DOJ Deepens Probe Into Fox's $22B Roku Deal

By Bryan Koenig

Fox Corp. and Roku disclosed Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an in-depth probe into Fox's purchase of Roku, stalling their ability to close the deal until the investigation wraps.

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Justices Call For Early Response Over Paramount Merger

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Supreme Court is giving California and other state enforcers that are challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. until later this month to respond to Iowa and Montana's bid to block the merger challenge.

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Texas Justices Reject Sandy Hook Families' Infowars Appeal

By Aaron Keller

The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Sandy Hook families' requests to dissolve lower appeals court orders that stopped a court-appointed receiver from assuming control of bankrupt commentator Alex Jones' website Infowars and leasing the intellectual property of its parent company Free Speech Systems LLC to satire publication The Onion.

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2 House Democrats Say Trump Can't Fire Copyright Chief

By Adam Lidgett

Two senior House Democrats have urged the D.C. Circuit to reject the Trump administration's claimed authority to remove Shira Perlmutter as the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, arguing that only the librarian of Congress can fire the agency's leader.

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Singer Mel B Wins Dismissal Of Ex's Fla. Defamation Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday tossed a defamation suit against the Spice Girls' Mel B, ruling that Florida is not the right venue for her ex-husband's suit over claims she made in her memoir that he abused her.

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Meta's 'Fanciful' AI Training Disclosures Leave Judge Doubtful

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge appeared skeptical Wednesday that Meta Platforms Inc. had identified all magazines used to train its artificial intelligence tool after copyright plaintiffs pointed out Meta disclosed only nine issues spanning a 17-year period, telling Meta's counsel during a hearing that the likelihood Meta used only nine issues "seems rather fanciful to me."

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Boston TV Station Seeks Ax Of Storm Crew Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A Boston television station urged a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a suit over alleged unpaid storm-coverage travel and preparation time, saying the claims fall short and must first go through union grievance and arbitration procedures.

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Genius Settles With Panda Ahead Of Sports Tech Patent Trial

By Hailey Konnath

Sports technology company Genius Sports Ltd. and Panda Interactive have agreed to settle a patent dispute over technology that allows viewers to see real-time odds and place a bet while watching a sporting event, according to a notice filed in Texas federal court Wednesday.

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NM Again Hauls Meta To Trial, This Time Over Privacy

By Cara Salvatore

The state of New Mexico told a jury Wednesday that Facebook flagrantly misrepresented its privacy practices, including the one that let Cambridge Analytica harvest the data of 87 million mostly nonconsenting users, as the state goes to trial against the company for the third time in seven months.

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NC Justices Probe TikTok's State Contacts In Addiction Case

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Supreme Court grappled Wednesday with whether TikTok and its parent company should have to face the attorney general's suit alleging the app is addictive to young users, with TikTok arguing its general national business practices do not create ties to the Tar Heel State sufficient to be dragged into court there.

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NJ Tech Chief Seeks To Avoid TikTok Depo In AG's Fraud Suit

By Carla Baranauckas

New Jersey Chief Technology Officer Kevin Dehmer has asked a state court judge to block TikTok from deposing him in the attorney general's consumer fraud lawsuit, arguing that he has no firsthand knowledge of the allegations and that forcing a high-ranking state official to testify is unwarranted.

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Fla. AG Sues Netflix Over 'Bait-And-Switch' Data Harvesting

By Allison Grande

Florida has become the second state to sue Netflix over its purported harvesting of personal data from children and families, alleging that the streaming provider engaged in a "bait-and-switch" when it leveraged subscribers' personal information to fuel its advertising despite promising to be a "safe respite" from these practices. 

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NC State Football Player Settles NCAA Eligibility Challenge

By Alex Lawson

A North Carolina State University football player dropped his suit against the NCAA on Wednesday after the organization granted him a waiver declaring him eligible to play this season.

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Disney Gets Fubo Streaming Rate Claims Sent To Arbitration

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal court ordered Fubo subscribers to arbitrate their antitrust claims in a case accusing Disney of driving up the cost of subscriptions by forcing the streaming platform to carry a package of channels instead of just ESPN.

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Paramount Doubles Down On $1.9B Bond Bid In Merger Suit

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Paramount has insisted the Writers Guild of America and state attorneys general cannot avoid putting up a roughly $1.9 billion bond as they challenge the media company's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying their arguments against its bond bid fail under the Clayton Act.

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Amazon Urges NY Court To Deny E-Book Antitrust Class Cert.

By Rachel Riley

Amazon on Tuesday objected to a New York federal magistrate judge's recommendation to certify a class of over 30 million customers in a suit accusing it of monopolizing the e-book market, saying the judge disregarded proof that a significant share of the consumers benefited from the challenged practices.

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TV Station Tells Judge To Toss Union Suit Over Fired Photog

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

An Ohio television station has asked a federal judge to dismiss a broadcast union's lawsuit seeking the reinstatement of a photojournalist who was fired for moving a female co-worker out of a live shot, saying the termination did not violate a labor contract.

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Ex-NBA Coach's Rigged Poker Game Trial Pushed To 2027

By Alex Lawson

The criminal trial for ex-Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and several others accused of participating in rigged poker games has been pushed to March, according to Brooklyn federal court filings.

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'Weird Space Stuff' To Get Boost Under FCC Spectrum Plan

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission plans to vote Sept. 30 on a "spectrum abundance" plan meant to fuel a variety of space-based industries by opening up the airwaves across two spectrum bands.

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Software Group Says FCC Should Narrow Covered List Focus

By Nadia Dreid

The software industry thinks the Federal Communications Commission might want to take a more "narrow" view when it comes to its continued expansion of the covered list of telecommunications equipment that the agency deems to be a national security risk.

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DC Circ. Denies Bid To Force FCC Action On News Policy

By Craig Clough

A D.C. Circuit panel declined Wednesday to compel the Federal Communications Commission to respond to a petition seeking a repeal of its news distortion policy, saying the petitioners failed to establish that they have no other adequate means to seek relief.

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Brief

AMC Settles 'Walking Dead' Suit With Creator, Producers

By Elliot Weld

Television studio AMC has reached a deal to pay the creator of its hit show "The Walking Dead" and some of its producers $120 million to settle claims that they were not paid the correct amount under their contracts and left out of a previous settlement with the show's former executive producer.

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Event Center Destroyed In Floyd Protests Beats Fraud Claims

By Hope Patti

A Minnesota event center did not conceal evidence or misrepresent facts in an effort to inflate its claimed vandalism losses from protests following the death of George Floyd, a federal jury recently found.

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Fla. Panel Nixes $8.1M Injury Verdict In SeaWorld Suit

By Mike Curley

A Florida appeals panel on Wednesday vacated an $8.1 million verdict in favor of a mother whose child was injured at a SeaWorld Halloween event, saying the trial court wrongly found that the child was an invitee when he snuck onto a circus trampoline, jumped on it and fell off.

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AI Note-Taking Suits May Fill Gap In Privacy Law Structure

A recent class action against Granola joins other pending lawsuits against AI note-taking providers, highlighting the legal uncertainty surrounding these tools, but there are practical steps companies using "invisible" AI services can take to mitigate risk, including conducting inventories and reviewing access permissions, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

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2nd Circ. Ruling Lays Out Administrative Right-Of-Access Blueprint

In Civil Rights Corps v. LaSalle, the Second Circuit recently held that the First Amendment dictates a presumptive right of access to sealed attorney grievance proceedings, providing a framework for challenging other administrative regimes that operate behind closed doors, says Jonathan Ginsberg at Carlton Fields.

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ABA Study Shows 20% Of Attys Under Severe Mental Distress

By Tracey Read

About one-fifth of attorneys across the country meet moderate-to-extremely severe symptom thresholds for depression, anxiety and stress, according to the largest-ever study of mental health and well-being in the legal profession.

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Mass. Judge Sanctioned Over Handling Of ICE At Courthouse

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday sanctioned a judge over her handling of a case involving a defendant wanted by immigration agents in 2018, an incident that led to federal charges that were dismissed after the judge agreed to a disciplinary process.

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Akerman Brings On Troutman Debt Finance Pro In LA

By Christine DeRosa

Akerman LLP announced Thursday it has added an experienced debt finance attorney from Troutman Pepper Locke LLP to its corporate practice group in Los Angeles.

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Legal Network TerraLex Names Norton Rose Exec As CEO

By James Boyle

Florida-based legal network TerraLex has tapped a former executive at Norton Rose Fulbright to serve as the company's CEO.

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AI-Native Approach Offers Chance To Rethink In-House Depts.

By Jake Maher

Artificial intelligence is giving corporate legal departments the opportunity to rethink how work is divided between outside counsel and in-house attorneys, but the pace of change in technology and demands to adapt from corporate heads remain challenges, in-house leaders said this week at an industry event.

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Analysis

Executive Privilege Questions Cloud Congressional Probe Prep

By Phillip Bantz

As corporate leaders brace for the possibility of Democrats retaking control of Congress and launching aggressive investigations into the Trump administration's dealings with a vast array of companies, attorneys say a U.S. Justice Department opinion on executive privilege could complicate the probes.

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2 At DOJ Sued Over Conn. Immigration Court Record Access

By Christine DeRosa

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Connecticut has filed suit in Connecticut federal court challenging the Hartford Immigration Court's refusal to provide access to immigration court records.

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DOJ Urges High Court To Revisit 9th Circ. Bar Of Nevada US Atty

By Madison Arnold

The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit a recent Ninth Circuit ruling disqualifying the Trump administration's top federal prosecutor in Nevada, calling it a decision that imposes "ongoing confusion" in the executive branch.

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Ed Martin Reprimanded Over Unauthorized FBI Contacts

By Courtney Bublé

Last summer, when Ed Martin was still head of the weaponization working group at the U.S. Department of Justice, he was reprimanded after his team communicated with the FBI without authorization, according to recently released emails.

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