ABC sued the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of using the agency to threaten the Disney-owned network's licenses in a bid to stop it from broadcasting anything displeasing to the president.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

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ABC Sues FCC To Stop License Renewal 'Retaliation'

By Nadia Dreid

ABC sued the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of using the agency to threaten the Disney-owned network's licenses in a bid to stop it from broadcasting anything displeasing to the president.

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Lady Gaga Beats Surf Brand's 'Mayhem' TM Infringement Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge Tuesday granted Lady Gaga's bid to toss a surf and lifestyle brand's lawsuit accusing her of infringing a "Mayhem" mark on her merchandise, saying the brand failed to sufficiently allege that the pop star's use of the mark explicitly misled consumers.

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Netflix Says Tyra Banks Signed Away Editorial Control Of Doc

By Craig Clough

Netflix and the producers behind a docuseries about "America's Next Top Model" asked a California federal judge to dismiss Tyra Banks' defamation lawsuit, arguing her allegations are nothing more than "complaints about ordinary editorial decisions" that are protected by free speech laws.

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Sofia Vergara's Underwear Co. Moves To Nix AI Deepfake Suit

By Gina Kim

EBY urged a California federal judge to dismiss a content creator's suit alleging that, while she agreed to be a brand ambassador, the underwear company used AI to create a "deepfake" version and publish a video where she appeared partially nude, arguing Monday that the video is not "pornography" as commonly understood.

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PE Music Rights Co. Sues Anthropic, Suno Over AI Training

By Bonnie Eslinger

Private equity music publisher Round Hill Music has sued Anthropic, Suno and web-scraping provider Bright Data in separate federal lawsuits in California, accusing the companies of "rampant commercial copying" of thousands of its copyrighted songs and lyrics without permission to build and train artificial intelligence systems.

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OnlyFans Creator Sues MrBeast, Amazon For Bogus Rules

By Jonathan Capriel

A staffer for the 2024 MrBeast Games allegedly told a contestant she must delete her OnlyFans, which netted $60,000 a year, or be kicked out of the $5 million competition despite no one else being forced to do this, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Court that seeks damages from the show and Amazon.

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Feds Bring New Charges Over $3.4B Iran-Backed Cybertheft

By Stewart Bishop

Manhattan federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced new charges against a group of Iranians accused of running a global, state-backed hacking campaign against private companies, government agencies and universities, in a wide-ranging cybertheft conspiracy that stole at least $3.4 billion in academic data and intellectual property.

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Brief

DSW, Sony Strike Deal In Social Media Music Copyright Fight

By Ivan Moreno

Sony Music Entertainment and DSW's parent company, Designer Brands, have reached a settlement in principle in a copyright infringement suit accusing the shoe retailer and related companies of using more than 100 copyrighted songs in social media advertising without authorization, according to a notice filed in California federal court.

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PRIVACY & CONSUMER PROTECTION

'Profits Won': States Say Meta Targeted Kids As Trial Opens

By Dorothy Atkins

An attorney for more than two dozen states told a California federal jury during opening statements Tuesday that Meta hid what it knew about social media's mental health harms and prioritized profits over safety in a yearslong effort to hook kids on its platforms, while Meta defended its safety practices as best-in-class.

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Zuckerberg Waved Off Filter Criticism, Tenn. Jury Hears

By Cara Salvatore

A former Meta executive overseeing responsible innovation testified Tuesday that Mark Zuckerberg iced out her thoughts regarding the harm to teens of cosmetic surgery image filters, but said generally the company's employees are well intentioned when it comes to user safety.

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Attys In Ebay Harassment Suit Seek Lion's Share Of $15M Fee

By Julie Manganis

Counsel for a Massachusetts couple who recently reached a $55.7 million settlement over a harassment campaign by former eBay employees have asked a state court judge to find the couple's original attorney is entitled to no more than 5% of the fees in the case.

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NJ Justices Signaled Likely End To Daniel's Law, Experts Say

By George Woolston

First Amendment experts said the New Jersey Supreme Court likely doomed the state's judicial privacy law when it found that the statute did not require those seeking damages to establish mental state, a decision that the Third Circuit hinted could result in the measure being struck down.

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Snap Says Pixel Suit Refiled To Avoid Skeptical Calif. Judge

By Allison Grande

Snap is pushing to move a proposed pixel-tracking class action from federal court in Los Angeles to San Francisco, arguing that the dispute "bears all the hallmarks of strategic forum selection designed to avoid" litigating in front of a Northern District of California judge who's called the state's wiretap statute "a total mess."

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COMPETITION

2nd Circ. Lets Stand Cumulus' Nielsen Data Unbundling Order

By Matthew Santoni

The Second Circuit declined Tuesday to reconsider a ruling that Nielsen cannot tie together sales of its local and national radio data, sustaining a win for the troubled Cumulus Media New Holdings Inc. even as the company tries to enforce the lower court's order against the ratings giant.

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Publishers Target Google's 'Fake Privilege' In Ad Tech MDL

By Bryan Koenig

A group of website publishers targeting Google's advertising placement technology dominance in a wider multidistrict litigation asked a New York federal judge Monday to force discovery into corporate policies allegedly hiding evidence that have continuously haunted the technology giant across antitrust cases from government and private plaintiffs.

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EMPLOYMENT

Ex-Meta Worker Says His EB-2 Letter Concerns Got Him Fired

By Carla Baranauckas

A former Meta Platforms Inc. product design manager sued the social media giant and his former supervisor in New Jersey federal court, claiming that he was fired after refusing to sign an immigration support letter for a colleague because he believed it contained inaccurate or unsupported facts.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS

House GOP Still Pushing For Broadband Permit Bill This Year

By Christopher Cole

Despite months of delays, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are still pressing for legislation that would compel local governments to act faster on broadband permit applications, a top congressional aide said Tuesday.

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REAL ESTATE

7th Circ. Rejects Ex-Cushman GC's Defamation Revival Bid

By Lauraann Wood

Cushman & Wakefield's former general counsel cannot pursue an Illinois defamation claim over a Law.com article and subsequent revision he claims improperly linked his departure to subpoena deadline mismanagement in a Trump Organization property tax probe, the Seventh Circuit said Tuesday.

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COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS

Video Gaming Arena Co. Seeks OK Of $7.7M Arbitral Award

By Joyce Hanson

The operator of a chain of competitive video gaming arenas in the United Kingdom has asked a New York federal judge to enforce a $7.7 million arbitral award it won against a Delaware-based esports company and related subsidiary following a dispute over a collaboration deal.

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IMMIGRATION

Journalist Sues DHS, CBP Over Phone Seizure After Iran Trip

By Hailey Konnath

An American journalist says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection violated his constitutional rights and federal privacy law when agents seized his phones at Dulles Airport after returning from a reporting trip to Iran, according to a suit filed Monday in Virginia federal court.

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BANKRUPTCY

Sandy Hook Families Say Alex Jones Co. Can't Dodge Bond

By Aaron Keller

Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims' families have asked the Texas Supreme Court to dissolve an appeals court order blocking a receiver from deploying the assets of Alex Jones' Free Speech Systems LLC, saying the company is stalling a $1.3 billion judgment collection effort without posting the required bond.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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White House Aims To Shield Advisers Behind Law Firm EOs

By Emily Sawicki

The Trump administration and Justice Department "strongly object" to an Aug. 3 discovery order requiring them to name individuals involved in drafting and approving executive orders targeting law firms, amid their repeated refusal to hand over certain communications in a suit brought by the American Bar Association.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Says Trump's University Probes Were Political

By Hailey Konnath

Trump administration officials forged ahead with investigations into Harvard, Columbia and other universities despite its own lawyers raising legal concerns and, in some cases, finding "little to no factual predicate justifying opening them," according to a whistleblower disclosure from a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer made public Tuesday.

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Troutman Sidelined Associate After Heart Attack, Suit Says

By Patrick Hoff

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP derailed an associate's career because he took medical leave to recover from a heart attack and spoke up about senior attorneys' fraudulent billing practices, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New Jersey federal court.

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Trump Names 9 Judicial Picks Across 6 States

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced nine nominees Tuesday for judicial spots in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Alaska. 

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Bot Errors Doom Expert's Credibility In Tainted-Supplement Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge Tuesday disposed of a U.S. Army nurse's lawsuit claiming supplement maker Thesis Nootropics sold products tainted with amphetamines, concluding that a key expert destroyed his credibility by submitting a report containing bot-generated false citations — much like errors for which the plaintiffs' counsel was recently sanctioned.

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Big Tech, PTAB Attys Urge Justices To Fix USPTO Power Grab

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's refusal to curb the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director's power over instituting Patent Trial and Appeal Board challenges has allowed leaders to "wreak havoc" without accountability, top tech companies have warned the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Quill & Arrow Says Ford Can't Rehash Lemon Law Fee Fights

By Linda Chiem

Quill & Arrow LLP has asked a California federal judge to dump a "retaliatory" lawsuit alleging the personal injury firm saddled Ford Motor Co. with high-priced legal bills for work purportedly handled by virtual assistants overseas or nonlawyers, saying the automaker is trying to chill product liability litigation.

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​​​​​​​Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving multibillion-dollar mergers, corporate oversight, founder control, SPAC litigation, commercial contracts and attorney fees.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

ABC Inc.

Acushnet Holdings Corp.

Alliance for Automotive Innovation

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

Amicus

Anthropic PBC

Apple Inc.

Archer Aviation Inc.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.

BDO LLP

BDO USA LLP

Cisco Systems Inc.

Clearing House Payments Co. LLC

Cloudflare Inc.

Computer & Communications Industry Association

Cumulus Media Inc.

Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

Designer Brands Inc.

EchoStar Corp.

Epic Games Inc.

Ford Motor Co.

Gannett Co. Inc.

Google LLC

Government Accountability Project

H.I.G. Capital LLC

Harvard University

Home Box Office Inc.

Instagram Inc.

Intel Corp.

Kentucky Downs LLC

Los Angeles Times

Meta Platforms Inc.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

NHK Spring

National Retail Federation Inc.

Netflix Inc.

New York Post

Nielsen Holdings PLC

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Outliers Inc.

Pinterest Inc.

Roblox Corp.

Round Hill Music

SAP AG

SAS Institute Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

ServiceTitan Inc.

Snap Inc.

Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

Spotify Technology SA

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Tesla Inc.

The Boeing Co.

The Software & Information Industry Association

TikTok Inc.

Trove Brands

Trump Organization Inc.

Verisk Analytics Inc.

Westwood One, Inc.

YouTube Inc.

eBay Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Adams & Reese

Arete Law Group

Ashurst Perkins

Axinn

Barnes & Thornburg

Benesch

Bremer Whyte

Broocks Law Firm

Bursor & Fisher

Cain & Skarnulis

Clare Locke

Clement & Murphy

Covington & Burling

Davis Wright Tremaine

Diller Law

Doumar Martin

Finkelstein & Partners

Finkelstein Blankinship

Freshfields

Gibson Dunn

Hahn Loeser

Haynes Boone

Hogan Lovells

Jassy Vick

Kasowitz LLP

Keesal Young

Kellogg Hansen

Kessenick Gamma

Kilpatrick Townsend

Knight Law Group

Knobbe Martens

Kobre & Kim

Littler Mendelson

Lowell & Associates

Manning Gross

Milbank LLP

Murphy Ball Stratton

O'Melveny & Myers

Pashman Stein

Pillsbury Winthrop

Quill & Arrow

Reese Marketos

Ropes & Gray

Scalli Murphy Law

Shapiro Arato

Sidley Austin

Skaggs Faucette

Sterlington PLLC

Susman Godfrey

Troutman

Wagstaff & Cartmell

Wigdor LLP

Wilkinson Stekloff

WilmerHale

Wilson Sonsini

Winston Taylor

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Department of Justice

California Supreme Court

City and County of San Francisco, California

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

House Committee on Energy and Commerce

House Committee on Natural Resources

National Labor Relations Board

New Jersey Legislature

New Jersey Supreme Court

New York Attorney General's Office

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Tennessee Attorney General's Office

Texas Supreme Court

U.S. Army

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United Nations

United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma