Mobile Game Co. Hit With $420M Verdict In False Ad Trial

By Elliot Weld

Papaya Gaming Ltd. on Thursday was hit with a jury verdict in New York telling it to pay $420 million in damages in a trial over its alleged misrepresentations about its mobile games being based on skill and not using bots.

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2nd Circ. Revives Copyright Fight Over Michael Jordan Video

By Ivan Moreno

The Second Circuit on Thursday revived parts of a videographer's copyright lawsuit against an online news publisher, ruling in a precedential decision that a lower court wrongly dismissed infringement claims over a video showing basketball legend Michael Jordan breaking up a fight and screenshots used with headlines.

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Fed. Circ. Backs Wins For Pokemon Go Maker In Patent Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A startup founded by biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong lost its bid Thursday to revive claims in a pair of patents it alleged were infringed by smartphone games Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite as the Federal Circuit upheld findings that the claims were invalid.

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DC Circ. Doubts Legality Of Trump's Ouster Of VOA Chief

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. Circuit panel appeared Thursday not to buy the Trump administration's argument that the president had free rein to summarily fire the head of Voice of America last year and suggested that Congress had directly stipulated that the VOA director could only be removed by its board.

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OpenAI Barred From Using 'IO' As TM In Dispute With IYO

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge on Thursday prohibited OpenAI from using "IO" as a trademark for AI hardware, finding that the branding is likely to be confused with startup IYO Inc. 

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'Cheap' Judge OKs $19.5M Snap Deal Fees But 'No Bentleys'

By Craig Clough

After warning counsel who negotiated a $65 million securities settlement with Snap that he is "notoriously cheap," and in a tentative order gave a "haircut" to their $19.5 million fee request, a California federal judge talked himself out of the trim at a hearing Thursday but quipped, "No Bentleys."

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'Serious Misconduct' At Live Nation, Ex-VP Says In $35M Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

Live Nation has been sued in California state court for $35 million by a former vice president claiming it fired him for blowing the whistle on company-wide corporate misconduct, including project revenues that were inflated to score business deals and venue development projects, as well as hiding "junk fees" for tickets.

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Mich. Councilman Says Suit Over 'Legislative Speech' Barred

By Melanie Dorsey

A Hillsdale city councilman has urged a Michigan federal court to dismiss a businessman's $1.5 million suit over remarks made during a library board appointment debate, arguing the claims are barred by absolute legislative immunity and rest on speculation rather than plausible facts. 

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Warner Stockholders Back $110B Paramount Skydance Deal

By Al Barbarino

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.'s shareholders voted to approve the planned $110 billion sale to Paramount Skydance Corp. at a meeting on Thursday. 

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T-Mobile Tie-Up, Boots IPO Among Week's Top Deal Rumors

By Al Barbarino

Deutsche Telekom AG could merge with its American arm T-Mobile to create a global phone giant, digital bank Revolut envisions a $200 billion valuation for its potential initial public offering in 2028, and the owners of U.K. pharmacy chain Boots consider a public offering of their own. 

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Fed. Circ. Partly Reboots Patent Suit Over YouTube Content ID

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit ruled Thursday that a New York federal court needs to take another look at a patent licensing company's claim that Google and YouTube's Content ID system infringes one of its patents, but backed a finding that claims in two other patents were invalid.

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Brief

Full Fed. Circ. Won't Rehear $500M Patent Case Against Sony

By Elliot Weld

The full Federal Circuit on Thursday declined to consider a decision that found Sony's PlayStation controllers don't infringe a computer input device patent in a suit where the patent owner was seeking almost $500 million in damages.

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2nd Circ. Backs NBCUniversal In Suit Over Video Data Sharing

By Allison Grande

The Second Circuit on Thursday refused to revive a proposed class action accusing NBCUniversal of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act, finding that the dispute was "materially indistinguishable" from a separate precedential panel ruling that set the standard for what qualifies as personally identifiable information under the federal law.

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Meta, 4 Food Banks Have Upper Hand In Privacy Suit, For Now

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated on Thursday she will dismiss a proposed class action against Meta Platforms Inc. and four California food banks alleging the tech giant collected personal information about visitors to food assistance websites, but said she would let the plaintiffs amend the suit and try again.

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Meta Defends Toss Of Consumer Antitrust Case At 9th Circ.

By Matthew Perlman

Meta told the Ninth Circuit a lower court was right to find no support for an expert's theory that Facebook would have paid users $5 a month for using the service if it didn't misrepresent its privacy and data practices.

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Judge Says Newsmax Was Forum Shopping With Fox Case

By Nadia Dreid

Newsmax appeared to be forum shopping when it refiled its dismissed lawsuit accusing Fox Corp. of pressuring cable and streaming providers into not carrying the rival right-leaning broadcaster in Wisconsin federal court, says the judge who just shipped the case back to Florida.

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Judge Orders Media Matters To Give X Its Employee Lists

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Thursday ordered left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America to hand over employee lists and editorial process information to X Corp. as part of a business disparagement suit, ending a lengthy battle between the parties over the documents.

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Viamedia Fights Comcast's In-House Doc Access Proposal

By Lauraann Wood

Viamedia is pushing back on Comcast's proposal for loosening confidentiality protections so the cable giant's in-house litigation counsel can access highly confidential documents as the parties' antitrust trial looms, saying that it agrees a change is necessary but that Comcast's "disingenuous and self-serving" idea is not the way to do it.

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Bassist's Suit Against Metal Band Can Rock On, Judge Says

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut judge has refused to strike six counts from a bassist's lawsuit challenging his ejection from the Grammy-nominated metal band Hatebreed, finding the musician properly pleaded claims that he was harmed by his 2024 removal after a decades-long business relationship.

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5-Hour Energy Founder Blasts Fired Exec's Severance Claims

By Pete Brush

Billionaire energy drink mogul Manoj Bhargava told a Manhattan federal jury Thursday that he fired an executive from a publishing business he bought because the executive helped run it "into the ground" — pushing back against the man's severance claims.

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FCC Rejects SpaceX, Iridium Bids To Change 'Big LEO' Rules

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission's staff has turned down requests from SpaceX and Iridium Communications Inc. to revamp spectrum sharing rules in the "Big LEO" bands that sought to let the companies expand mobile satellite services.

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Cos. Say Permit Delays Could Drag Out 'Rip And Replace'

By Christopher Cole

The government's multibillion-dollar effort to pull Chinese-made gear from U.S. telecom networks is almost done, but a carriers' group told the agency this week it was concerned that permit delays could set project timelines back.

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Brief

Amazon Gets OK To Sell Leo Routers Despite Covered List

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission continues to make exceptions for certain foreign-made routers after issuing a blanket ban on their being sold in the United States earlier this year by placing them on the so-called covered list.

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Brief

Cinemex Offers $6M For Movie Theater Co. IPic In Ch. 11

By Emily Lever

Bankrupt dine-in movie theater chain iPic Theaters LLC has received a $6 million offer for its assets from Cinemex, a competitor aiming to supplant stalking horse bidder Star Grill Cinema Inc.

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Jones Day Adds Labor Attorney From McDermott In SF

By Katherine Smith

Jones Day has added a former McDermott Will & Schulte partner who advises leading companies on a wide range of labor and employment matters as a partner in its labor and employment practice in its San Francisco office, the firm has announced.

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Series

Officiating Football Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Though they may seem to have little in common, officiating football has sharpened many of the same skills that define effective lawyering in management-side labor and employment: preparation, judgment, composure, credibility and ability to make difficult decisions in real time, says Josh Nadreau at Fisher Phillips.

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DLA Piper Clears Vote To End Verein, Unify Leadership

By Tracey Read

DLA Piper announced Friday that firm partners on both sides of the Atlantic have "overwhelmingly approved" a plan to dissolve its Swiss verein structure effective May 1.

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Exclusive

Judge Albright Reflects On 8 Years Shaping Patent Law

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright will be walking away from the Western District of Texas at the end of the summer, ready to head back into patent litigation work. He talked with Law360 on Friday about the rockier elements of his judgeship and lessons he'll take into private practice.

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Commerce Department's General Counsel Departs

By Christine DeRosa

The U.S. Department of Commerce's general counsel has left the agency after just over a year, the agency confirmed on Friday.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

In what may be a first, a federal judge has ordered BJ's Wholesale Club to put an investor's climate-related proxy proposal up for a vote of the shareholders at the company's annual meeting. And a new study shows that more in-house counsel are staying in place despite pay increases slowing amid less competition for talent.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, Butler Prather LLP, Bowen Painter LLC and Cannella Snyder LLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Fluor Corp. can be held liable for a veteran's state-based injury claims stemming from a 2016 suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen a Hong Kong company sue the government and a COVID-19 PPE company linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone, an oligarch bring a fresh claim against a rival in a long-running feud, a rugby league club sue over a canceled mass dance event, and Visa and Mastercard hit with legal action from H&M, Eurostar, and Bang & Olufsen. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Oregon Lawyer Ordered To Pay Attorney Fees For Use Of AI

By Matt Perez

An Oregon attorney was sanctioned by a state appellate court for filing a brief containing a fabricated list of authorities because she used generative artificial intelligence, marking the first case in the jurisdiction to present the option of awarding attorney fees as a sanction as opposed to fines payable to the court.

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Akin Can't 'Recast' Appeal As Good-Faith Effort, 9th Circ. Told

By Lauren Berg

A European winemaker slammed attempts by a U.S. importer and its Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to "recast a frivolous appeal as a good-faith effort," saying they should have to pay monetary sanctions for pursuing what the Ninth Circuit called a "self-indulgent" appeal of a valid arbitration award.

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Atty, Brother Say Father's Last Will Altered In Secret

By Emily Sawicki

A Blank Rome LLP attorney and his brother have sued the attorney who executed their father's will in New Jersey federal court, alleging the lawyer preyed on their ailing father toward the end of his life to alter his beneficiaries through undue influence, forgery and fraud.

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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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