Social Media 'Lions' Hunted Plaintiff Like Gazelle, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

The plaintiff's attorney in a bellwether trial accusing Meta Platforms Inc. and Google LLC of harming children's mental health encouraged a California jury during closing arguments Thursday not to buy the defendants' focus on his client's difficult childhood, saying it only weakened her to their social media "addiction machine" like a vulnerable gazelle being hunted by lions.

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Analysis

IP Notebook: TM Use Fight, Popeye, Kurt Cobain

By Ivan Moreno

This edition of emerging copyright and trademark cases and trends looks at an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court that questions the definition of trademark "use in commerce" under the Lanham Act and a battle over the use of "Popeye" as a trademark.

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Teamsters Urge DOJ To Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal

By Katherine Smith

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters urged the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday to block the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery if the agency can't secure worker protections, claiming that the merger poses an anticompetitive threat to the film and television industry's labor markets.

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DreamWorks, NBCUniversal Hit With Bias Suit By Trans Editor

By Gina Kim

NBCUniversal and DreamWorks were hit with a civil suit in California state court by a queer trans man hired as a first assistant editor for the animated film "Bad Guys 2" who alleges they were subjected to transphobic behavior by a direct supervisor who forcibly outed, deadnamed and misgendered them.

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SeaWorld Broke Sesame Street License Agreement, Suit Says

By Rae Ann Varona

SeaWorld is flouting its obligations under a licensing agreement for the Sesame Street brand, the nonprofit behind the children's television series alleged Thursday in New York federal court, accusing the theme park giant of carrying out a "retaliation campaign" after losing an arbitration over unpaid royalties.

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TV Academy Foundation Sues Over CW Docuseries Clips

By Ivan Moreno

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation has sued the producers of the CW docuseries "TV We Love," accusing the team behind the show of using nearly 50 unlicensed clips from the foundation's Emmy broadcasts and its long‑running oral history project "The Interviews."

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State Dept. Official Tapped To Run Parent Of Voice Of America

By Jared Foretek

President Donald Trump tapped a U.S. Department of State official to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media Thursday, one day after his administration told a Washington, D.C., federal judge that no one has been running the agency for months and that no succession plan is in place.

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Piracy Tops List Of Worries In Next-Generation TV Changeover

By Christopher Cole

Broadcasters have a lot on their plates as they move to the next TV standard, but chief among their worries will be protecting content from piracy, a security group formed by the major networks told the Federal Communications Commission.

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Icahn Outbid By $7B Caesars Offer, And Other Rumors

By Al Barbarino

Billionaire Tilman Fertitta is in exclusive negotiations to buy Caesars Entertainment for roughly $7 billion, superseding a competing all-cash offer from Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises, and Papa John's received a bid from Qatari-backed investment firm Irth Capital Management that could value the pizza chain at $1.5 billion. 

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USPTO Clarifies Design Patent Eligibility For Computer Icons

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued guidance Thursday saying computer-generated digital designs depicted in holograms, virtual reality and the like are eligible for design patents, noting that displaying images on a screen is no longer strictly necessary for patent protection.

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9th Circ. Partially Lifts Block On Calif. Kids' Privacy Law

By Allison Grande

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday scrapped part of an injunction halting a groundbreaking California law requiring social media platforms to bolster privacy protections for children, finding that the tech trade group behind the lawsuit wasn't likely to succeed on its First Amendment challenge to the statute's coverage definition and age estimation mandate.

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Meta To Face Sanctions Bid Over Addiction MDL Privilege Log

By Dorothy Atkins

School district plaintiffs and attorneys general have told a California federal judge they plan to seek sanctions against Meta Platforms Inc. in the social media addiction multidistrict litigation for the tech giant's "extremely belated production" of over 73,841 documents downgraded off privilege logs, months after fact discovery closed.

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Valve Faces 'Loot Box' Gambling Suits After NY AG's Action

By Ben Adlin

On the heels of the New York attorney general's accusations that Washington-based Valve Corp. promotes illegal gambling through its popular video game franchises, gamers filed two putative class actions in Seattle federal court similarly targeting the entertainment giant's use of "loot boxes."

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Allstate Accused Of Website Tracking Despite Cookie Opt-Out

By Joyce Hanson

The Allstate Corp.'s website secretly uses Meta and Google's advertising trackers to share the content of consumers' communications with the insurance company even when site users instruct it not to share that information, according to a proposed class action lodged in Illinois federal court.

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Dish Blasts Disney's Bid To Pause Discovery In Sling TV Suit

By Matthew Perlman

Dish Network is pushing back on a bid from the Walt Disney Co. to pause discovery for Dish's antitrust counterclaims over the programming giant's carriage licensing deals.

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Harrah's, Resorts Dealer Joins Atlantic City Tip Pool Suit Blitz

By George Woolston

Two more casinos were hit with proposed class and collective actions in New Jersey federal court by a dealer who alleges the Atlantic City-based casinos paid less than minimum wage to tipped employees and illegally required them to pool tips.

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Ex-Chartwell Atty Says Firm Fired Her For Gaza Posts

By David Minsky

A former Chartwell attorney claimed she was harassed because she's a Pakistani Muslim and was fired for posting social media statements criticizing military action in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to a lawsuit filed in Florida federal court.

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Musk Banker Tells Jury Twitter Held Up Takeover Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

An ex-Morgan Stanley banker who advised Elon Musk on his $44 billion Twitter acquisition testified Thursday in a trial seeking billions for investors claiming Musk tanked the social media company's stock to disrupt the takeover, saying Twitter was the one that obstructed the deal.

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Beef Up Telecom Networks To Power AI, Tech Experts Say

By Christopher Cole

Sprawling artificial intelligence data centers will require larger shares of U.S. energy consumption in the coming years, but telecom networks also need more capacity and resilience if the U.S. wants to fuel an AI boom, a think tank said Thursday.

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TV Network Founder, IRS Seek Settlement In $18M Tax Case

By Anna Scott Farrell

The owner of a broadcasting company whose deal to sell $75 million in assets fell through is headed to settlement negotiations with the federal government over $18 million in taxes related to his father's estate, according to Michigan federal court filings.

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Track & Field League Gets OK For Vote On Reorg Plan

By Rick Archer

A Delaware judge Thursday gave an Olympic medalist-founded startup track-and-field league permission to send its equity-swap Chapter 11 reorganization plan out for a creditor vote, overruling claims the plan is too unfair to creditors to be approved.

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Meta Expert Says NM's Case Is About Normal Behavior

By Cara Salvatore

A psychology expert witness for Meta told a New Mexico jury on Thursday that the state's claims of social media mental health harm rely on pathologizing normal behavior as addiction-like.

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Trial Advocacy Lessons From 3 Oscar-Nominated Films

Several films up for best picture at this weekend’s Academy Awards provide useful tips for trial lawyers, from the power of a dramatic opening to the importance of pivoting when the unexpected happens, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

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Series

Podcasting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Podcasting has changed how I ask questions and connect with people, sharpening my ability to listen without interrupting or prejudging, and bringing me closer to what law is meant to be: a human profession grounded in understanding, judgment and trust, says Donna DiMaggio Berger at Becker.

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'Swinging Dicks' Dissent Stirs Uproar Across 9th Circ. Bench

By Jeff Overley

A raunchy dissent in litigation over transgender spa patrons prompted dozens of Ninth Circuit judges to denounce the "vulgar barroom talk" of a colleague, who returned fire by ridiculing his peers for adopting the "fastidious sensibilities of a Victorian nun."

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Atty Who Sought Trump Pardons Accused Of Extorting Client

By Stewart Bishop

A South Carolina attorney and lobbyist who has billed himself as a fixer for prisoners seeking clemency from President Donald Trump made an appearance in Brooklyn federal court Saturday on newly unsealed charges that he tried to extort a client for over half a million dollars.

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Life Sciences Partner Hiring Up Amid Regulatory Scrutiny

By Aebra Coe

Large law firms' partner additions in life sciences rose slightly across five geographic markets between 2024 and 2025, with several factors including increased regulatory scrutiny driving new additions, according to an analysis by intelligence platform Macrae+.

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Judge Denies US Atty's Recusal Call Over Conflict Concerns

By Rose Krebs

Calling it "procedurally improper, untimely, and lacking merit," a federal judge on Friday nixed a demand from Minnesota's U.S. attorney for the judge to step aside from a habeas case related to the government's immigration enforcement operation since his wife is pursuing litigation over the crackdown as the state's solicitor general.

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NY Republicans Say Chief State Judge Crossed Ethics Line

By Emily Sawicki

Republican legislators on the judiciary committees of the New York state Senate and Assembly have brought a misconduct complaint against New York State Chief Judge Rowan Wilson over statements the judge made at a symposium in support of proposed legislation to reform minimum sentencing guidelines that they believed violated judicial conduct rules on impartiality.

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Immigration Watchdog Sues DOJ Over Secret Court Hearings

By Adrian Cruz

A Minnesota-based human rights nonprofit has sued the U.S. Department of Justice in D.C. federal court over its decision to restrict public access to proceedings at St. Paul's Fort Snelling Immigration Court.

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Ariz. Judicial Council OKs ABS Rules Despite Bar Concerns

By Rachel Rippetoe

Arizona's Judicial Council approved some new restrictions on out-of-state operations for non-attorney-owned law firms allowed to operate under the state's licensure program, despite the Arizona state bar's concerns that the new rules aren't stringent enough.

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Reed Smith Is Ignoring Expanded Back Pay Window, Atty Says

By George Woolston

A former Reed Smith LLP attorney who claimed she was unlawfully underpaid told a New Jersey state court on Friday that the firm's bid to limit the window of time for which she's seeking damages is an attempt to roll the case back in time.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Finnegan's Cora Holt

By Theresa Schliep

Cora Holt, a partner at Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP in Washington, D.C., has a "do your job" attitude and "getting the stuff done" approach to litigation that earned plaudits from Kassie Helm, co-chair of Dechert LLP, who praised Holt for her work as part of a Law360 series celebrating women litigators.

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Q&A

NC Judge Brings Military Roots, Not Politics, To Biz Bench

By Abigail Harrison

The North Carolina Business Court added decade-long Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley to its bench this month. In an interview, Judge Shirley told Law360 how time as an attorney in the U.S. military helped make him a thorough and punctual jurist, and expanded on his interest in keeping partisan politics out of the judiciary. 

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Esquire's $348M Signature Deal Bolsters Litigation Platform

By Al Barbarino

Esquire Financial Holdings Inc. has agreed to buy the parent company of Signature Bank in a roughly $348.4 million deal that Esquire said will help expand its Chicago-area commercial banking presence and support growth of its litigation banking platform.

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GSA Pans Giving 'Unelected Judiciary' Sway Over Property

By Courtney Bublé

The federal government's landlord told the federal judiciary it is "ill equipped" to have direct authority to maintain its buildings.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

In London, Estée Lauder accused Jo Malone's founder of intellectual property infringement, the wife of an Iranian businessman linked to a £75 million fraud sued several Iranian oil companies, HSBC sued U.S. property tycoon Michael Fuchs, and Charles Russell Speechlys brought a claim against a United Arab Emirates company it once represented in an international arbitration.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Clement & Murphy PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Federal Circuit vacated an over $600 million judgment involving the maker of Norton antivirus software for infringing Columbia University patents.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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