Trump Amends $10B WSJ Defamation Suit Over Epstein Story

By Hailey Konnath

President Donald Trump has filed a new version of the complaint in his $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal over an article reporting that he sent a "bawdy" birthday letter to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, this time claiming that the reporters knew or should've known the letter didn't exist.

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6th Circ. Revives P-Funk Keyboardist's Copyright Royalty Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

The Sixth Circuit revived part of the estate of late Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist George "Bernie" Worrell's copyright suit against group co-founder George Clinton and his company Thang Inc., ruling that a jury must decide whether Worrell partly owned the recordings he helped create. 

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Goldstein Says Bad Jury Instructions Warrant New Trial

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein said that the prosecutors who convicted him on 12 tax and mortgage fraud charges in February are now contradicting arguments they made at the end of his trial in their attempt to deny him a bench acquittal or new trial.

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Grammy Winner Danny Elfman Must Face Woman's Libel Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

"The Simpsons" theme song composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman can't toss a defamation suit brought by a woman after Rolling Stone published statements he made about her sexual misconduct claims against him, a California state appellate court ruled Wednesday.

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Chance The Rapper Controls His Business, Ex-Manager Says

By Lauraann Wood

Chance the Rapper solicited opinions and received help from a team of people as he considered business deals, but retained all final decision-making power with the same level of control the rapper took to structuring his independent career, his ex-manager testified Thursday.

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FCC Targeting ABC Licenses To Punish Speech, Station Says

By Rae Ann Varona

ABC's local New York station said Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission's order for ABC to file early license renewal applications is an "unprecedented attack" on the broadcast company's license portfolio with "no legitimate purpose" other than to suppress speech.

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CNN Accuses AI Co. Perplexity Of 'Free Riding' On Reporting

By Rae Ann Varona

CNN on Thursday became the latest news publisher to accuse Perplexity of copyright infringement, asserting in a complaint filed in New York federal court that the self-described artificial intelligence "answer engine" copied more than 17,000 of the network's stories, videos and images without permission.

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Ex-NBA Player Sues Crypto Co. After $2M Publicity Deal Sours

By Dorothy Atkins

Former NBA player Tristan Thompson sued cryptocurrency firm World Mobile Group Ltd. in Delaware Chancery Court, accusing the company of manufacturing bogus allegations to get out of its obligations under his $2 million brand ambassador deal while continuing to use his name, image and likeness.

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HVAC Biz Valued At $10B After Apollo Backing, More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity giant Apollo took a stake in home services company Apex Service Partners to value it at $10 billion, chipmaker Groq Inc. is hoping to raise $650 million to launch a new company focused on artificial intelligence "neoclouds," and semiconductor company Qualcomm inked a supply deal with TikTok owner ByteDance. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

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Athletes Decry Antitrust Immunity In College Sports Bill

By David Steele

College athlete advocacy groups have criticized a proposed bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that provides congressional oversight to college sports and allows athletes to have agents, but also limits player movement and compensation and grants the NCAA antitrust immunity.

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Fed. Circ. Reinstates PTAB Challenge To E-Learning Patent

By Adam Lidgett

Employee training platform Go1 won its bid to revive its challenge to a cloud learning patent it has been accused of infringing, after the Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that the company failed to show the patent was invalid.

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Squires To Review TikTok Foreign Ties In Another IPR

By Adam Lidgett

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires is going to review his own decision to institute review of a computer hardware patent challenged by TikTok, saying he was considering whether a foreign government should have been listed as an interested party.

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DC Media Company Sues NOTUS Over 'Star' Rebrand

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

An upstart media company is suing a Washington publisher over the would-be rival's upcoming rebranding as "The Star," saying in Virginia federal court Thursday that it had warned the competitor that it had registered a trademark on that name for news reporting in the D.C. area.

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Calif. AG Sues 23andMe Over Lapses In Genetic Data Security

By Allison Grande

California moved Thursday to sue the genetic testing company formerly known as 23andMe over a 2023 data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 7 million customers, arguing that the company failed to implement even the most basic security measures and misled consumers about the scope of its safeguards and severity of the breach.

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Baltimore City's Suit Against Musk Heads To Federal Court

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Baltimore City's lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI, accusing it of deceptive trade practices over the photo editing capabilities of its Grok artificial intelligence platform, has been moved to federal court.

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9th Circ. Warned Of Market Forces In Nexstar-Tegna Case

By Matthew Perlman

The National Association of Broadcasters told the Ninth Circuit that a lower court's view of the market in a case challenging the $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar and Tegna is inconsistent with its members' experience and contradicts industry data recently submitted to regulators.

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Meta Must Face Contract Claim In Facebook Ad Pricing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge trimmed a putative class action accusing Meta Platforms Inc. of secretly changing Facebook's ad auction system in a way that caused advertisers to pay more than promised, but said "ambiguity" in the social media giant's agreements meant a breach of contract claim survives the company's motion to dismiss.

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Ad Tech Rivals Say Google Can't Cull Antitrust Claims

By Bryan Koenig

Google's rival advertising placement technology providers urged a New York federal judge not to dramatically reduce their antitrust claims, arguing the court has already rejected the statute of limitations assertions raised against other multidistrict litigation plaintiffs "and it should do so again."

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Ex-Prosecutor Wants Trump 'Slush Fund' Payments Blocked

By Hailey Konnath

A former federal prosecutor who worked on Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection cases was among a handful of individuals and groups Thursday who pressed federal courts to issue temporary restraining orders blocking payouts from President Donald Trump's $1.8 billion "slush fund," according to motions filed in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

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Dem Sens. Ask DOJ To Preserve Trump-IRS Settlement Docs

By Jack McLoone

Two Democratic Senate leaders asked the U.S. Department of Justice to preserve any records related to the settlement of President Donald Trump's suit against the IRS in a letter published Thursday, signaling that further investigations may be coming.

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FCC Warns Of More Broadcast License Reviews

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission's leadership gave notice to broadcasters Thursday that it could review their licenses early and potentially act to revoke them if it decides the stations are failing to "operate in the public interest."

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Broadcasters Want Rules Relaxed Due To 'Fierce' Competition

By Christopher Cole

Broadcast industry advocates in Washington doubled down on their view that it's time to relax media ownership limits at all levels because the regulations unfairly pit them against "fierce" competitors like audio and video streamers.

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GCI Wants To End Service In 6 Alaska Communities

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

GCI Communication Corp. has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to end certain telecommunications services in six Alaskan communities, arguing that other carriers offer those services.

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Calif. City Says Insurer Lowballed Historic Ballpark Fire Claim

By Danielle Ferguson

A California city said an insurer significantly undervalued the estimated costs required to clear debris and replace facilities on a historic baseball field featured in films, including "A League of Their Own," after the field was destroyed in a fire in 2024, contributing to a delay in restoring the park.

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Musk-OpenAI Verdict Shows Value Of Early-Stage Governance

A California federal court's ruling last week in Musk v. Altman preserves the status quo at OpenAI, but signals to the technology industry at large that courts will not relitigate the governance decisions of early-stage organizations on a founder's competitive timetable, surfacing questions that will outlast the litigation, says attorney Alan N. Walter.

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Opinion

International Patent Licensing System Must Be Maintained

As foreign approaches to patent enforcement threaten to distort the licensing markets that underpin modern technology, courts and policymakers must take action to ensure that the standard essential patent framework is preserved, says Brian O'Shaughnessy at Dinsmore.

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Series

Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

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Brief

Davis Polk Adds A&O Shearman Antitrust Partner In NY

By Andrea Keckley

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP has hired a former A&O Shearman partner, who joined its antitrust and competition practice in New York.

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Bonus Spotlight

Selendy Gay Doles Out Spring Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

New York litigation boutique Selendy Gay PLLC paid its associates spring bonuses of as much as $25,000 this week, according to the firm.

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Ex-Calif. Appellate Judge To Take Over As Law School Dean

By Rose Krebs

A former California appellate justice, who was the first Muslim to serve as a Court of Appeal justice in the U.S., has been named Western State College of Law at Westcliff University's next dean.

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Dems Say DOJ Blocked Bondi On Trump Questions

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats were incensed on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys who accompanied former Attorney General Pam Bondi to her committee interview stopped her from answering questions about President Donald Trump.

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Civil Rights Icon Clarence B. Jones Dies At 95

By Andrea Keckley

Civil rights icon Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter and personal attorney to Martin Luther King Jr., died May 22 at an assisted living facility in the Santa Clara County city of Cupertino, California, his family confirmed earlier this week. He was 95.

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Roundup

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

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the billionaire who donated £5 million ($6.7 million) to Nigel Farage sue Ben Habib, the leader of far-right party Advance UK, for defamation; Mashreqbank bring claims against three subsidiaries of dissolved private equity giant Abraaj Group for commercial fraud; and the property and investment vehicle of the State of Kuwait be targeted by four real estate figures who filed a miscellaneous claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Boies Schiller's Matthew Schwartz

By Sarah Jarvis

Matthew L. Schwartz oscillated among many career aspirations as a kid, from astronaut to mayor of New York. When it was time to head off to college, the man who would go on to handle the prosecution of employees tied to Bernie Madoff and become chair of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP set his sights on science, earning an undergraduate degree in physics.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Hogan Lovells and Watkins & Eager PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Black Mississippi death row prisoner who argued racial discrimination tainted his jury selection is entitled to habeas corpus relief.

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DLA Piper Hires Real Estate, Construction Partner In Seattle

By Nate Beck

DLA Piper said it has added a Seattle-based real estate partner with experience advising a range of construction projects including data centers, mixed-use projects, schools and renewable energy facilities.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Kirkland & Ellis says it's investing a half billion dollars into developing its own artificial intelligence platform to better serve clients. And Law360 looks at the general counsel who is guiding BP through its latest leadership crisis after the company abruptly dismissed its board chair.

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Baker McKenzie Asks Judge Not To Toss Suit Against Ex-Atty

By Alison Knezevich

A lawyer for Baker McKenzie on Friday urged a Washington, D.C., judge not to dismiss the BigLaw firm's defamation suit against a former tax associate who accused a firm office leader of sexual assault, telling the court the accusations were false and made with "malice."

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Fla. Panel Revives Firm's Suit Over Tobacco Case Referrals

By David Minsky

A Florida state appellate court revived a law firm's complaint alleging tortious interference against a widow over a contingency fee agreement involving tobacco injury case referrals, finding that the lower court wrongly tossed the lawsuit based on extraneous information even though there was sufficient evidence to support a claim.

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NY Judge Doubts Nussbaum-Linked Firms Belong In Ch. 11

By Emily Lever

A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday questioned whether his court was the proper venue to wind down two commercial real estate law firms headed by Mark J. Nussbaum as the debtors sought to ditch an assignment for the benefit of creditors process in New York state court.

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Trump Urges 3rd Circ. To Reverse 'Bizarre' Anti-SLAPP Loss

By Dorothy Atkins

President Donald Trump urged the Third Circuit on Thursday to find a Pennsylvania anti-SLAPP statute shields him from the Central Park Five's defamation claims, slamming the lower court's "truly bizarre" ruling in an opening brief filed the same day a DLA Piper partner and others joined Trump's defense team.

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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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Akin Gump Owes Fees For Winebow's 'Self-Indulgent' Appeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday ordered an importer's Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to pay a European winemaker fees for having to defend against the importer's "spurious objections" to the winemaker's valid arbitral award, ruling that the importer's "self-indulgent" appeal warrants sanctions in the form of fees.

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Colo. Appeals Court Bars One-Way Fees In Eviction Cures

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday reversed the dismissal of a proposed class action against a group of landlords, Tschetter Sulzer PC and the Colorado Apartment Association accusing the collective of illegally extracting attorney fees from tenants during eviction proceedings.

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Double Shooting Renews Courthouse Safety Fears In NC

By Hayley Fowler

The shooting of two Fox Rothschild LLP attorneys outside a courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of Memorial Day weekend has renewed calls to protect the safety of judges and lawyers in an increasingly volatile justice system.

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Calif. Panel Reverses Order For Citing Atty's Bogus Case Law

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel on Thursday reversed a judgment in favor of a man accused of abusing his son, finding that "without doubt" the trial judge abused her discretion by incorporating the man's bogus legal citations into her ruling, despite being alerted to the mistakes in advance.

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