Major Chipmakers Sued For Price-Fixing Amid 'RAMpocalypse'

By Lauren Berg

Artificial intelligence demands huge amounts of computer memory, causing Apple and other retailers to raise prices amid random access memory shortages, but a California federal lawsuit filed Thursday alleges Samsung Electronics Co., SK Hynix Inc. and Micron Technology Inc. have exacerbated this so-called RAMpocalypse by fixing memory supply and prices.

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Facebook's Ex-Policy Director Sues Meta Over Gag Order

By Lauren Berg

Former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams says Meta Platforms has trampled her First Amendment rights by running to an arbitrator to prevent her from disclosing the social media company's "illegal and indefensible workplace conditions and corporate misconduct," in a lawsuit filed Thursday in California federal court.

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Meet The Atty Repping OpenAI In Florida's Lawsuit

By Madison Arnold

The attorney representing OpenAI Global LLC and its CEO in the lawsuit brought by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier earlier this month over artificial intelligence concerns has deep ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration.

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Meta Fails To Knock Out BIPA Voiceprint Privacy Claims

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge has refused to let Meta Platforms Inc. escape an Illinois woman's proposed class claims that Meta collects "voiceprints" in violation of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, saying in a ruling unsealed Thursday that whether Meta obtained her voice recordings in a way capable of identifying her was still up for dispute.

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Google Must Disclose DOJ Probe Docs In £14B Class Action

By William Janes

A tribunal has ordered Google to hand over documents from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, requiring it to disclose the information in a £13.6 billion ($17.9 billion) class action that alleges the technology giant abused its dominance in the advertising market.

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Inconsistent Positions Led To Apple IPR Denials, Squires Says

By Adam Lidgett

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires said Wednesday he turned back Apple's challenges to patents covering electronics with memory chips because of inconsistencies between the company's arguments before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and in district court.

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Yelp Denied 'Improper Tactical Boost' Via Google Expert Docs

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal magistrate judge refused Thursday to let Yelp get a peek, at least for now, at expert reports prepared in the U.S. Justice Department's monopolization case against Google's search business, concluding that the "overbroad and premature" request could provide an unfair early advantage for Yelp's own antitrust lawsuit.

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Tesla Autopilot Crash Killed Grandmother, Lawsuit Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

A crash where a Tesla Model 3 plowed through a Texas family's home, fatally wounding a 76-year-old grandmother, is currently the subject of a federal probe and a wrongful death lawsuit, the latter of which claims the automaker knowingly sold dangerously defective self-driving systems.

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NJ Justices Clarify Face Recognition Discovery Rules

By Parker Quinlan

New Jersey's highest court has clarified when prosecutors are required to turn over information to defendants about facial recognition tools used as part of a criminal investigation, saying judges must examine such discovery requests on a case-by-case basis.

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Dell Shareholders Approve Legal Move To Texas

By Spencer Brewer

Dell Inc.'s shareholders approved a proposal to move the company's legal home from Delaware to Texas, the company's founder and CEO Michael Dell announced Thursday on social media.

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EU Implements US Trade Deal, With Safeguards

By Jack McLoone

The European Union granted final approval Thursday to its modified version of a trade deal with the U.S. that will cut tariff rates on U.S. goods, albeit with guardrails.

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NHTSA Floats Rule Nixing Brake Pedals In Autonomous Vehicles

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday proposed eliminating brake pedal requirements for cars equipped with higher levels of automated driving systems as the Trump administration presses ahead with efforts to ease regulations and accelerate U.S. development of self-driving vehicles.

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EU Eyes Gatekeeper Rules For Amazon And Microsoft Clouds

By Matthew Perlman

A preliminary investigation by European enforcers has found that Amazon and Microsoft should be designated as gatekeepers and subject to heightened rules under the Digital Markets Act for their cloud computing services, in addition to their other covered services.

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Verizon Buy Shows Need For FCC Support, Trade Org. Says

By Nadia Dreid

Rural telecom carriers are going to keep disappearing if the Federal Communications Commission doesn't step in and provide more support for companies operating in rural areas, a trade group has said in the wake of Verizon's purchase of Carolina West.

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CFPB Updates Online Complaint Process To Stem 'Abuse'

By Sarah Jarvis

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is updating its complaint submission process, including by requiring those who submit complaints online to verify their email address and phone number, in moves that the National Consumer Law Center said aim to discourage complaints against the major credit reporting companies.

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FCC Floats Rules To Preempt States On Wireline Approvals

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission moved ahead Thursday on a proposal to preempt reviews of wireline deployments if the agency finds that state and local authorities are unfairly delaying or denying permits.

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FCC Crafts New License Rules For Undersea Cable Lines

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday adopted new rules covering industry deployment of undersea communications cables, including the first licensing regime of its kind for submarine line terminal equipment.

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Judge Tosses Most Of Patent Suit Against Comcast, Peacock

By Adam Lidgett

A Delaware federal court has tossed most of a suit accusing Comcast and its subsidiaries, NBCUniversal and Peacock TV, of offering video streaming and network monitoring services that infringe four patents, allowing one direct infringement claim over one patent to survive.

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OpenAI, Microsoft Accused Of Scraping Local News Sites

By Elliot Weld

A group of local news publishers has sued OpenAI and Microsoft claiming their copyrighted news content was improperly scraped from the internet to train the artificial intelligence models ChatGPT and Copilot, adding to a heap of lawsuits accusing tech firms of making illegal use of journalistic work.

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Hyundai Motor Says Jury Had It Right With $2.5M TM Verdict

By Elliot Weld

Hyundai Motor Co. has asked a California federal judge to reject a request from a computer company called Hyundai Technology for a new trial after a jury awarded the automaker $2.5 million for trademark infringement, saying the technology company was willfully ignoring the many examples of consumer confusion.

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Software Exec Can Move To New Firm, Mass. Judge Says

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts state judge on Thursday rejected a software developer's bid to block a former executive from jumping to a purported rival, finding that the two companies offer different products that do not directly compete.

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ZipRecruiter Investor Challenges CEO's Control Gain

By Jarek Rutz

A ZipRecruiter Inc. stockholder has filed a proposed class action in Delaware Chancery Court accusing the company's directors of allowing CEO and co-founder Ian Siegel to obtain majority voting control without paying a control premium or compensating public investors.

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Fired SpaceX Workers Can't Dodge Arbitration, 9th Circ. Told

By Craig Clough

A SpaceX attorney Thursday urged the Ninth Circuit to revive its bid to arbitrate claims by eight former employees who say they were wrongfully terminated for complaining about CEO Elon Musk's sexually charged social media posts, saying they did not "adequately allege" sexual harassment.

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AGs, Cable Orgs., Newsmax Back Nexstar Block At 9th Circ.

By Bryan Koenig

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general have filed one of three amicus briefs urging the Ninth Circuit to fully preserve a preliminary injunction blocking Nexstar's purchase of Tegna, arguing the states challenging the deal have standing to sue and that only a broad block is appropriate.

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Robo-Surgery Co., FTC Urge 9th Circ. To Revive Antitrust Case

By Bonnie Eslinger

Surgical Instrument Service and the Federal Trade Commission urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to revive the company's case accusing Intuitive Surgical of blocking third parties from refurbishing components for its da Vinci surgery robot, saying a lower court erred in requiring the U.S. Supreme Court's Kodak factors to be proven.

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Zillow, Redfin Tell Court Their Partnership Is Not Illegal

By Isaac Monterose

Property listing companies Zillow and Redfin urged a Virginia federal court not to presume that their $100 million partnership agreement, which is being challenged by the Federal Trade Commission and multiple states, is illegal before it holds an August trial for a consolidated antitrust suit.

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CoStar Customers Say Antitrust Suit Must Stay In DC

By Isaac Monterose

Customers asked a D.C. federal court to reject CoStar's bid to transfer their proposed antitrust class action, which claims the company ran an anticompetitive scheme to protect its monopoly for commercial real estate information and property listing services.

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Ark. Farmers Say Crop Dusting Drones Crash And Burn

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of farmers is suing the makers of the EAVision J100 agricultural spray drones in Arkansas federal court, saying despite being advertised as having lidar and collision-avoidance technology, the drones have been known to crash and catch fire, endangering farmworkers, crops and livestock.

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Universal Trucker Gets Class OK In Ill. Biometric Privacy Row

By Allison Grande

An Illinois federal judge granted class status to a former Universal Intermodal Services employee in his suit accusing the company and affiliates of illegally collecting workers' biometric data, finding the potential inclusion in the certified classes of temporary workers or those who might have signed consent forms didn't foreclose the move.

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Apple's Safari Doesn't Protect Data As Advertised, Suit Says

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Apple allows third parties to track customers using its web browser Safari despite promises that it protects user privacy, according to a recent proposed class action filed in California.

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Pa. Judge Denies TCPA Class Cert Over Unsigned Doc

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge has declined to certify a class of individuals who claim they received unwanted telemarketing communications from Star Power Marketing Group LLC, ruling that an unsigned declaration connected to the uncontested bid for certification carried little to no weight.

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Webinar Site Accused Of Recording, Posting Private Meetings

By Nadia Dreid

A website that touts itself as a platform providing the "world's best webinars" is actually sneaking into private videoconferences, secretly recording them and then posting them online for profit, according to a new lawsuit.

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SpaceX Wants In On Suit Challenging Texas Land Swap Deal

By Ganesh Setty

SpaceX has urged a federal court in Washington to let it intervene in a lawsuit from environmental groups opposing the company's south Texas land exchange deal with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, noting its property interests are directly at stake.

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White & Case Leads Aerospace Parts Biz's Upsized $919M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Aerospace engine maker DPC Holdings, known as Doncasters Group, hit the public markets on Thursday after raising $919 million in its upsized initial public offering.

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Ellenoff, Morgan Lewis Lead NuCube's $500M Go-Public Deal

By Elaine Briseño

Nuclear technology business NuCube Energy Inc., valued at $500 million, announced Thursday that it will become a publicly listed company through its merger with blank check company Launch Two Acquisition Corp., in a deal steered by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

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Deals Rumor Mill

Paramount Preps JV Divestiture, Bumble Eyes Sale, And More

By Al Barbarino

Paramount is preparing to divest its film distribution joint venture with Universal Pictures as part of an effort to appease European regulators, as the company looks to close its planned $110 billion of acquisition of Warner Bros. following U.S. approvals, according to a Reuters report. Among other notable reports, Abu Dhabi's MGX has raised nearly $50 billion for an AI-investment venture, apparel company Reformation is said to be preparing for an IPO, and the dating app Bumble may be mulling a sale. 

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Sidley Grows In Calif. With Life Sciences, Emerging Cos. Hires

By Adrian Cruz

Sidley Austin LLP announced three partner hires in California, which the firm said will enhance its capabilities in the life sciences and emerging companies and venture capital practices.

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Weighing The Implications Of The Anthropic Export Directive

The Trump administration recently issued an export control directive against Anthropic to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, representing one of the first uses of the regime against a frontier large language model in widespread commercial distribution, says attorney Sohan Dasgupta.

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5 Key Factors Behind USPTO's Inter Partes Review Decisions

Though U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has drawn criticism for failing to explain his reasoning in inter partes review decisions, his recent precedential order in Magnolia v. Kurin provides five important insights into his decision-making process, says Christopher Loh at Venable.

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Series

Moshing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Entering a mosh pit is much like entering the practice of law — it is difficult, you have to know both the written and unwritten rules, and conduct yourself according to the expectations of each community, says Christopher Deubert at Constangy Brooks.

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Groombridge Wu Tops Milbank Pay Scale For Associates

By Kevin Penton

Groombridge Wu Baughman & Stone LLP is the latest firm to top the pay scale for associates announced earlier this month by Milbank LLP, with attorneys set to earn as much as $470,000.

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Senate Confirming Judges Faster Than In Trump's 1st Term

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate has confirmed 45 judges in the second Trump term, outpacing the rate of his first administration, Senate Republicans announced on Thursday.

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Attys Urged To Challenge Clients Who Demand AI Research

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge urged attorneys during a Thursday sanctions hearing to push back against clients who demand lawyers use generative artificial intelligence tools to conduct legal research, saying the technology is no substitute for professional judgment and discretion because it "aims to please" and can misstate the law.

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Lack Of Evidence Sinks Insurance Fraud Case, Atty Says

By Emily Sawicki

A Louisiana law firm and lawyer found guilty of criminal conspiracy and wire fraud for staging vehicle crashes as part of a scheme to defraud insurance carriers and trucking companies are seeking acquittal or a new trial, arguing that federal prosecutors failed to support their claims with evidence.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Blasts 'Inflated' DOJ Tax Math

By Jared Foretek

Convicted SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein and federal prosecutors are clashing again over their dramatically divergent sentencing recommendations, with the defense accusing the government of presenting a "one-dimensional caricature" of the famed lawyer in seeking an eight-year sentence, and prosecutors accusing him of potentially deleting "secret chats" with his gambling backers.

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Feds Say Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin Was Let Off Easy

By Nadia Dreid

Both federal prosecutors and a Stephen Miller-founded public interest group believe that a Maryland federal judge let a woman accused of trying to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh off too easy because of her gender identity and want the Fourth Circuit to order resentencing.

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Quinn Emanuel Says 3M Fee Proposal Undervalues Its Work

By Carolina Bolado

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP has objected to a special master's recommendation on the allocation of common benefit fees in the $6 billion settlement that ended multidistrict litigation against 3M over allegedly faulty combat earplugs, saying the amount doesn't value the "length, extent and impact" of the firm's work.

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