News Groups Call Out DOJ's Backing Of Fair Use In AI Fight

By Elliot Weld

A group of news organizations including The New York Times responded Monday to a letter of interest from the government supporting the view that artificial intelligence companies' use of copyrighted material for training counts as fair use, saying it was inconsistent with the views of the U.S. Copyright Office and the facts of the case.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Survivor' Winner Asks 1st Circ. To Vacate $3.3M Tax Ruling

By Zak Kostro

The First Circuit should vacate a Rhode Island federal court's $3.3 million tax judgment against the first "Survivor" winner, he told the appeals court, saying a senior U.S. district judge improperly refused to review an objection he filed challenging his tax debt.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Most Of Artist's Suit Over Lego 'Queer Eye' Jacket Survives

By Adam Lidgett

A Connecticut federal judge has refused to toss copyright claims in a suit accusing Lego of ripping off a leather jacket designer's work after it appeared on the Netflix show "Queer Eye," but agreed that a trade dress claim had to go.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Paramount, States Urge Court To Approve Merger Deal

By Matthew Perlman

State enforcers and Paramount Skydance responded Monday to several questions raised by a lawmaker over a settlement ending the states' challenge of Paramount's deal for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., telling a California federal court there's no need for a full-blown review.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Migration' Copying Suit Is For The Birds, Mike White Says

By Craig Clough

Universal City Studios, Illumination Entertainment and "White Lotus" creator Mike White urged a California federal judge Monday to toss a writer's lawsuit claiming they stole his script for the 2023 film "Migration," saying the movie is not substantially similar to the unpublished screenplay, and the complaint does not plausibly allege that they had access to it.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Senate Passes Protect College Sports Act

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 77-22 on Monday night to pass legislation to impose sweeping regulations on college sports, a multibillion dollar industry. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Squires Cancels Anniversary Event Amid Ethics Questions

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has postponed an unprecedented celebration of his first year in office after it raised a series of ethics concerns, a source with close ties to the agency said Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Netflix Gets Atty Fees From Ramey For 'Bad Faith' Conduct

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge Monday refused to let intellectual property attorney Bill Ramey off the hook for paying Netflix's attorney fees, attributing nearly $1.4 million to the Houston-based attorney's misconduct, including the concealment of the fact that his client didn't own a patent they accused Netflix of infringing.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Governor Vetoes Broad Ban On Sensitive Data Sales

By Allison Grande

California's governor has refused to sign off on legislation that would have made the state the latest to restrict the sale and sharing of consumers' geolocation, biometric and other sensitive information, saying the proposed "categorical ban" on these online data practices was "a step too far."

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Home Depot, Keurig Spam Suits Paused For 9th Circ. Ruling

By Rachel Riley

Proposed class actions over allegedly misleading spam emails from Home Depot and Bed Bath & Beyond are on hold until the Ninth Circuit decides a related appeal involving Aeropostale's operators, a Washington federal judge said last week, as another Seattle federal judge returned similar suits against Macy's and Audible to state court.

5 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Grok-Maker Can't Get Deepfake Suit Paused Or Transferred

By Hailey Konnath

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company must continue battling a proposed class action brought by women suing over Grok-generated deepfakes of them in sexual situations, a California federal judge ruled Monday, declining to pause or transfer the suit to Texas.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roblox, Epic Can't Force Arbitration In Gaming Addiction Suit

By Mike Curley

A Pennsylvania federal judge won't let Roblox Corp., Epic Games Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Mojang AB compel arbitration in a suit by a minor alleging that they became addicted to video games, hurting their mental health.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ChatGPT Users' Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft Gets Trimmed

By Nadia Dreid

Microsoft isn't going to be able to force into arbitration claims that it undermined OpenAI by forcing the artificial intelligence giant into using only its cloud computing, but it did convince the California federal judge overseeing the case to toss the proposed class's federal antitrust claim.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

WordPress Parent Ducks Extortion But Not Antitrust Claims

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge issued a mixed ruling last week in the two-way fight between WordPress parent Automattic and web hosting company WPEngine, dismissing digital extortion claims against Automattic while preserving WPEngine's antitrust allegations, and preserving Automattic counterclaims of trademark infringement but dismissing false advertising accusations.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Widow's Suit Against NFL Too Complex To Be Arbitrated

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state judge removed from arbitration a lawsuit by a widow alleging the NFL's filming unit overworked a staffer on the league's docuseries "Hard Knocks" to the point of exhaustion and caused his fatal car accident, finding that the complexity of the case requires it to be resolved in court.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

CyberSec Pro Stole $53M In Uranium Finance Heist, Jury Told

By Stewart Bishop

A prosecutor on Monday told a Manhattan federal jury that a Maryland cybersecurity consultant stole around $53 million in crypto by exploiting software bugs on the decentralized exchange Uranium Finance, while defense counsel argued that the government won't be able to show "whose fingers were on the keyboard."

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Parler Wasn't Worth Much When CEO Was Fired, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A company valuation expert testified Monday in the trial over Parler's 2021 ouster of its CEO that the company had little value at the time and that insider estimates in the hundreds of millions of dollars were "speculation."

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Nextdoor, Khosla Say Investor Brought De-SPAC Suit Too Late

By Jarek Rutz

Nextdoor and Khosla Ventures urged the Delaware Chancery Court on Monday to dismiss a stockholder lawsuit challenging Nextdoor's de-SPAC merger as untimely, arguing the clock began running when the proxy that an investor described as misleading was issued in October 2021, while the plaintiff insisted later disclosures and tolling doctrines keep her claims alive.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FCC Needs More Time To Weigh Verizon Copper Retirement

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission says it needs more time to think about Verizon's request for the agency's permission to end copper line telephone service in certain parts of nine different states.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FCC Seeks FirstNet Band Manager After Court Challenges End

By Christopher Cole

With a court challenge out of the way, the Federal Communications Commission took strides Monday toward choosing a band manager to coordinate use of the 4.9 gigahertz spectrum band by the First Responder Network Authority.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SpaceX Pans Mobile Biz On Value Of 2 Spectrum Bands

By Christopher Cole

SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission the wireless industry was overestimating the value of using two spectrum bands for terrestrial mobile services, arguing the spectrum would be better leveraged for satellite broadband.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Don't Overstep On Submarine Cable License Regs, FCC Told

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission should shy away from implementing regulations for submarine cable landing licenses that would apply a uniform standard to all cable systems regardless of risk, says one of the country's biggest telecom trade groups.

Comments attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

US, China Reach Deal On Tariff Cuts On $30B In Goods Each

By Jack McLoone

An intergovernmental body tasked with managing trade between the U.S. and China has reached an agreement on $30 billion worth of nonsensitive goods exported from one country to the other that could benefit from more favorable tariff treatment.

5 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Senior Lawyers Survey: Tell Us About Your Career

How are senior lawyers adapting to evolving career paths and emerging technologies? Share your perspective in this five-minute survey.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

O'Melveny & Myers LLP and Reed Smith LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit overturned a $140 million class verdict against CenturyLink, holding that the company had a reasonable interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Arkansas Firm 5th To Seal PE Deal With Uplift Investors

By Tracey Read

Arkansas' largest personal injury law firm is the latest legal entity to ink a deal to take private equity investment using Uplift Investors' associated management services organization.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AI Mishap Has Judge Questioning 'Our Collective Character'

By Julie Manganis

A California attorney was barred from representing the plaintiffs in a Massachusetts insurance coverage dispute and ordered to pay legal costs of up to $10,000 to opposing counsel, after a federal judge found he relied on "inaccurate and fictitious" case cites and holdings in three filings.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Tarter Krinsky Faces Suit After Disclosing Data Breach

By Andrea Keckley

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP maintained "intentional opacity" about a recently disclosed cybersecurity attack last year that may have compromised protected health information, a proposed class action alleged in New York federal court.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

A2J At The High Court: Gun Bans, Voting And Civil Remedies

By Marco Poggio

From the right to own semiautomatic rifles to the rules governing voter registration, the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court term will see the justices tackle a broad swath of constitutional and access to justice issues.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Domino Foods Fights Paul Weiss DQ Bid In Price-Fixing MDL

By Madison Arnold

Domino Foods is pushing back on an attempt to disqualify its counsel from Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in a sugar price-fixing multidistrict litigation, arguing Hershey, J.M. Smucker and other food makers filed the motion as a "strategic attempt to gain tactical advantage" at a critical point in the dispute.

Response attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Duane Morris To Settle Employee's Tax Withholding Claim

By Asha Glover

Duane Morris LLP has agreed to private mediation to settle a proposed class action by an employee who alleged that the firm failed to withhold taxes for workers who were misclassified as partners, according to a notice.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

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

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen Glencore Energy sue a refinery for allegedly defrauding it out of more than $236 million worth of crude oil, the former CEO of ankle-tag maker Big Technologies file a defamation claim against the company, and property investment group Hunter Jones hit by a claim from the Financial Conduct Authority. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Wilson Sonsini topped a list of law firms that have alumni attorneys working at six of the country's most prominent tech companies. And general counsel at most large companies expect to increase their litigation budgets next year.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

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.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »