Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: NYT, J&J, Azerbaijan

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 details a jury verdict against The New York Times in a suit involving its reporting on a shooting in Alabama, and highlights a judge's decision to spare researchers from a suit by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary over their talc research.

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AGs, WGA Slam Paramount's Bid For $1.9B Merger Suit Bond

By Lauren Berg

The Writers Guild of America and Democratic attorneys general urged a California federal judge Monday to reject Paramount Skydance Corp.'s bid to make them put up a $1.9 billion bond, saying it was the studio's idea to pause closing its planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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Sec. Of State Can't Deport Students For Speech, Judge Says

By Britain Eakin

A California federal judge has ruled in a suit from Stanford University's student newspaper that provisions of federal immigration law the Trump administration used to cancel the visas of pro-Palestinian students and try to deport them violate the First Amendment and due process.

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EEOC Says NYT Retaliation Claims Lack Basis In Bias Suit

By Craig Clough

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission urged a New York federal judge Friday to toss The New York Times' counterclaims in a race and sex bias suit, saying the newspaper is trying to reframe a straightforward employment discrimination case as a dispute over press freedoms.

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Sony, Warner Music Sue Anthropic Over 'Brazen' IP Theft

By Rae Ann Varona

Sony Music and Warner Chappell Music have accused Anthropic in California federal court of carrying out a "brazen campaign" of musical composition theft, alleging the Claude-maker stole lyrics and sheet music by scraping websites, exploiting datasets and "destructively scanning" physical copies of copyrighted music.

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How Did Litigants Fare In Judge Albright's 55 Patent Trials?

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright oversaw more than 50 patent trials between his 2018 arrival on the bench and planned Monday departure, and in a surprise for many attorneys, there was a near-even split between victories for patent owners and accused infringers.

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$60K Default Award Recommended In Book Copying Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A Colorado federal magistrate judge recommended awarding a Romanian publisher $60,000 in statutory damages and permanently barring a Colorado company from infringing its copyrights in two health and wellness books, finding the infringement was willful and continued even after the company defaulted in the case.

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Calif. Passes Bills To Limit Tracking Suits, Boost Privacy

By Allison Grande

California lawmakers have sent to the governor's desk legislation that would block private litigants from bringing website tracking lawsuits under a key provision of the state's wiretap law, as well as a separate pair of bills to expand protections under the state's data privacy law. 

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6th Circ. Splits On Tenn. Social Media Age-Verification Law

By Emily Field

A split Sixth Circuit panel said a lower court should have blocked Tennessee's age-verification law for social media platforms while an internet industry group challenged the statute, finding the group had shown it would be harmed by compliance costs and the loss of free speech liberties.

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Senators Say Roblox, Discord Can't Arbitrate Sex Abuse Suit

By Mike Curley

Sens. Dick Durbin, Richard Blumenthal and Kirsten Gillibrand are urging a California state appeals court to reject Discord Inc. and Roblox Corp.'s bid to compel arbitration in a suit from a teenager alleging he was groomed and abused on the platforms.

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Webinar Site Says Recorded Meetings Were Public

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A webinar site accused of secretly recording and posting private videoconferences online for profit told a California federal court Friday the "dissonance" required to assume the meetings are private is enough to end the proposed class action.

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ChatGPT, Reddit, Roblox ID'd For Extra EU Digital Safeguards

By Bryan Koenig

The European Commission labeled ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox on Monday as large enough to warrant extra rules for policing illegal content and other mandates, bringing the number of companies hit with Digital Services Act labels up to 28.

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Valve's 15K Antitrust Arbitrations Will Stay On Ice, Judge Says

By Ben Adlin

Arbitrations between gaming giant Valve Corp. and nearly 15,000 gamers will remain paused as the Ninth Circuit weighs whether the antitrust disputes are eligible for arbitration under the company's updated subscriber terms, according to a bench ruling Monday from a Seattle federal judge.

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Parler Backers Hijacked Social Media Co. From CEO, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

Stakeholders of defunct microblogging app Parler, including hedge fund scion Rebekah Mercer and former deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, allegedly schemed to strip the social app's cofounder of his CEO role and his 40% stake, a Nevada jury heard in opening arguments in a $100 million contract trial Monday.

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Brief

NASCAR, Racetrack Settle Security Guard's Harassment Suit

By Susan Smiley

A former Michigan International Speedway guard asked a federal court to dismiss her sexual harassment suit against her former supervisor, NASCAR and the racetrack, a request that follows docket entries indicating the remaining claims and counterclaims were successfully mediated. 

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GOP Asks Justices To Lift Block In Campaign Ad Pricing Case

By Katie Buehler

Republican fundraising committees have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Fourth Circuit order blocking the Federal Communications Commission from extending discounted television and radio advertising rates to committees that buy spots in coordination with political candidates, arguing the lower court prematurely jumped into the review process.

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'Reality Check' Needed For E-Rate, Says Ex-FCC Commish

By Christopher Cole

A former member of the Federal Communications Commission pushed Monday for a complete review of the E-Rate program for school and library telecom discounts, asking if instead of helping students learn, it's "doing harm."

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Mass. Police Department Opposes FCC Drone Restriction

By Nadia Dreid

A Massachusetts police chief is asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider banning people from buying foreign-made military-grade drones, saying law enforcement can use them to find missing people much more quickly than human search groups.

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Fiber, Labor Shortages Spur Call To Delay Rural Connections

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Broadband providers have reiterated their call for a one-year extension of the Federal Communications Commission's deadline to complete projects under a rural funding program, citing increasing fiber scarcity and the ongoing skilled labor shortage.

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Brief

FCC Names New Enforcement Bureau Chief

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has named Hunter Deeley as its new Enforcement Bureau chief.

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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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HSF Kramer Added To $1B King & Spalding Malpractice Suit

By Jack Karp

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and several of its partners on Tuesday were added to a $1 billion legal malpractice suit against King & Spalding LLP alleging that the firms engaged in multiple schemes to enrich a lawyer's friend at the expense of investment firm White Oak Advisors.

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Fla. Bar Tosses Complaint Over DHS GC's 'Worst' Judge Posts

By Adrian Cruz

The Florida Bar has refused to investigate the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for potential ethics violations over his recent series of social media posts attacking sitting judges, citing a potential conflict with the authority of the federal government.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Rodriguez On The Uses Of AI

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

Today, Judge Xavier Rodriguez is known as an expert in electronic discovery and a proponent of artificial intelligence, but his interest was piqued before he joined the bench of the Western District of Texas in 2003, when he was still a lawyer and the methods for sifting through electronically stored information were still primitive.

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Judges Say Social Media, Political Rhetoric Endanger Them

By Adrian Cruz

Increased access to social media and personal data via the internet, a larger number of high-profile cases, and inflammatory comments made by politicians have led to a rise in violent threats against judges and concerns about their safety, according to a recently published report.

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5th Circ. Judge Hints Court Order With AI Errors Can't Stand

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit judge wanted to know why a panel should keep intact a court order blocking an anti-DEI Mississippi law that contained artificial intelligence hallucinations, asking whether the judges could confidently find that made-up citations did not ultimately sway the district court's decision.

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Ex-Warriors GC, DEI Exec Say Bias Complaints Led To Firings

By Lauren Berg

The Golden State Warriors' former associate general counsel and its former vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion allege they were unlawfully fired in retaliation for speaking up about enduring a workplace marked by gender and race-based discrimination.

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NY Firm, Clinics Reject FedEx's 'Staged' Crashes Claims

By Linda Chiem

A New York personal injury firm and various healthcare providers have told a Manhattan federal judge that FedEx has asserted implausible claims alleging they orchestrated an insurance fraud scheme to fabricate medical records and inflate accident claims, saying there is no such racketeering enterprise.

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Brief

Barnes & Thornburg Says Ex-NBA Star Owes $1M Legal Fees

By Jonathan Capriel

Former NBA player Luol Deng is being sued for more than $1 million by a Chicago-based law firm that claims he failed to pay legal fees connected to two real estate matters, according to a suit filed in Illinois state court.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Bryan Koenig

Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery pressured state attorneys general challenging their merger to settle, the Federal Trade Commission successfully challenged a construction adhesives tie-up, state officials waded in against the NextEra-Dominion transaction, and Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. defended their combination under review by federal regulators.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of August

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Anthropic, Zillow and ConocoPhillips. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from August.

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