2nd Circ. Judge Unimpressed By OpenAI's IP Suit Stance

By Aaron Keller

A Second Circuit judge on Wednesday expressed surprise when an OpenAI attorney couldn't explain whether the company's artificial intelligence system duplicated Raw Story Media Inc.'s news articles while allegedly removing copyright management information from the online reports.

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Judge Finalizes $3.3M Tax Bill Order For 'Survivor' Winner

By Kat Lucero

A Rhode Island federal court entered a final $3.3 million tax judgment against the first "Survivor" winner, clearing the way for the federal government to start debt collection proceedings to recoup funds tied to the former contestant's tax avoidance on his prize money.

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Conn. Justices Won't Hear Ex-Alex Jones Atty's Ethics Case

By Andrea Keckley

The Connecticut Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to the two-week suspension of Alex Jones' former lawyer, leaving intact an intermediate Appellate Court decision affirming the pared-down punishment surrounding his law firm's handling of Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims' personal information.

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Rapper Says There's 'No World' Where He'd Pay Fired Manager

By Lauraann Wood

Chance the Rapper never discussed paying his former manager commissions for three years after their relationship ended, and "there's no world" in which he would agree to such a payment arrangement given his position and reputation in the music industry, the rapper told Illinois jurors Wednesday.

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Loomer Not In Contempt For CAIR Remarks, Judge Says

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge declined Tuesday to hold political activist Laura Loomer in civil contempt for allegedly violating a settlement agreement not to publicly disparage the Council on American-Islamic Relations, finding Loomer wasn't barred from last year's responses to the nonprofit's online statements criticizing her views on Muslims. 

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'Chicken Soup' Publisher Says AI Cos. Stole Books' Soul

By Rae Ann Varona

The publisher of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books has accused Google, OpenAI and other Big Tech companies in California federal court of mass copyright infringement, saying the companies downloaded pirated copies of its first-person narrative books so that their artificial intelligence systems could replicate an "authentic human voice."

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BMG Launches Copyright Suit Against Anthropic

By Elliot Weld

Music publisher BMG has hit artificial intelligence startup Anthropic with a copyright infringement suit alleging it made unauthorized use of recordings to train its Claude AI models, adding to a heap of legacy media companies accusing AI firms of infringement.

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Heirs Say Bill Breathes New Life Into Holocaust Art Appeal

By Joyce Hanson

The Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act recently passed by Congress favors a D.C. Circuit rehearing bid in a lawsuit seeking the return of a valuable art collection looted by the Nazis, the descendants of a Hungarian Jewish art collector told the appeals court.

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Senator Unveils Draft AI Bill Intended To Wipe Out State Regs

By Hailey Konnath

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on Wednesday released a draft of proposed legislation that would override a "patchwork" of state artificial intelligence regulations, touting the proposal as protecting "children, creators, conservatives and communities" and slamming the state regulations as hindering "AI innovation."

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DraftKings Gets Judge To Narrow Mobile App Patent Suit

By Adam Lidgett

A New Jersey federal judge has trimmed a suit alleging DraftKings infringed patented features of its sports betting and fantasy game mobile application, saying only the claims asserting that DraftKings directly infringed a pair of patents can proceed.

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Ex-CEO, Atty Misappropriated Patent, Gaming Co. Says

By Kelcey Caulder

A game developer specializing in electronic bingo gaming machines has filed suit against its former chief executive officer and an attorney for allegedly scheming to use their positions and access within the company to steal a patent.

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Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Likely Must Testify In School MDL Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge indicated Wednesday that Meta and Snap's CEOs will likely need to testify in an upcoming school district bellwether trial in the social media addiction multidistrict litigation, and declined Meta's bid to block arbitration demands, saying, "Meta's got plenty of money, go file a motion with the arbitration panel."

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Meta Smart Glasses Pose Mass Surveillance Risk, Sens. Warn

By Rae Ann Varona

Three U.S. senators Wednesday warned in a letter to Meta that the tech giant's plans to integrate facial recognition technology into its smart glasses risk "normalizing mass surveillance" at a time the federal government is using similar tech to "intimidate protesters and chill speech."

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FTC Says Amazon Seeks 'Impossible' Standard For Sanctions

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission pressed a Washington federal judge Tuesday to sanction Amazon.com for using autodeleting Signal chats and deleting raw meeting notes to hide evidence of company policies that created an artificial pricing floor across online retail stores, arguing Amazon is fighting the motion by inventing an "impossible-to-meet standard" for imposing sanctions.

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Texas Agency Official Wants Out Of Kirk Free Speech Case

By Katherine Smith

The Texas Education Agency commissioner is seeking to escape a lawsuit challenging a state education department policy directing school districts to report educators over "vile" and "inappropriate" social media posts about the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, arguing that he "had nothing to do with" the subsequent terminations and other disciplinary actions taken against teachers.

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WWE Accuser's Ex-Doctor Questions Motive For Records Bid

By Elaine Briseño

A Connecticut doctor told a state court Tuesday a former patient most likely wants payment records he can no longer produce to bolster her case against World Wrestling Entertainment and founder Vince McMahon for alleged sex trafficking and abuse — not for her case against him and Peak Wellness Inc.

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FCC Removes 4 Drone Systems From Security Risk List

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has authorized more drones for distribution on the U.S. market, after defense officials cleared them from posing national security risks.

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NTIA Still Crafting Plans For $21B In 'Non-Deployment' Funds

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Department of Commerce has doled out many billions of dollars for broadband projects and has been asking for public input about how to spend roughly $21 billion in unspent funds, but there is no target date to unveil any decisions, the federal official in charge of spending the money said Wednesday.

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Brief

FCC Warns 'Rip, Replace' Participants That It Will Be Watching

By Nadia Dreid

Companies receiving Federal Communications Commission funds under the "rip and replace" program ought to be keeping good records of how they're spending the agency's money and disposing of the equipment they're supposed to be replacing, the FCC warned recently.

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Bobsledder Says Olympic Committee Hid Brain Injury Risk

By Ganesh Setty

A former U.S. bobsled team member accused the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee of intentionally concealing the sport's brain injury risk, telling a California state court he wouldn't have taken part if he had known.

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Brief

Prior Counsel In Settled EBay Harassment Case Eyes Payment

By Julie Manganis

An attorney who previously represented a Massachusetts couple in a harassment lawsuit against eBay and three former executives has asked a federal judge to hold off on entering a dismissal in the now-settled case until she receives assurances she will be paid.

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Dorsey & Whitney Hires Seattle Perkins Coie IP, Tech Attorney

By Ben Adlin

Dorsey & Whitney LLP added Cyrus Ansari as a partner in its technology commerce group, the firm announced Tuesday, touting the attorney's experience in technology transactions and intellectual property litigation.

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Winter Olympics Put The Spotlight On IP Issues

This year's Winter Olympics generated a handful of intellectual property controversies that highlight the key considerations that should be kept in mind when using creative works at sporting events, says attorneys at Squire Patton.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: The Human Element

Law school teaches you to quickly apply intellect and logic when handling a legal issue, but every fact pattern also involves a person, making the ability to balance expertise with empathy critical to the growth of relationships with clients, colleagues and adversaries, says Rachel Adcox at Adcox Strategies.

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Sitting Judges Take Stand Over Threats Growing 'Ordinary'

By Jake Maher

On the heels of an ethics opinion giving them wider latitude to speak publicly, sitting federal judges brought attention Thursday to the increasing threats against them and their family members, warning about the dangers of such threats becoming "ordinary."

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Anatomy Of A Citation Hallucination: AI Edit, Associate Review

By Rachel Riley

Counsel for consumers in a supplement labeling lawsuit against Amazon responded Wednesday to a Seattle federal judge's order to explain an AI-hallucinated citation, saying the error was introduced by a generative artificial intelligence tool used to "harmonize" drafts of a brief, then missed by a fifth-year Boies Schiller associate tasked with checking the citations.

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Jackson Walker, US Trustee Reach Deal On Fee Settlements

By Vince Sullivan

The Office of the U.S. Trustee and law firm Jackson Walker LLP on Wednesday resolved the bankruptcy watchdog's opposition to a series of settlements tied to a romantic relationship between a former Jackson Walker attorney and a now-retired bankruptcy judge.

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Judge Quashes Subpoena Of 5 Firms That Repped Twitter

By Rae Ann Varona

A Delaware federal court ruled Thursday that six former Twitter employees cannot subpoena five law firms that represented the social media company in connection with its acquisition by Elon Musk, rejecting the employees' "conclusory allegations" that the company and Musk used the firms to make false promises of severance benefits.

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Nomination For New DOJ Fraud Chief Heads To Senate Floor

By Courtney Bublé

The nomination of Colin McDonald for the new position of assistant attorney general for fraud was sent to the full Senate on Thursday, after the Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines to advance his nomination.

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Judge Digs Into Counsel Over 'Astronomically High' Fee Bid

By Nadia Dreid

Attorneys who represented classes of people who say they received harassing phone calls from real estate agents in violation of federal telemarketing laws are asking for way too much of the $20 million settlement, according to the California federal judge who tore into them Wednesday.

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DOJ Antitrust Head Tells Staff: Don't Worry About Criticism

By Bryan Koenig

The acting head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division said Thursday that he pays no heed to criticism of the agency and tells staff to do the same, while asserting in Washington, D.C., remarks that there's no better time to come work for the DOJ.

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Fired 'Arctic Frost' Agents Accuse FBI Of Political Retribution

By Dorothy Atkins

Two former FBI agents who worked on the "Arctic Frost" investigation into President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss have accused the government of abruptly firing them in an unconstitutional act of "political retribution."

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