John Deere Inks $99M Deal In Farmers' Right-To-Repair Suit

By Celeste Bott

John Deere has agreed to pay $99 million to a putative class of farmers to resolve claims that it limits competition for farm equipment repairs by preventing unaffiliated shops from acquiring the necessary tools, and will also provide injunctive relief that would allow those independent repair providers to be able to diagnose and fix John Deere-brand agricultural equipment.

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Google Convinces 5th Circ. To Move Antitrust Case To Calif.

By Lauren Berg

A split Fifth Circuit on Tuesday transferred from Texas to California a mobile analytics software company's case accusing Google of monopolizing mobile device search markets, agreeing with the tech giant that the district court misapplied the law when determining the case should stay in the Lone Star State.

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FTC Must List Potential Remedies In Amazon Antitrust Case

By Matthew Perlman

A Washington federal court ordered the Federal Trade Commission to respond to Amazon's discovery request asking for a list of remedies enforcers intend to seek in the antitrust case alleging its merchant rules drive up online retail prices.

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FCC Opens Probe Into Competition In Telecom Markets

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission said it wants to focus on barriers to new entrants in the communications market as it crafts a new report on the state of competition in the industry, with a focus on broadband service.

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Microsoft, Others Tell Court To Reject Epic-Google Deal

By Bryan Koenig

Microsoft, advocacy groups and economists pushed back on the revised settlement between Epic Games and Google that would open up the Play Store to competition, vouching instead for at least parts of the injunction Epic won in California federal court but is now looking to replace.

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Musk Wants Altman Out, Not To Boost 'Himself Personally'

By Hailey Konnath

Elon Musk said Tuesday he wants OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stripped of his title and "all equity and other personal financial benefits" to be awarded to OpenAI's nonprofit if Musk wins his case claiming OpenAI duped him, saying he isn't after "a remedy directed to benefiting himself personally."

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NCAA Asks 9th Circ. To Revive 5-Year Eligibility Cap On Player

By Dorothy Atkins

The NCAA urged a Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday to reverse an injunction that allowed a college baseball player to pitch beyond the five-year window the organization normally limits players to, saying his antitrust suit doesn't establish a relevant market or explain any anticompetitive effects of the five-year rule.

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Mich. AG Says PBMs Can't Stall Discovery In Drug-Pricing Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

Michigan's attorney general is urging a federal court to reject a renewed bid by pharmacy benefit managers to pause discovery in an antitrust case accusing them of price-fixing reimbursement rates, claiming the companies are relying on exaggerated burden claims and an ordinary motion to dismiss that is unlikely to succeed.

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Fox Pushes For Ruling On Transfer Bid In Newsmax Case

By Matthew Perlman

Fox Corp. is urging a Wisconsin federal court to issue a ruling on its pending bid to transfer Newsmax Broadcasting LLC's case accusing it of pressuring cable and streaming providers into not carrying the rival right-leaning broadcaster.

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DC Circ. Skeptical Ex-Steward CEO Could Skip Senate Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

A D.C. Circuit judge told the attorney for the embattled former CEO of Steward Health Care on Tuesday that she couldn't comprehend how his client could invoke his Fifth Amendment rights without showing up to his scheduled appearance before a Senate committee.

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Delaware Chancery OKs $190M Meta Privacy Settlement

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Tuesday approved a $190 million settlement resolving long-running stockholder claims that Meta Platforms Inc. mishandled user privacy and board oversight in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, closing out a case that had stretched more than seven years and reached the second day of trial.

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Stability AI Says Garbled Pics Don't Support Getty Claims

By Bonnie Eslinger

Stability AI urged a California federal judge Tuesday to toss six claims from a sprawling lawsuit alleging the artificial intelligence company misused millions of Getty Images' photos, arguing garbled AI images featuring Getty's watermark don't amount to trademark dilution, trademark infringement or violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

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Wildfire App Wants Competitor's Launch Blocked In TM Case

By Elliot Weld

A company that operates a phone application that gives out information about wildfires has asked a California federal judge to block the launch of a competing wildfire app made by public safety software company Intterra.

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Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

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Axed Trade Secret Award Cautions Against Bundling Damages

The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Trinseo v. Harper, vacating a $75 million jury verdict for trade secret misappropriation due to a bundled damages model, offers a strong reminder to apportion damages so a jury can award a nonspeculative figure when it credits only some alleged secrets, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

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Pregnant DLA Piper Atty Recounts Firing: 'This Feels Wrong'

By Pete Brush

A former associate who claims DLA Piper unlawfully fired her after she announced she was pregnant told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday that she got positive feedback as she worked with large corporate clients and was "shocked" when she was terminated.

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Blanche Says Only Trump Knows Why Bondi's Leaving DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he is now acting attorney general and no one, beyond the president, knows why Pam Bondi is out and he is in.

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Calif. Lawmakers Advance Bill To Curtail PE Role In Litigation

By Emily Sawicki

A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to the state Senate, backed by bipartisan support from the Assembly.

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Top DOJ Immigration Atty Faces Ethics Complaint

By Jack Karp

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice's immigration litigation office has lied to judges, disobeyed court orders and failed to stop attorneys he supervises from engaging in misconduct in high-profile immigration cases, according to an ethics complaint filed Tuesday.

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Analysis

Habeas Orders Sharpen As Due Process Concerns Mount

By Britain Eakin

Federal judges are issuing increasingly detailed, critical and decisive orders for habeas relief in immigration cases, stepping in as what immigration experts say is a last resort check on a system viewed as having crumbling due process safeguards.

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DOJ Pushes To End Former Immigration Judge's Bias Suit

By Jake Maher

The U.S. Department of Justice moved to dismiss a former Ohio immigration judge's discrimination suit in D.C. federal court this week, calling the complaint "heavy on conclusory statements and speculation and light on allegations of fact."

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Calif. Atty Apologizes, Blames OpenCase For False Citations

By Matt Perez

A California attorney has filed a response to an order for potential sanctions over his alleged use of artificial intelligence, which resulted in false citations, saying the hallucinations appeared in a later draft after using OpenCase to perform a cite check.

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Audio

Approach The Bench: Judge Robinson On Community Court

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

Judge Devin Robinson's courtroom at the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn looks and feels very different from the courthouse archetype.

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States, DC Back NY AG James In DOJ Probe Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

Backed by amici including the attorneys general of 20 states and the District of Columbia, New York Attorney General Letitia James is fighting the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to reopen an investigation into her office launched by a federal prosecutor found to have been serving unlawfully.

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