Federal Bar Discussion Looks At Courts' Role In Regulating AI

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Federal Bar Association discussion Wednesday in California about AI and how it will be regulated in the United States prompted the Northern District's new chief judge to ask whether Congress' "inability to pass laws" will leave it to the courts "to figure out how we're going to do this."

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3rd Circ. Calls Westlaw AI Fight 'Ordinary Copyright Case'

By Ivan Moreno

The Third Circuit said the first appellate fight over artificial intelligence training and fair use ultimately came down to an "ordinary copyright case," affirming that Ross Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters' Westlaw headnotes when it used them to train a competing legal research platform.

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Fed. Circ. Spurns Partial ParkerVision Appeal In Patent Suit

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday found that it couldn't consider ParkerVision's challenge to a lower court's construction of some patent claims in its suit against Qualcomm while others from the same patent remain undecided, saying courts can't enter final judgments in such situations.

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Ga. Judge Must Justify No Sanctions In Alice-Doomed IP Case

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday ordered a Georgia federal judge to explain why it wasn't appropriate to sanction Epic Tech LLC when there were three major signs the patent it asserted against Pen-Tech Associates Inc. was invalid.

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9th Circ. Judges Doubt X's Claims Against Anti-Hate Group

By Dorothy Atkins

Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of X Corp.'s bid to revive claims against two nonprofits for scraping tweets to study online hate speech, with one judge questioning X's contract damages claim and another doubting that the nonprofits could be held liable for publishing true information.

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Meta Fights 'Monster' Proposed $1.1B CIPA Judgment

By Rae Ann Varona

Meta has urged a California federal judge not to grant a partial final judgment of more than $1.1 billion against it for unlawfully obtaining sensitive data from users of the menstrual tracking app Flo, saying the judgment it criticized as "Frankenstein's monster" violates its due process rights.

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'Numerical Mumbo Jumbo': Gogo Escapes $22.7M IP Damages

By Rae Ann Varona

A federal judge Wednesday undid a damages award of roughly $22.7 million against Gogo Business Aviation for infringing four patents held by rival in-flight Wi-Fi company SmartSky Networks, saying SmartSky had leaned on "numerical mumbo jumbo" in its damages case before a Delaware jury.

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DraftKings Uses AI To Exploit Losing Bettors, Suit Alleges

By Lauren Berg

DraftKings weaponizes artificial intelligence to identify vulnerable gamblers who tend to lose and then deploys promotions enticing those gamblers to place more bets to increase the house's revenue, according to a proposed class action filed Wednesday in Massachusetts federal court.

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Analysis

IP Notebook: AI Dilution, Alamo TM, India Copyright Ruling

By Ivan Moreno

An unsettled copyright theory over competition from artificial intelligence-generated works and a trademark clash between Texas and an association representing descendants of those who fought at the Battle of the Alamo lead this edition of Law360's look at emerging copyright and trademark issues.

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Senate Panel Seeks To Hold AI Giants Liable For Rogue Hacks

By Allison Grande

Several U.S. senators made a bipartisan push Wednesday to impose both civil and criminal liability on the makers and users of advanced artificial intelligence models for the misuse of these systems, arguing that such a move would give these companies more incentive to combat cyberattacks carried out by rogue AI agents and other potential harms. 

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FCC Eases Federal Enviro Reviews Of Broadband Projects

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to substantially pare back environmental impact reviews of broadband deployment projects.

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FCC Opens 2 Spectrum Bands For Satellite Services

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday opened two portions of spectrum totaling more than 1,000 megahertz to expand satellite broadband as part of a long-range plan to free up the airwaves for space-based activities.

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FCC OKs Cable Biz Waiver To Fix Banned Routers

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has come through with another waiver that will allow certain companies to make changes to foreign-made routers that the agency has banned from being imported, in the hopes of avoiding the supply chain shortages that the ban created.

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States Back AGs' 6th Circ. Bid To Keep RealPage Rent Claims

By Matthew Perlman

A contingent of 25 states is backing a Sixth Circuit appeal from several other state-level enforcers challenging settlements in private litigation that could block them from seeking damages over claims that landlords used RealPage's software to collude on residential rental rates.

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Trump's Rationale On Forced Labor Tariffs Misses, CIT Told

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Trade Representative's report justifying President Donald Trump's latest round of global tariffs based on imports produced with forced labor should prove insufficient, counsel for small businesses told a panel of U.S. Court of International Trade judges during oral arguments Wednesday.

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Judge Erases $14M Charger Patent Verdict Against Anker

By Elliot Weld

A Delaware federal judge has wiped out a $14 million jury verdict against Hong Kong electronics company Anker Innovations after finding its rival litigant, Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC, failed to properly prove the apportionment segment of the case.

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Military Drone Makers' Trade Secrets Suit Survives Dismissal

By Ivan Moreno

A Utah federal judge has allowed two military drone companies to proceed with most of their lawsuit accusing a former executive and his new company of misappropriating trade secrets to compete in the military drone market.

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23andMe Beats Calif.'s Bankruptcy Sale Privacy Challenge

By Dorothy Atkins

A Missouri federal judge on Tuesday denied California's bid to undo the $305 million bankruptcy sale of 23andMe over concerns that the sale sidestepped state consumer data protections, ruling that the state lacks standing to challenge the sale and that the court's "good-faith" findings aren't clearly erroneous.  

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Insurer Must Cover Part Of Consulting Firm's $7.6M DOJ Deal

By Hope Patti

A CNA insurer was required to defend a consulting firm against a False Claims Act suit claiming it allowed New Yorkers' personal information to be compromised while operating a pandemic-era rental assistance portal, and must cover a portion of the firm's $7.6 million settlement, a Virginia federal court ruled.

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Paramount Can't Ax Most Claims In Pluto TV Privacy Action

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge Tuesday allowed seven claims to proceed in an amended action alleging Paramount Skydance Corp. unlawfully disclosed the personally identifiable information of children who streamed content on its Pluto TV service, finding the parents sufficiently alleged privacy injuries after an earlier dismissal.

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Crypto Analysis Biz Escapes Most Claims In Fraud Row

By Emlyn Cameron

A New York federal judge has cut down the majority of claims that defunct cryptocurrency platform Celsius Network LLC's litigation agent brought against blockchain analysis company Chainalysis Inc., leaving one claim wholly intact while dismissing the others either permanently or contingently.

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Cognizant Inks $2.8M Deal To End 401(k) Fees Suit

By George Woolston

Information technology company Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corp. will pay $2.8 million to resolve former employees' claims that it saddled its 401(k) plan with poor investment options and high fees, according to a filing in New Jersey federal court.

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Joby Air Taxi Trade Secrets Suit Against Archer Trimmed

By Linda Chiem

A California federal judge has cleared Joby Aviation to advance a slimmed-down lawsuit alleging rival electric air-taxi developer Archer Aviation misappropriated its trade secrets, but again rejected Archer's counterclaims alleging Joby unfairly jockeyed for government contracts and concealed its pervasive China ties.

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Tech Co. Sensata Can't Duck Data Breach Class Action

By Carolyn Muyskens

Sensata Technologies Inc. must face a lawsuit over a cybersecurity breach, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled Wednesday, finding that the industrial sensor technology company's former employees adequately pled that the ransomware attack has exposed them to a risk of identity theft.

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Benefits Firm Can't Knock Out Data Breach Suit

By David Aaro

A Georgia federal court on Wednesday narrowed, but refused to dismiss, a proposed class action accusing a human resources services firm of failing to safeguard customer information ahead of a 2024 data breach.

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Valve Order Allows 15K Antitrust Arbitrations To Be Closed

By Ben Adlin

A federal judge in Seattle refused Wednesday to issue a preliminary injunction to curb the closure of nearly 15,000 gamers' antitrust arbitrations against entertainment giant Valve Corp., finding that plaintiff Jeffrey Smith failed to show that closing the arbitrations would cause irreparable harm.

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PTAB Invalidations Chip Away At Stratasys' $28M Trial Victory

By Dani Kass

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated as obvious nearly all claims Bambu Lab Ltd. challenged in three Stratasys Inc. 3D printer patents, including the patent claims underlying $2.8 million of Stratasys' $27.6 million infringement trial win in Texas.

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Tort Report: Uber Owes $40M In Abandoned Rider Death Case

By Y. Peter Kang

A $40 million arbitration award in a case over an Uber incident and looming litigation against the federal government over a highly publicized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on a Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Dropbox Fights Sanctions Bid After Being Cleared In IP Case

By Adam Lidgett

Dropbox is arguing that a licensing company is asking for "completely unprecedented" sanctions over claims that Dropbox submitted new, undisclosed expert opinions at a 2023 trial where a jury cleared the online file-sharing company of infringement allegations.

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Email Feud Tied To Brothers' Cannabis Venture Heads To Trial

By Susan Smiley

A contentious legal battle between a pair of siblings who once co-owned cannabis businesses is heading to trial, a Michigan federal judge said Wednesday, ruling that there are genuine questions about one brother's downloading of the other's emails that require a jury trial to resolve.

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Google Looks To Toss 'Implausible' Amended AI Spying Action

By Taylor Bowie

Google is seeking to permanently end the third iteration of a proposed action alleging its "Smart Features" unlawfully give Gemini AI access to users' private correspondence, asserting Google's privacy policy allows it to automatically collect such communication data.

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Amazon, Investor Clash Over Del. Forum Limits On Records

By Jarek Rutz

Amazon.com Inc. and a stockholder seeking company records clashed before the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday over whether the investor should be restricted to using those documents in Delaware litigation, with the stockholder arguing the condition is too broad and Amazon saying it protects against duplicative lawsuits in multiple courts.

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Ohio Parents Say Netflix Hooks Kids For Ad Data

By Jonathan Capriel

Netflix falsely marketed itself as a "kid-friendly" streaming alternative to Big Tech platforms while secretly building an addictive surveillance machine around children, Ohio parents have claimed in a proposed class action, which is at least the third lawsuit accusing the company of harvesting families' personal data.

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Ex-Verint Directors Sued Over Allegedly Undervalued Sale

By Sydney Price

A former shareholder of customer service software company Verint Systems Inc. has accused several of the company's former directors of allowing shareholders to approve an undervalued sale of the company to private equity firm Thoma Bravo last year.

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South Korea Beats Dayyanis' $555M Late Payment Claim

By Caroline Simson

An international tribunal has dismissed a roughly $555 million claim asserted by the Dayyani family of Iran accusing South Korea of dragging its feet in paying a previous $68 million arbitral award tied to a stymied deal involving Daewoo Electronics, the South Korean government announced Wednesday.

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Kirkland-Led Data Center Infrastructure Firm Prices $540M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Data center power provider Accelevation Holdings hit the public markets Wednesday after raising $540 million in its initial public offering steered by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

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Spirit Airlines' Settlement With Lufthansa Unit Gets OK

By Alex Wittenberg

A New York bankruptcy judge signed off Wednesday on a deal between Spirit Airlines and a unit of Lufthansa Group, ending disputes over aircraft parts, a Spirit-owned engine and a tariff payment made by the debtor.

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NJ Can Renew RealPage Antitrust Claims Against REIT

By Isaac Monterose

A New Jersey federal judge has ruled that the state can renew antitrust claims against AvalonBay Communities Inc. in a suit alleging that the real estate investment trust and multiple landlords used RealPage Inc.'s revenue management software to fix rents.

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Crowell & Moring Hires E-Discovery Lead From Littler

By Matt Perez

Crowell & Moring LLP announced on Wednesday the hiring of a former Littler Mendelson PC shareholder as a Denver-based partner in the firm's litigation and trial group and the head of its e-discovery and information management practice.

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How ChatGPT Teen Version Raises Product Liability Questions

OpenAI's recent rollout of ChatGPT for Teens offers younger users a purportedly safer version of the software — but it could also help plaintiffs who are questioning whether earlier versions were safe for minors, when the company identified risks and when safeguards became technically viable, says Michael McCready at McCready Law.

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FDIC Standards Body Could Ease Bank Vendor Due Diligence

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recently proposed standards body for bank vendors could streamline due diligence and onboarding, but banks and their third-party service providers alike should still monitor open questions around oversight, certification costs and governance, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

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AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

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UCLA Law Is Latest DOJ Target Over Race Bias In Admissions

By Dorothy Atkins

The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division accused the UCLA School of Law of discriminating against white and Asian students in its admissions process in a letter sent to the school's counsel Thursday, following multiple other similar letters that the DOJ sent to other higher-education institutions.

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DOJ Outlines New Corporate Fraud Enforcement Priorities

By Phillip Bantz

Federal prosecutors "must place great weight" on a new list of factors when considering potential charges in corporate fraud cases, including whether the matters involve government programs, threats to national security or immigration offenses, according to a memo released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Trump Announces Judicial Noms For 5th Circ., NC

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he's nominating Todd Butler, a managing partner at Phelps Dunbar LLP, to serve as a judge on the Fifth Circuit. 

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Blackburn Holds Up White House's Tenn. Judge Pick

By Courtney Bublé

The White House is standing by its nominee for a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Tennessee amid a holdup from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a White House official confirmed to Law360 on Thursday.

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Richards Layton Atty Confirmed To Join Del. Chancery Bench

By Rose Krebs

Delaware's Senate on Thursday confirmed a Richards Layton & Finger PA director to a 12-year term as a vice chancellor on the Chancery Court.

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FBT Gibbons Beats DQ Bid In Suit Over Cigna Payments

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state court judge has rejected a plastic surgery practice's bid to disqualify FBT Gibbons LLP from representing Cigna and a group of employer-sponsored health plans in its suit over the insurer's alleged underpayments, finding the bid appears more as an effort to gain an advantage rather than one to protect the interests of any client.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of September

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at MSG Sports, Nestle and the Associated Press. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from September.

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Judge Reinstates Rogoff As Seattle US Atty After Trump Firing

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge issued an order from the bench on Thursday reinstating Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, finding that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he fired him in July.

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Trump Says Copyright Chief Can't Stay In Office Amid Appeal

By Adam Lidgett

The Trump administration is urging the D.C. Circuit to let it remove U.S. Copyright Office leader Shira Perlmutter, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision protecting Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook for now does not entitle Perlmutter to remain in office while her firing challenge proceeds.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

State enforcers settled their case challenging Paramount Skydance's planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, while the U.S. Department of Justice probes Fox's planned $22 billion deal for Roku and regulators review massive deals in the energy and railroad sectors.

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