Microsoft Exec Backed OpenAI Deal Amid Concerns, Jury Told

By Dorothy Atkins

Microsoft's chief technology officer testified in a California federal jury trial Wednesday over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion, recalling that he proposed Microsoft invest significant resources into OpenAI's for-profit arm to stay competitive despite his initial concerns over whether OpenAI's nonprofit donors had agreed to the for-profit partnership.

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Derailed BIC Razor Blade Deal Leads To $291M Award

By Joyce Hanson

An investment company registered in Mauritius has asked a California federal court to enforce approximately $291 million in arbitral awards it won against the son of the founder of Super-Max Group, an international group of companies that manufactures razor blades.

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Atkore's $136M Deals In PVC Pipe Antitrust Row Get Initial OK

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge Wednesday granted preliminary approval to two settlements totaling over $136 million that Atkore Inc. has agreed to pay to resolve allegations it conspired with other polyvinyl chloride pipe producers to fix prices.

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Samsung Secures Indemnity Win In IP Case At Fed. Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday backed a California federal judge's ruling that a contract under which Finelite buys LED chips from Samsung does not require Samsung to indemnify Finelite in a patent suit by Seoul Semiconductor.

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10th Circ. Doubts Bid To Undo Colo. Land Swap

By Zach Dupont

A Tenth Circuit panel appeared unsure that an appraisal of a land exchange between the federal government and a private landowner must be publicly disclosed under federal law, despite claims to the contrary from an attorney representing Colorado Wild Public Lands at oral argument Wednesday.

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Vineyard Wind Contractor Asks Judge To Pull Work Order

By Carolyn Muyskens

A GE Vernova subsidiary urged a judge in Boston to lift his order forcing it to continue as principal contractor for a major offshore wind project Wednesday, saying recent events undermine the narrative that the $4 billion venture's success hangs on the contractor staying.

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Fintech Inks $8M Mass. Settlement Over 'Lease-To-Own' Biz

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Texas-based financial technology company told a state court Wednesday it has agreed to a $7.8 million resolution of the Massachusetts attorney general's claims that it misled consumers about its "lease-to-own" contracts for consumer merchandise, causing customers to pay "far more than the retail price for their merchandise."

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Split 6th Circ. Affirms $1 Damages In Touch Screen Tech Case

By Elliot Weld

A split panel of the Sixth Circuit has upheld a $1 damages award that a Michigan federal judge gave to electronics manufacturer Oldnar Corp., with two judges saying they agreed that Oldnar had not proved higher damages with reasonable certainty.

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Swiss Army Knife Co. Has Knives Out For Amazon Suppliers

By Ben Adlin

Victorinox Swiss Army Inc. filed suit Tuesday in an effort to identify the authorized sellers of its iconic knives and other products who are allegedly diverting goods to unauthorized resellers, including merchants on Amazon.com.

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Big Fish Games Buyer Evading Royalty Duties, Studio Claims

By Rachel Riley

The new owner of Seattle-based desktop game publisher Big Fish Games has been accused of attempting to illegally rewrite deals with a studio that helped develop many of its titles to avoid paying royalties and revoke mobile distribution rights, according to a fresh lawsuit in Washington state court.

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Rebel Wilson Can't Defeat Calif. Defamation Suit On Appeal

By Gina Kim

California appellate justices upheld an order denying Rebel Wilson's bid to ax a defamation suit alleging she spread lies about producers of the movie "The Deb," and whom she accused of embezzlement and sexually harassing the lead actress, ruling Wednesday there's evidence to support Wilson knew her statements were likely untrue. 

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Business Exec Says NBA Cut Him Out Of Airline Partnership

By Tom Lotshaw

A California businessman claims the NBA should have to cough up millions of dollars in damages for cutting him out of a lucrative sponsorship deal it struck with Emirates airline.

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Former Fairstead Partner Wins Chancery Fight Over Equity

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Wednesday handed a win to former Fairstead partner William Blodgett in a fight over whether two affiliates of Fairstead, a real estate firm, could use their LLC agreements to punish him for conduct that an arbitrator found breached his employment agreement.

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Judge Says X Can't Make Tim Cook Custodian In ChatGPT Suit

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge shot down a request by X Corp. to make Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook a custodian in a sprawling antitrust lawsuit X launched last year, but said Wednesday that it could depose Apple's head of software.

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Texas Biz Court Weighs If It Can Hear La. Antitrust Claims

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas Business Court judge fielded dueling arguments Wednesday on whether the court should be able to hear claims brought under Louisiana antitrust and unfair trade practices laws, a move Exxon Mobil Corp. and its subsidiaries said is a no-go.

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Brief

Colo. Jury Awards $1.3M To I-70 Project Subcontractor

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado state jury declined to award $32.5 million to the lead contractor of the reconstruction project of a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in Denver, finding instead that the contractor breached a subcontract and owes its subcontractor $1.3 million in damages.

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Conn. Doctor Asked To Pay $880K In IVF Fraud Dispute

By Hope Patti

Two people who accused a reproductive endocrinologist of using his own sperm to impregnate their mothers have proposed that the doctor settle their suit against him for a total of $880,000, according to separate offers filed in Connecticut state court.

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Salt-N-Pepa Suit May Shake Up Music Copyright Issue

James v. UMG Recordings is a copyright termination rights case that provides an opportunity for the Second Circuit to make concrete choices about grant language, authorship, work-for-hire status and survival of derivative works, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

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Murdaugh Murder Conviction Overturned By SC High Court

By Parker Quinlan

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a double murder conviction and ordered a new trial for disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh, finding the jury in his first trial was biased by a clerk of court who allegedly sought a guilty verdict in a ploy to juice sales of her book about the trial.

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Texas Atty Must Pay $5M For Groping Opposing Counsel

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas state appellate court on Wednesday refused to disturb a $5 million jury verdict against a San Antonio lawyer for grabbing the buttocks of opposing counsel at the courthouse where they were arguing a family law proceeding in 2019.

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DOJ Goes After DC Bar, Courts For Discipline Of Ex-DOJ Atty

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sued the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, D.C. Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia, claiming that they were "punishing" a former Trump administration DOJ official and trying to "control the executive branch."

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DOJ Fraud Division Set To Shake Up White-Collar Enforcement

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump's administration created the U.S. Department of Justice's National Fraud Enforcement Division with a narrow focus on combating government program fraud, but a move to retain federal prosecutors focused on other types of fraud could signal a wider scope with potential ripple effects across white-collar enforcement.

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Arbitrators See Global Stakes In Trump BigLaw EO Fight

By Caroline Simson

Ahead of a D.C. Circuit hearing on Thursday in the Trump administration's effort to revive executive orders imposed against four BigLaw firms, an official at the College of Commercial Arbitrators told Law360 this week there are several things arbitrators are going to be watching for.

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Apple Targets Hagens Berman 'Gamesmanship' In ICloud Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Apple has lashed out at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for trying to withdraw a named plaintiff from an iCloud antitrust case in California federal court without discovery into any directions she received to preserve now-deleted emails, raising concerns that the withdrawal is meant to "paper over lost evidence."

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Michigan Federal Judge Gets Probation For Drunken Driving

By Susan Smiley

Michigan federal Judge Thomas L. Ludington was sentenced by a state judge on Wednesday to six months' probation and fined $1,175 after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge last month in Emmet County.

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6th Circ. Says Kentucky Judicial Hopefuls May Tout Ideology

By Emily Sawicki

Kentucky judicial hopefuls are cleared to discuss their political leanings on the campaign trail, according to a precedential ruling by the Sixth Circuit, which permanently enjoined the state's Judicial Conduct Commission from pursuing an enforcement action against two candidates who described themselves as "conservatives" and "Republicans" amid the 2022 election season.

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Judge Says LegalForce Must Pay $93K After Losing TM Suit

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge on Wednesday ordered LegalForce RAPC Worldwide PC to pay nearly $93,000 in fees and costs to the company that operates LawFirms.com, finding the case to be exceptional because LegalForce alleged facts it knew were false and took steps to obscure other facts that showed its case was meritless.

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CORRECTED: Senate Advances 13 US Attorneys In En Bloc Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 46-45, along party lines, to advance the nomination of 13 U.S. attorneys on Monday as part of a larger nominations package. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the status of the nominees in the Senate.

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