Analysis

Clemency Was 'Broken' Long Before Trump. Can It Be Fixed?

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump has transformed what has historically been a bureaucratic process for seeking federal pardons and commutations into a more freewheeling affair with few clear rules — and no easy solutions for reform, experts say.

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Wachtel Missry Settles Liability In $26M Atty Malpractice Case

By Emily Sawicki

A dispute over who is liable for a former Wachtel Missry LLP partner's alleged exploitation of an elderly client has been settled on the eve of trial, while the Brooklyn federal judge declined to consider recusing himself despite "inadvertently" meeting with the firm's founding partner before the matter was fully put to rest.

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Ex-Fox News Host Decries Judge Pick's Arbitration Stance

By Courtney Buble

Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor and a leading advocate for ending forced arbitration of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, has come out against a federal judicial nominee for Louisiana for her past comments on the issue.

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Trump Bid To Move NY Appeal Faces 'Fatal' Error, Judge Says

By Frank G. Runyeon

A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday repeatedly aired doubts that President Donald Trump can upend the pending New York state appeal of his hush-money conviction by moving the case to federal court.

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Promo that reads 2025 Practice Groups of the Year

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AeroVironment Inc.

Apollo Global Management LLC

Atlantic Biologicals

Binance Holdings Ltd.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

Kimberly-Clark Corp.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

Ligado Networks LLC

LinkedIn Corp.

Millicom International Cellular SA

Momentus Inc.

New York University

Parabellum Capital LLC

RTX Corp.

The New York Times Co.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Ashby & Geddes

Baker McKenzie

Barnes & Thornburg

Bradley Arant

Cahill Gordon

Ciardi Ciardi

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

DLA Piper

DiCello Levitt

Goldstein & Russell

Groom Law Group

Hamilton Lincoln

Haynes Boone

Lehotsky Keller

Libby Hoopes

Lieff Cabraser

Matthew G. Miller PC

Munger Tolles

Nelson Mullins

Paul Weiss

Pollard PLLC

Pryor Cashman

Quarles & Brady

Rosenberg Freedman

Selendy Gay

Seyfarth Shaw

Shah Litigation

Shapiro Arato

Sullivan & Cromwell

Wachtel Missry

Webster Book LLP

Whiteford Taylor

Wiley Rein

Wilson Sonsini

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alaska Department of Law

Defense Health Agency

Delaware Court of Chancery

Executive Office of the President

Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Election Commission

Internal Revenue Service

Manhattan District Attorney's Office

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Institutes of Health

National Security Council

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Superior Court of Massachusetts

Tennessee Attorney General's Office

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

US Office of Management and Budget