Authors' Attys Seek $300M In Fees After $1.5B Anthropic Deal

By Elliot Weld

The attorneys who represented a group of authors that secured a $1.5 billion settlement with artificial intelligence business Anthropic after claiming the company infringed copyrights by training its models with pirated books have asked the court for $300 million in fees.

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Kimmel Brouhaha Brings Out Levity At DC's 'Telecom Prom'

By Christopher Cole

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's roller coaster ride at the hands of the Federal Communications Commission took center stage Wednesday at a light-hearted Washington dinner for telecom lawyers, as FCC Chair Brendan Carr served up a comedic bit over the controversy that followed Kimmel's recent war of words with the agency chief.

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Law Firm Beats Ex-OneTaste Staffer's Malpractice Suit

By Rose Krebs

A Pennsylvania federal judge has tossed a malpractice lawsuit against Kohn Swift & Graf PC from a former OneTaste Inc. employee over its legal representation of her in connection with a federal subpoena related to an investigation of the sexual wellness company, saying her malpractice claim "is palpably lacking in merit."

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Sunday Ticket Subscribers Claim NFL Added Late Arguments

By David Steele

The National Football League improperly introduced new arguments into their defense of the decision to dismiss the $4.7 billion verdict in their favor in the Sunday Ticket antitrust trial last year, a group of subscribers told the Ninth Circuit.

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NYT Says Pentagon Press Pass Policy Flouts Constitution

By Adam Lidgett

The New York Times accused the Pentagon of violating the First and Fifth Amendments with its policy of allowing officials to take away press passes of journalists who report on matters not authorized by the government, saying Thursday in a D.C. federal lawsuit that it took action after its reporters refused to agree to follow the rule.

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Wachtell Advising OpenAI On Planned Neptune Purchase

By Al Barbarino

OpenAI has agreed to acquire experiment-tracking startup Neptune, a deal that brings in-house a set of tools designed to give researchers real-time visibility into how large artificial intelligence models learn.

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Photographer Gets $51K In Copyright Case Against Website

By Elliot Weld

A Manhattan federal judge has ordered the publisher of an online photography magazine to pay $51,000 in total damages and fees to a photographer after the Second Circuit said its publishing of her work was not fair use.

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Fla. Gov Floats AI 'Bill Of Rights' Amid Federal Pushback

By Allison Grande

Florida's Republican governor on Thursday put forth a proposed framework to protect consumers from potential risks posed by artificial intelligence systems, including unauthorized uses of their data and the harms that chatbots pose to minors, a move that comes as the Trump administration and some Republicans in Congress push for states to be blocked from regulating the emerging technology.

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Data Co. Seeks To Consolidate NJ Judicial Privacy Law Cases

By Jake Maher

The data privacy firm Atlas Data Privacy has asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to consolidate over 100 ongoing cases where it is suing data brokers under the state judicial privacy statute Daniel's Law into a single multicounty litigation, according to a notice to the bar filed this week.

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9th Circ. Won't Revive Google Maps Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A Ninth Circuit panel gave short shrift Thursday to app-makers trying to revive a proposed antitrust class action accusing Google of locking out rival maps products, rejecting the appeal because Google doesn't actually bar "the use or display of non-Google maps content to a Google Map."

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Live Nation Customers Appear Poised For Antitrust Class Cert.

By Craig Clough

Consumers accusing Live Nation of monopolizing the live entertainment industry were in a good position Thursday for class certification after a California federal judge issued a tentative ruling that would approve the request and appeared skeptical of the entertainment giant's arguments at a hearing.

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Google Fights Unlockd's Judge Recusal Bid In Antitrust Case

By Christine DeRosa

Google is opposing a move by Unlockd Media seeking the recusal of U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. in an antitrust lawsuit in California federal court, arguing that the judge's close relationship with Google's vice president for litigation and discovery doesn't require him to step away from the case.

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EU To Probe Meta's WhatsApp Restrictions On AI Providers

By Matthew Perlman

European enforcers have launched an investigation into recent changes Meta made to its WhatsApp policies over concerns that they block artificial intelligence providers from communicating with their users on the messaging platform.

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Lawmakers Debate Higher Pay, Health Benefits For Boxers

By Alex Lawson

An effort to revamp American boxing got underway on Capitol Hill on Thursday as lawmakers deliberated over legislation to provide better pay and workplace protections for fighters, with Democrats expressing concern over the potential for corruption to flourish in the sport.

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Former Live Nation Workers See 401(k) Fee Suit Tossed

By Kellie Mejdrich

A California federal judge tossed a suit from two Live Nation ex-workers alleging excessive fees in their employee 401(k) plan, following the Ninth Circuit in August saying the workers hadn't specifically appealed the lower court's holding that the ticket sales company could enforce a class action waiver.

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Analysis

Appeal Of US Atty Invalidations May Be 'Devastating' To DOJ

By Phillip Bantz

As the list of interim and acting U.S. attorneys found to be unlawfully appointed under President Donald Trump grows, so too does the pressure on his administration to make the next move, which could force a risky strategic decision on whether to push the issue up to the U.S. Supreme Court, experts said.

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Snap Investors' $65M Deal OK'd, But Attys Face 'Cheap' Judge

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge said Thursday he will grant preliminary approval of a $65 million deal to resolve a proposed securities class action against Snapchat, but warned the plaintiffs' side they will "have to see" about the request for 30% of the settlement in attorney fees because he is "notoriously cheap."

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Rural Carriers Upset Over FCC's AT&T Deal Approval

By Christopher Cole

Wireless carriers serving rural regions are dismayed at the Federal Communications Commission's staff decision this week to approve AT&T's $1 billion spectrum license deal with UScellular, saying it relies on flawed market analysis.

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Protesters' Use-Of-Force Suit Stays Open To Field Objections

By Lauraann Wood

A lawsuit accusing immigration officials of using excessive force against Chicago press and peaceful protesters should briefly stay alive for potential class member objections, but the government's position that dismissal would prevent the class from filing similar future claims is seemingly "not correct on the law," a federal judge said Thursday.

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Series

Preaching Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Becoming a Gospel preacher has enhanced my success as a trial lawyer by teaching me the importance of credibility, relatability, persuasiveness and thorough preparation for my congregants, the same skills needed with judges and juries in the courtroom, says Reginald Harris at Stinson.

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9th Circ. Ruling Upholds Employee Speech Amid Stalled NLRB

The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in National Labor Relations Board v. North Mountain Foothills Apartments shows that courts are enforcing National Labor Relations Act protections despite the board's current paralysis, so employers must tread carefully when disciplining employee speech, whether at work or online, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

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Immigration Lawyers Battle Burnout Amid Deportation Surge

By Daniel Connolly

2ND EDITING -- SEP SUM BOX - DELAY PUB 7 P.M. -- As the Trump administration carries out a mass deportation campaign across the country, immigration attorneys faced with heavy demand and changing norms are feeling the impact of burnout and stress on their practices and emotions, they tell Law360.

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Bonus Spotlight

Katten Exceeds Market Bonus Scale, Orrick Matches

By Tracey Read

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has joined a select few law firms that have gone beyond the BigLaw norm for year-end and special bonuses.

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Brief

Holland & Knight Adds Ex-House Speaker's Adviser In DC

By Tracey Read

Holland & Knight LLP has added the former senior policy adviser and counsel to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as a public policy and regulation practice group partner.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

An SEC panel has asked the agency to adopt regulations that could standardize the way publicly traded companies report details about AI use. Meanwhile, the FCC approved AT&T's $1 billion UScellular deal after AT&T became the latest of the big three mobile carriers to agree to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion policies. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Gupta Wessler LLP and Block & Leviton LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eleventh Circuit revived a proposed class action against NextEra Energy Inc. that seeks to hold the energy company liable for a share price drop that followed political interference allegations involving a subsidiary.

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Mass. IOLTA Panel Says It's Owed Slice Of Residual Funds

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts panel that oversees Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts asked the state's highest court Friday to at least partially unwind a $4 million class action settlement, saying a lower court didn't give it a chance to argue for a portion of what it says are "significant" residual funds.

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Judges Beat Ethics Suits For Dropping Retirement Post-Trump

By Jake Maher

A Fourth Circuit judge and two district court judges have defeated ethics complaints from a conservative legal organization alleging they improperly reversed their decisions to take senior status after President Donald Trump was elected.

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Court Staff Attys Settle Claims Of Undermining Colleague

By Julie Manganis

Six months after Massachusetts' highest court revived some of a former Appeals Court staff attorney's claims in a suit alleging two supervisors intentionally undermined him, the parties have reported reaching a settlement in the case.

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