Justices Asked To Review 'Headscratching' Copyright Ruling

By Ivan Moreno

A group of major music publishers has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rein in a "headscratching" Fifth Circuit ruling that the music publishers say transformed U.S. copyright termination rights into a worldwide reset button for ownership of foreign copyrights.

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4th Circ. Won't Revive Journalists' Social Media Bias Suits

By Patrick Hoff

The Fourth Circuit refused Wednesday to reopen lawsuits alleging two journalists were fired by a U.S.-funded Middle Eastern media network because they're Iraqi, concluding they couldn't overcome the organization's explanation that the employees violated its social media policy requiring neutrality.

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Meta Trims But Can't Toss Eminem Publishers' $109M IP Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Michigan federal judge has found Eminem's music publishers can proceed with claims accusing Meta of unlawfully putting hundreds of the rapper's songs in Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp music libraries, but dismissed their claims that the technology giant should be liable for users sharing or reusing the songs.

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Former 'Matlock' Writer Sues Over Hostile Work Environment

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A former writer on the television show "Matlock" sued CBS Television Studios, its showrunner and its executive producers Wednesday in California state court for allegedly fostering a hostile work environment replete with racist and sexual comments.

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Maya Kowalski Sues Ex-Atty Over Fees, Funding Loan

By Carolina Bolado

Maya Kowalski, the subject of the Netflix documentary "Take Care of Maya," filed a malpractice suit against her former attorney on Wednesday, accusing him of charging excessive fees and improperly orchestrating an advance funding loan after winning a $213 million judgment.

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Fiat Chrysler Can't Ditch Infotainment Defect Class Action

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan federal judge has denied Fiat Chrysler's motion to dismiss a proposed class action from drivers claiming that nine models of the automaker's vehicles manufactured between 2021 and 2024 have defective infotainment systems.

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Ad Seller Can't Shake Wiretap Suit Over Temu Data Transfers

By Allison Grande

An Illinois federal judge has refused to toss a putative class action accusing a global advertising technology company of breaking federal wiretap law by transmitting Americans' sensitive information to Chinese e-commerce giant Temu, finding it plausibly alleged the conduct violated a U.S. Department of Justice regulation restricting bulk data transfers to foreign adversaries.

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Gymshark's Paid Influencer 'Army' Hides Ad Deals, Says Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

Athletic apparel company Gymshark pays an "army" of social media influencers to promote its products online without disclosing the ad partnership to viewers, claims a proposed class action filed in New York federal court.

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Madison Square Garden Sued Over ShinyHunters Data Breach

By Gina Kim

Madison Square Garden has been hit with a proposed class action in New York federal court alleging a ransom-driven cyberattack executed by ShinyHunters exposed more than 26 million records containing facial biometric data, threat assessment ratings and detailed profiles of guests, including actor Ben Stiller.

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Google, Apple Call CEO Depo Bids 'Harassment' At 9th Circ.

By Dorothy Atkins

Apple and Google urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reject consumers' request to depose their respective CEOs, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, and other executives in antitrust litigation accusing Google of shutting out rival search engines, arguing that the appeal is unwarranted and the repeated deposition demands are unjustified "harassment."

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Brief

No Deal Reached In Cheer Competition Antitrust Mediation

By Ganesh Setty

A mediator told a Texas federal court on Wednesday that cheerleading competition organizers and national cheer governing body U.S. All Star Federation Inc. were unable to reach a settlement this month of the organizers' antitrust lawsuit.

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Mich. Judge Opens Door For Prediction Market Enforcement

By Alex Lawson

Polymarket and Robinhood may soon face enforcement efforts from Michigan regulators after a federal judge ruled Wednesday that he saw little difference between the prediction market platforms' sports contract offerings and conventional sports betting.

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Trade Desk, Investor Spar Over Emails In Nevada Move Appeal

By Jarek Rutz

A stockholder and The Trade Desk Inc. urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday to reach opposite conclusions about whether the advertising technology company must turn over director emails and other informal communications tied to its move from Delaware to Nevada.

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Advocates Worry FCC Poised To Float E-Rate Phaseout

By Christopher Cole

School and library funding advocates are increasingly worried about a potential effort to wind down the E-rate subsidy as the Federal Communications Commission reexamines the program's future.

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Cayuga Tribe Sues Caesars In NY Over Online Sports Betting

By Joyce Hanson

The Cayuga Nation has alleged Caesars Sportsbook engaged in illegal gambling on the tribe's reservation, violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and unlawfully operated within the tribe's territorial boundaries under state law.

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SIMAD Can Tap Cash To Open Summer Camps In Ch. 11

By Hilary Russ

SIMAD Holdings Ltd. won court permission on Wednesday to use some of its available $15.6 million of cash on hand as it races to open the 30 children's summer camps it owns for the season, after a freefall bankruptcy filing earlier this month left in doubt the fate of more than 20,000 campers.

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When Do Murals Qualify For IP Protection?

Artist Robert Wyland recently sued FIFA for painting over his 1999 "Ocean Life" mural to make room for a World Cup promotion in Dallas, spotlighting questions over the extent to which copyright law and the Visual Artists Rights Act protect different types of art, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.

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Texas AG's Payola Theory May Reach Beyond Music Platforms

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently issued investigative demands to five major music streaming platforms, appearing to invoke the payola concept as a consumer protection theory against the streaming business, a novel application that could extend to other companies monetizing on ranking, visibility or recommendation placement, say attorneys at Benesch.

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Trump's AI Order Is Strategic, Not Merely Deregulatory

Although the framework presented in President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on artificial intelligence is styled as voluntary and innovation-friendly, it creates a new soft-power mechanism for bringing the most capable AI systems into closer alignment with federal security priorities, says Jesse Lemon at The Beckage Firm.

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Opinion

Rule Of Law Requires Gov't Engagement With Bar, Not Retreat

A federal agency's absence from national and local bar conferences, most recently illustrated by the U.S. Department of Justice's withdrawal from a New York City Bar Association white collar conference, disserves the bar, the government lawyers themselves and, ultimately, the administration of justice, says Muhammad Faridi at Linklaters.

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Full Fed. Circ. To Hear Immigration Judges' Firing Challenge

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday agreed to conduct en banc review over the firing of two immigration judges, after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that they constituted inferior officers who are subject to at-will removal by the president.

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No Discipline For DOJ Atty's 'Lapse Of Judgment' In ICE Case

By Emily Sawicki

A Rhode Island federal prosecutor who knowingly withheld information about a detainee's criminal history at the behest of immigration enforcement, leading to an "unfounded attack" against a federal judge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the detainee's release, violated his duty of candor but will not face discipline, the district's chief judge determined.

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Trump Halts Clayton Director Hearing Over Blue-Slip Dispute

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump directed Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, not to appear for his confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination to be director of national intelligence, in part over a blue-slip issue.

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Sanctioned IP Atty Tells Fed. Circ. 'Integrity' On The Line

By Elliot Weld

An attorney who was sanctioned in a trade dress infringement case due to what a judge said were his repeated misrepresentations has asked the Federal Circuit to lift the penalties against him and his client, saying his "professional and personal integrity, and my family, depends on it."

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Bosch Receives First DOJ Declination Under New Policy

By Sarah Jarvis

German technology company Bosch on Wednesday became the first company to avoid criminal prosecution under a new U.S. Department of Justice enforcement policy after it cooperated with the federal government and agreed to pay $36 million to settle allegations it improperly exported technology products to sanctioned Chinese company Huawei.

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DOJ's Pot Shift Leaves Key Questions For Cannabis Industry

By Sam Reisman

The Trump administration's recent moves to relax federal restrictions on marijuana through the administrative process will have unclear ramifications for all industry players unless Congress steps in to rewrite cannabis law, attorneys heard Wednesday.

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