Getty Images Files Ch. 11 Case With More Than $1B Of Debt

By Vince Sullivan

Visual content company Getty Images Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday in Delaware bankruptcy court with more than $1 billion of debt and a plan in hand that will provide $533 million in new equity investments into the business and has the support of a majority of its creditors.

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Meta Owes $25B After NM Data Privacy Trial

By Cara Salvatore

A New Mexico judge ruled Wednesday that Meta must pay $25 billion for the "systematically broadcast" lies the social media giant offered the public regarding its data privacy practices, including in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

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Anthropic's Lyric 'Mash Up' May Be Fair Use, Judge Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge Wednesday appeared open to Anthropic's defense that using copyrighted song lyrics to train Claude AI is fair use, saying during a daylong hearing that "mash-up" lyrics produced by AI might constitute fair use while also questioning how to "slice and dice" the case's scope.

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Detroit Lions Can't Sack 'Motor City Muscle' TM Claims

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday trimmed U.S. Events LLC's lawsuit against the Detroit Lions, but ruled that the team must face claims of trademark infringement and unfair competition over its use of the company's protected "Motor City Muscle" slogan to promote its jerseys.

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House Bill Looks To Ease Copyright Process For Visual Artists

By Adam Lidgett

Visual artists like photographers would have a more streamlined and cheaper copyright registration process under a bill that has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, matching a similar bill floated last year in the U.S. Senate.

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Dish Gets Carrier Signal Patent Invalidated Under Alice

By Elliot Weld

A Delaware federal judge has ruled that a patent covering carrier signal technology that Dish Network is accused of infringing is invalid under the Supreme Court's Alice test, but found that a second patent isn't invalid as abstract.

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EdTech Provider Kaplan Must Face Trimmed Data Breach Suit

By Allison Grande

A Florida federal judge refused to fully toss a proposed class action over a 2025 data breach at online education provider Kaplan, finding that the plaintiffs adequately asserted negligence and contract claims while blocking, for now, allegations that the company unjustly enriched itself and violated California's data privacy law.

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App Can't Get Apple Antitrust Case Sent To DOJ Case's Judge

By Matthew Perlman

A New Jersey federal judge has refused to reassign communal video streaming app Rave's antitrust case against Apple to the same judge overseeing a monopolization case against Apple from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Google Must Provide Limited Depo In Apple Antitrust Case

By Craig Clough

A California federal magistrate judge on Tuesday ordered Google to provide deposition testimony in a proposed class action accusing Apple of monopolizing cloud storage for its mobile devices, although she placed limitations on the topics the plaintiffs can ask nonparty Google about.

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X Says OpenAI Can't Nix IPhone Placement Antitrust Case

By Bryan Koenig

X Corp. and SpaceXAI urged a Texas federal judge Wednesday not to let OpenAI scrap their lawsuit targeting a deal integrating ChatGPT into Apple devices, arguing any attempts to paint the deal as nonexclusive or show it hasn't completely foreclosed the market are factual disputes left to the jury.

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Crypto Broker Gets 13 Years For Laundering Drug Money

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge hit a Colombian cryptocurrency broker with over 13 years in prison Wednesday after he copped, along with a businessman with ties to the Cartier family, to laundering $14.5 million worth of Tether that facilitated narcotics transactions.

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Game Co. Investors Seek OK Of $13M Deal On Valuation

By Sydney Price

Investors of online gaming company Shanda Games Ltd. have asked a New York federal court to preliminarily approve a $13 million settlement that would end claims the company severely and intentionally undervalued a 2015 going-private transaction.

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Gemini Says Crypto Downturn Sank Stock Post-IPO, Not Fraud

By Sydney Price

Crypto exchange operator Gemini Space Station Inc. and some of its current and former executives and directors, including founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, say an overall downturn in the cryptocurrency market is responsible for the exchange operator's plans to shift focus to the prediction market, and the risk of the shift was fully disclosed to investors.

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FCC OKs Relinquished Carrier Status For Carolina West

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission approved the request of Carolina West Wireless Inc. to turn in its designations as an eligible telecommunications carrier following Verizon's purchase of the North Carolina telecom.

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FCC Member Sees Satellite Spectrum Policy Advancing Fast

By Christopher Cole

A member of the Federal Communications Commission told a global gathering of telecom leaders that the U.S. will pursue policies on multiple fronts to make sure the booming satellite industry has abundant spectrum.

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AT&T Asks To Be Freed From California Landline Obligations

By Nadia Dreid

AT&T says it only needs a "modest extension" of the permission the Federal Communications Commission has already given the telecom titan in order to drop its remaining copper line services in California, something state regulators have refused to give the company permission to do.

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Lumos Urges FCC To Preempt Local Project Reviews

By Nadia Dreid

Lumos Fiber says there are counties in Ohio that have so much red tape they're keeping competitive broadband from being deployed there, and it wants the Federal Communications Commission to step in and preempt those rules so it can continue with its planned projects.

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Insurer Says Seattle Club Worker's Injury Suit Not Covered

By Danielle Ferguson

An insurer asked a Washington federal court to find it has no duty to defend or indemnify a downtown Seattle nightclub in a suit from a former manager who was shot while working a New Year's Eve event, arguing multiple policy exclusions for workplace injuries and intentional harm bar coverage.

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Deal Staves Off Trial In Snapchat Speed Filter Suit

By David Aaro

Snapchat's parent company and a Georgia man who alleged the app's speed filter feature contributed to a 2015 car wreck that left him seriously injured have reached a settlement, according to a court filing that came two weeks before their legal battle was slated for trial.

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WWE Sued Over Wrestler's Lap Dance For Off-Duty Cop

By Gina Kim

World Wrestling Entertainment was sued in Illinois state court by a Cook County sheriff's officer who says he was subjected to an unwanted sexualized lap dance by wrestling star Kenneth Crawford during the broadcast of Monday Night Raw, despite never agreeing to be made a participant in the show.

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FTC's BOTS Act Blitz Raises Stakes For Ticket Resellers

Recent lawsuits and enforcement actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission under the Better Online Ticket Sales Act signal sustained ticket industry enforcement, but industry actors can reduce risk by screening practices and partnerships related to ticket purchasing, and evaluating the scale of their ticket operations, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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New Weil-Willkie Domains Add To Merger Speculation

By Marialuisa Taddia

Two domain names that combine the names of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP have been registered, fueling speculation about a potential merger between the two prominent Wall Street law firms.

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Bonus Spotlight

Hueston Hennigan Bumps Clerkship Bonus To $205K

By Lynn LaRowe

Trial boutique Hueston Hennigan is offering a $205,000 bonus to lawyers who have completed one or more federal clerkships, the firm confirmed Thursday.

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'Grave Errors': 5th Circ. Boots Judge After AI 'Botch Job'

By Jeff Overley

A Mississippi federal judge's careless use of artificial intelligence tools led to "sloppy edicts" riddled with "falsehoods and fabrications," the Fifth Circuit held in a Thursday night opinion removing the judge from litigation over an anti-DEI law in the Magnolia State because of his "extraordinarily grave errors."

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Texas Judge Probe Shows Lack Of Mental Impairment Process

By Jack Karp

Fifth Circuit officials have done a reasonable job of handling a rare situation involving a Texas federal judge who appears to be undergoing a mental health crisis, but the episode highlights that a more standardized way of dealing with federal judges experiencing mental impairment needs to be established, experts and scholars say.

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Jackson Walker Hits Back At Fee Clawback Sanction Move

By Vince Sullivan

Law firm Jackson Walker said Wednesday that it should not be sanctioned for failing to bring to a Texas federal judge's attention additional cases involving an undisclosed romantic relationship between a bankruptcy judge and one of its attorneys because the U.S. Trustee already investigated those cases and didn't take action.

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GOP Reps. Seek Probe Of Fla. Judge's Sanctions Order

By Courtney Bublé

Top Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee asked the Judicial Conference Thursday to investigate a Florida federal judge for potential misconduct with an order she issued in the case involving the leak of President Donald Trump's tax returns.

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JPMorgan, Ex-Frank Execs Clash Over $2.1M In Legal Fees

By Jarek Rutz

JPMorgan Chase & Co. faced renewed demands in the Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday to pay about $2.1 million in withheld legal fees for convicted Frank founder Charlie Javice and former executive Olivier Amar, as their lawyers accused the bank of using repeated billing objections to delay funding for their criminal defenses.

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Roundup MDL Atty Fund 'Cries Out' For Review, 9th Circ. Told

By Dorothy Atkins

Plaintiffs' firms urged the Ninth Circuit to reverse a ruling Thursday requiring them to contribute 8% of their recovery fees to a common benefit fund in multidistrict litigation over Monsanto's Roundup weed killer, arguing the judge ignored a special master's recommendation and the issue "cries out for some appellate supervision."

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