9th Circ. Tosses Jack Daniel's Win In 'Bad Spaniels' Fight

By Ivan Moreno

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday overturned the permanent injunction Jack Daniel's secured against VIP Products in their decade-long trademark fight, ruling in a precedential opinion that the whiskey maker failed to prove the poop-themed "Bad Spaniels" dog toy was likely to tarnish its famous marks.

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Kirkland, Jones Day Guide P&G's $3.8B Buy Of Thorne

By Rae Ann Varona

Procter & Gamble is acquiring supplements company Thorne from L Catterton for $3.8 billion in cash, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Jones Day serving as legal advisers in the transaction, the companies announced Tuesday.

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US Beekeepers Say USDA Mislabels 'Organic' Foreign Honey

By Ben Adlin

Federal regulations wrongly allow foreign honey producers to describe their products as "organic" while at the same time barring large-scale production of organic honey domestically, a group of commercial beekeepers claimed Monday in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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35 AGs Urge Congress Not To Delay Hemp Ban Rollout

By Sam Reisman

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is urging Congress not to approve language in a pending continuing resolution that would delay the implementation of a ban on virtually all intoxicating hemp products for one month.

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Brief

IHOP Operators Settle DOL Tip, Overtime Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Illinois IHOP franchise operators and their owner reached a settlement in principle Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Labor in a federal lawsuit accusing them of keeping workers' tips, deleting hours and underpaying overtime.

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Brief

Mexico, Japan Eye Trade Cooperation On Energy, AI

By Dylan Moroses

Mexico and Japan are looking to heighten their coordination on trade matters in fields including energy and technology, the two governments said after a meeting of officials.

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Brief

Commerce Flags Indonesian Fatty Acid Surge In Duty Probe

By Jack McLoone

Imports of fatty acids from Indonesia into the U.S. appear to have surged in response to the opening of a countervailing duty investigation into the products, the U.S. Department of Commerce found Tuesday, setting up possible retroactive duties for some companies.

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Campbell's And Staffing Co. Hit With Unpaid OT Suit

By Carla Baranauckas

The Campbell's Co. and the staffing firm CorTech LLC violated federal and state wage laws by requiring hourly contingent workers to work nights and weekends without overtime pay, a proposed class and collective action filed in New Jersey federal court claims.

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Food Safety Group Says Tribe Needn't Join Fish Farm Suit

By Corey Rothauser

The Center for Food Safety and Wild Fish Conservancy have urged a Washington federal judge to reject Pacific Seafood's argument that the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation must be joined in their Clean Water Act suit over three Columbia River fish farms.

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Judge Undoes Default Order Against Hemp Co. In CBD Oil Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A federal judge set aside a default order against a Washington cannabis grower that failed to timely answer counterclaims in a dispute over a multimillion-dollar hemp biomass purchase agreement, finding the company's late filing was due to attorney and staff error rather than willful misconduct.

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Insurer Owes No Coverage For $18M Club Shooting Judgment

By Danielle Ferguson

A South Carolina federal judge said Monday that an insurer does not owe coverage to a nightclub facing an $18.1 million default judgment in a suit from a performer injured in a 2019 shooting, finding the underlying claim fell under an exclusion barring coverage for assault and battery.

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Texas Hemp Suit Says Federal Law Preempts State Policy

By Sam Reisman

A trio of hemp interests have brought a new federal lawsuit against Texas officials challenging the constitutionality of new state-led restrictions redesignating intoxicating hemp products as Schedule I substances.

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Workers Should Get Back Pay In RLA Dispute, 9th Circ. Says

By Emily Brill

A California federal judge erred by refusing to order an airline caterer to provide its workers with back pay after a healthcare dispute with a union, a split Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, saying the Railway Labor Act violation committed by the caterer occasioned a back pay award.

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Digital Marketing Co. Ibotta Beats Shareholder's IPO Action

By Sydney Price

Digital consumer discount company Ibotta Inc. has escaped a proposed shareholder class action accusing it of misleading investors in the lead-up to the company's 2024 initial public offering, with a Colorado federal court ruling the allegations do not connect the defendants to intentions to defraud.

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Brown Rudnick Adds 34 Attys, Will Open Silicon Valley Office

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Brown Rudnick LLP announced on Wednesday that it had lured a 34-attorney intellectual property litigation group from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and would be opening a Silicon Valley office with many of those lawyers.

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Law Grad Employment Remains High As BigLaw Drives Hires

By Aebra Coe

Class of 2025 law school graduates posted near-record high employment rates, with large law firms hiring more graduates than any other industry category as federal government hiring experienced a significant decline, according to new data released Wednesday.

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Analysis

These Firms Are Picking Up The Most PTAB Work

By Theresa Schliep

Intellectual property heavyweight Fish & Richardson PC remains the busiest firm in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, as it again secured the top spot on a list of firms with the most PTAB trials over the past three years.

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Murdaugh Loses Jury Tampering Suit Against Ex-Court Clerk

By Jake Maher

A South Carolina federal judge on Wednesday dismissed disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh's jury tampering suit against a former court clerk who was found to have interfered in his murder trial, ruling there was no connection between his alleged damages and the ex-clerk's misconduct.

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New Mexico Joins States With Alternative Atty License Paths

By Jack Karp

Law school graduates will soon be able to earn their license to practice in New Mexico by working under an attorney's supervision and demonstrating their legal skills rather than by taking the bar exam, the state's Supreme Court chief justice told Law360 Pulse on Wednesday.

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New Mexico Says Blanche, DOJ Blocked Epstein Ranch Probe

By Lauren Berg

The state of New Mexico asked a Washington, D.C., federal court Wednesday to force the U.S. Department of Justice to hand over unredacted Jeffrey Epstein investigative files, saying it needs the materials for its own investigation of alleged crimes at the late sex offender's Santa Fe County ranch.

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Texas Firm Lands $150M HHS Services Deal For Migrant Kids

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it has entered into a $150 million contract with a small Texas law firm to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children, raising concerns from former subcontractors about the firm's experience with immigration matters.

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Simpson Thacher Witness Takes Aim At PIPE Stocks Claim

By Madison Arnold

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP wrapped up its defense Wednesday to a Florida state malpractice suit from the founder of Patriot National Inc. over the firm's handling of a private investment in public equity transaction, with a stock market expert testifying that short selling stock allowed under the deal didn't lead to the insurance services company's downfall.

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Conn. Atty To Fork Over $3,500 For AI Errors In Taco TM Beef

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge imposed a $3,500 fine on a defense attorney who submitted two motions riddled with AI-generated mistakes in a taco restaurant's trademark battle, finding that although the lawyer expressed remorse and promised to make changes to his verification process, he still showed "subjective bad faith."

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Sierra Leone Isn't Responding To Its Own Attys, Judge Told

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A second law firm now says it is being iced out by the government of Sierra Leone in a yearslong legal battle that began over the country's dispute with a U.K.-based mining company.

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NY Legal Aid Union Averts Strike After 4 Months Of Talks

By Andrea Keckley

Another New York legal aid union has reached a deal with its organization's management, averting the possibility of a strike after its contract and those of four other unions expired at the end of June.

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CREXi Wants 9th Circ. To Undo Quinn Emanuel CoStar Row DQ

By Bryan Koenig

Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. doesn't want to replace Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP after a California federal judge disqualified the firm from defending a copyright infringement suit by CoStar, seeking Ninth Circuit intervention and a pause on the district court case.

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