Analysis

Intel Case May Clarify Dismissal Standard For 401(k) Suits

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday from former Intel Corp. workers looking to revive a suit claiming their retirement savings suffered because of shoddy investments, a case that could shed light on what it takes to keep challenges to allegedly subpar 401(k) offerings alive.

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Justices Skip 2 Patent Cases, 1 Trade Secret Dispute

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a trio of petitions concerning patent and trade secret litigation, declining to review questions about damages apportionment and patent eligibility.

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Justices Won't Hear Google Maps Antitrust Case

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to scrutinize a Ninth Circuit decision declining to revive a proposed antitrust class action from app makers accusing Google of locking out rival maps products.

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Justices Want SG's View On 3 Antitrust Cases

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday called for the solicitor general's view in antitrust cases involving hard drive component prices, allergy testing and treatment, and insulin products sold through a drug discount program.

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Split 9th Circ. Backs Ex-GM Worker's $5M Bribery Conviction

By Lauren Berg

A split Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld a former General Motors Co. commodity manager's conviction for soliciting a $5 million cash bribe from an auto parts supplier in return for ensuring it secured a $100 million contract.

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DOJ, Google Want DC Circ. 'Priority' For Search Appeal

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice and Google jointly asked the D.C. Circuit to prioritize their cross-appeals in the search monopolization case in order to schedule oral arguments as soon as Dec. 9.

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Masimo's $634M Apple IP Win Boosted By $184M In Interest

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge on Monday ordered Apple Inc. to pay Masimo Corp. $184 million in prejudgment interest on top of a $634 million damages award for infringing a Masimo pulse oximetry patent through an Apple Watch feature, rejecting Apple's contention that such interest was not warranted.

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Crypto 'Godfather' Who Hired Cops To Extort Gets 6.5 Years

By Rae Ann Varona

A Los Angeles-based cryptocurrency businessman who called himself "The Godfather" was sentenced Monday to more than six years in prison and ordered to pay more than $23 million in restitution for getting Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to harass his enemies and for separately stealing from Meta, federal prosecutors announced.

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Huawei And Qualcomm Strike Patent Licensing Deal

By Ryan Davis

China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc. said Monday they have reached a multi-year patent licensing agreement that involves Qualcomm purchasing some of Huawei's U.S. patents.

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OpenAI's 'Astra' Name Causes 'Reverse Confusion,' Co. Says

By Ivan Moreno

OpenAI's launch of Astra, its flagship AI model, threatens to make an earlier user of the name appear to be a copycat, a California software company claimed Monday in a federal trademark lawsuit.

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Brief

US Pushes For Reelection Of Int'l Radio Board Chief

By Christopher Cole

U.S. telecom regulators are urging their foreign counterparts to reelect the leader of a key global treaty-making body and have nominated another U.S. candidate for a top post in the organization ahead of a meeting next month in Qatar.

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Justices Won't Block Paramount's $110B WB Deal

By Dorothy Atkins

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday quickly rejected a request by consumers to immediately block Paramount Skydance's $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, which is expected to close Tuesday, while a lower court adjudicates their antitrust claims challenging the merger.

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Justices Won't Wade Into Netflix ERISA Document Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to take up a Netflix employee health plan participant's challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling that said contracts between Netflix and its health plan administrators weren't subject to disclosure under federal benefits law.

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High Court Won't Review DirecTV Standing In Nexstar Fee Suit

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review whether DirecTV has standing to sue broadcast chain Nexstar for allegedly working with two other station owners to fix retransmission fees for broadcast programs.

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Justices Let Uber's Win Stand In Fatal Florida Crash Suit

By Carolina Bolado

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a wrongful death suit over an accident that killed an Uber driver's ex-girlfriend, leaving in place a ruling that said the ride-sharing app could not be held liable because the driver was not logged into the app at the time of the crash.

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Fed. Circ. Partially Revives Wall Outlet Cover Patent Suit

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Monday revived part of SnapRays LLC's case accusing O'Reilly Winship LLC of infringing patents covering a type of plastic plate that covers wall outlets, saying a Texas federal court messed up a piece of claim construction in the case.

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Fed. Circ. Orders Tossing Indemnity Bid On Different Grounds

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Monday ordered a federal district judge to lift an order dismissing shopping mall owner Simon Property Group's indemnification claim against gift card company Blackhawk Network over a patent infringement case involving methods of executing card payments.

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Casinos Lose Bid For 3rd Circ. Redo In Room-Pricing Suit

By Matthew Santoni

Atlantic City casino-hotels could not get the Third Circuit to go back on reviving a proposed class action accusing them of a price-fixing scheme for hotel rooms, according to a court order.

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FCC Evading Courts With 'Gamesmanship,' DC Circ. Told

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission is pursuing a road map for evading judicial review of major rulings, an advocacy group warned the D.C. Circuit in a case challenging Fox TV's Philadelphia license.

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Securities Roundup: 7 Rulings You May Have Missed

By Jessica Corso

Federal judges from California to New York and several states in between issued a slew of decisions last week that determined the fates of shareholder lawsuits against a major health insurer, a New York bank that nearly failed in 2024 and a diagnostic company accused of hiding its challenges as COVID testing demand ebbed. 

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ByteDance Can't Shake YouTubers' AI Video Copyright Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge refused Friday to throw out copyright litigation alleging TikTok owner ByteDance Inc. illegally scraped millions of YouTube videos to train its text-to-video AI products, finding that the content creators plausibly allege they've been harmed and that ByteDance circumvented at least some of YouTube's technological protections.

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Roblox Escapes Artist's AI Copyright Claims, For Now

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has allowed Roblox Corp. to duck claims from a 3D artist that his work had its copyright management information removed when it was used to train artificial intelligence but gave the artist a chance to remedy the issues with his suit.

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Judges Step Aside In Blackburn Phone Records Suit

By Courtney Bublé

All judges in the Middle District of Tennessee have recused themselves from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.'s case against former special counsel Jack Smith for obtaining her phone records.

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No Fee Sanction, But Reprimand For Eversheds In Del. Case

By Rose Krebs

A Delaware federal judge reprimanded Eversheds Sutherland and the investor plaintiffs it represented for failing to "faithfully" comply with civil procedure standards related to claims against a trading company founder, but ruled a monetary sanction isn't warranted.

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Media Advocacy Groups Can't Join ABC Suit Against FCC

By Christopher Cole

A D.C. federal judge Monday denied two outside groups' bid to intervene in ABC's free speech suit against the Federal Communications Commission, saying they have not shown the network cannot adequately represent viewers' interests on its own.

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Verogen Genealogy Website Can't Escape DNA Privacy Suit

By Joyce Hanson

A California federal judge has preserved a proposed class action against the owner-operator of a genetic genealogy website, finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently showed that a technical loophole wrongly let law enforcement circumvent user opt-out privacy settings.

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Big 3 Telecoms Want Antitrust Suit Over Wi-Fi Calling Tossed

By Nadia Dreid

The nation's largest three mobile carriers — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile — are ready to wash their hands off a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to offer free Wi-Fi calling as a way to monopolize the market for the service.

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Feds, SpaceX Say Groups Lack Standing To Block Land Swap

By Ganesh Setty

SpaceX and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are urging a Texas federal court to toss a lawsuit challenging their South Texas land swap deal, each noting the wildlife refuge land at issue is already generally closed to the public.

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Pega's Hidden AI Tool Listens To US Bank Calls, Suit Says

By Carolyn Muyskens

Software company Pegasystems Inc.'s artificial intelligence-powered "assistant" secretly listens to U.S. Bank's customer service calls, according to a proposed class action brought under various states' wiretapping laws.

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Nokia Says Pornhub Owner Freeloads On Its Video Patents

By Bonnie Eslinger

Nokia has filed a lawsuit in Texas federal court accusing Pornhub owner Aylo Holdings of infringing seven of its video coding patents in order to provide videos to "many millions of users."

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Renters Seek Class Cert. For RealPage Antitrust Suit

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class of renters asked a Tennessee federal court to certify it for its antitrust claims, saying property management software company RealPage Inc. allowed multifamily landlords to use its revenue management products for rent price-fixing.

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Exec Says Fintech Co. Fired Her After Pregnancy Disclosure

By MJ Koo

A former executive at a financial technology company has sued her ex-employer in Colorado state court, alleging that she was fired two weeks after disclosing her pregnancy and asking about her pay and that the company's standard severance agreement violates a state law protecting workers' right to discuss workplace discrimination.

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McDonald's Accused Of Using AI To Hike Menu Prices

By Celeste Bott

A potential class action filed in Illinois federal court Friday accuses McDonald's of flouting federal and state antitrust laws by using artificial intelligence to coordinate prices among independently owned restaurants, causing customers to overpay and average menu prices to rise by roughly 40% in a five-year period.

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Expedia Hit With Antitrust Suit Over Hotel Pricing Restrictions

By Rachel Riley

Expedia broke federal antitrust law by barring listed hotels from selling rooms at lower rates through their own booking channels and using algorithms to punish them for offering reduced prices on competing travel agency websites, consumers claimed in a proposed class action filed in Washington federal court Friday.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week temporarily froze roughly 32.1 million Talkdesk Inc. shares in a fight over a disputed foreclosure involving founder and CEO Tiago Paiva, while rejecting Saama Technologies founder Suresh Katta's nearly $68 million earnout bid and awarding the company about $7.3 million.

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CH Robinson To Acquire RXO In $5.8B Logistics Deal

By Al Barbarino

Transportation technology company C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. said Monday it has agreed to acquire freight broker RXO in a stock-and-cash transaction for $5.8 billion, creating a combined company with an enterprise value of over $25 billion.

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3 Firms Steer $5.7B Cenovus, Athabasca Canadian Oil Deal

By Al Barbarino

Canada's Cenovus Energy Inc. has agreed to acquire Athabasca Oil Corp. in a cash-and-stock transaction with an implied enterprise value of $5.7 billion, expanding Cenovus' access to oil-sands deposits in northeastern Alberta, the companies announced Monday.

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$150M Series D Values Mortgage-Focused Fintech At $2.3B

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Mortgage servicing artificial intelligence company Valon Technologies on Monday revealed that its valuation doubled to $2.3 billion after it closed its latest funding round with $150 million in tow.

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Davis Polk-Led Niobrara Clinches $1.5B Inaugural Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP-advised Niobrara Capital Partners on Monday revealed that it closed its inaugural founders fund and related co-investment vehicles with over $1.5 billion in tow.

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Spirit's Data Sale To Google Protects Consumers, Court Told

By Hailey Konnath

Spirit Airlines and Google have taken "consequential steps" to protect the privacy of millions of consumers whose data is being sold as part of the airline's bankruptcy, a consumer privacy ombudsman said in a report lodged in New York federal bankruptcy court Monday.

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BioXcel's Ch. 11 Stayed Securities Settlement, Judge Says

By Clara Geoghegan

BioXcel Therapeutics' Chapter 11 filing paused a securities class action against it, a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled Monday, after a federal court had pressed the life sciences group for a more detailed timeline on the final approval of a settlement in the litigation worth around $10 million.

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FCC Boots Call Provider From US Networks Over Robocalls

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has officially blocked a Denver-based voice call provider from operating in the United States because it never assuaged the agency's concerns about what it's going to do to stop illegal robocalls from being transmitted on its network.

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5th Circ. Wonders If Flock Cameras Align With 4th Amendment

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday pressed the federal government to explain how law enforcement's use of Flock cameras to track criminal suspects without obtaining a search warrant doesn't run afoul of the Fourth Amendment, questioning prosecutors' assertion that publicly observable movements enjoy no protections.

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NJ Panel Tosses Geofence Warrant, Upending Robbery Case

By Parker Quinlan

A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that police were incorrectly granted a geofence warrant because their application failed to establish a "nexus" between a string of gas station robberies and a potential suspect's cellphone location data.

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Feds Wrap Up Case In $53M Uranium Finance Theft Trial

By Stewart Bishop

Manhattan federal prosecutors Monday concluded their case against a Maryland cybersecurity consultant accused of stealing about $53 million in crypto from Uranium Finance, a two-pronged heist that purportedly capitalized on "bugs" in smart contracts and brought about the end of the short-lived decentralized exchange.

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DOJ, Google Differ On Ad Tech Fix Timing, Oversight

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice and Google offered disagreement Friday largely on relatively discreet points for the mandates meant to open up Google's advertising placement technology dominance, in a Virginia federal court filing where disputes centered heavily on how long the tech company has to implement changes and who'll monitor its compliance.

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SEC Says Ex-Tech CEO Faked Consulting Deals For Family

By Sydney Price

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused the former CEO of a public technology company of defrauding investors by concealing and misrepresenting transactions between the company and his friends and family, including his daughter, which were often falsely described as payments for consulting services.

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AppLovin Skirts Controls To Show Kids Explicit Ads, Suit Says

By Lauren Berg

The county of San Diego lodged a lawsuit Monday alleging digital advertising platform AppLovin Corp. strips away parental controls meant to shield children from sexual and violent material in order to steer graphic ads to children and harvest their sensitive information to train its artificial intelligence.

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Exclusive

Jones Day Expands IP Team In San Francisco, Amsterdam

By Dani Kass

Jones Day has brought on an Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP partner and NautaDutilh's former technology group leader as partners in its intellectual property practice, the firm told Law360.

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Meta Smart Glasses Suit Will Test Privacy Law For Bystanders

In a consolidated suit over how Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses handle personal video footage, a recently proposed class of unwittingly recorded bystanders highlights questions over whether privacy laws and product disclosures adequately address the risks wearable recording devices pose to nonusers, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

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DOJ-Agri Stats Settlement Offers Key Benchmarking Lessons

A Minnesota federal court's recent approval of the Agri Stats settlement marks a significant milestone as it's the most granular U.S. Justice Department guidance on permissible competitor benchmarking since the 2023 withdrawal of the safety zone, lending predictability for companies in data-pooling arrangements, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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Patent Eligibility Bulletin: Claim Solutions, Not Results

In the third quarter of the year, two Federal Circuit decisions illustrated that claims sharing the same disclosure can fall on opposite sides of the patent eligibility line, depending on the specific nuances of tech patents' claims, says Reilley Keane at Banner Witcoff.

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Why Importers Should Assess IEEPA Refund Claims Now

Businesses that wait for direction from U.S. Customs and Border Protection or the courts before seeking refunds of their finally liquidated International Economic Emergency Procedure Act duties in court may find them out of reach as the earliest potential limitation deadlines are approaching, says Samuel Finkelstein at LMD Trade Law.

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Analysis

Judge Clevenger's Intellect Defined His Time On Fed. Circ.

By Dani Kass

Newly retired Federal Circuit Judge Raymond Clevenger has an "exceptionally keen intellect" that allowed him to spot holes or new paths in cases that the parties or fellow panel members hadn't explored, his former colleagues told Law360.

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Sotomayor Warns Judges: Don't Scare Your Jurors

By Brandon Lowrey

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday criticized an Alabama trial court judge who frightened a pool of prospective jurors by ordering the arrest of a latecomer to jury selection, saying in a statement accompanying a denial of certiorari in the case that fear can undermine a defendant's right to an impartial jury.

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Quinn Emanuel Seeks $750K After Defeating Buzbee Suits

By Lynn LaRowe

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP is seeking nearly $750,000 in attorney fees after defeating claims in Texas state court that it conspired with rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter to retaliate against prominent Houston plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee and two of his former clients.

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9th Circ. Pauses Rogoff's Return As Seattle US Atty

By Jack Karp

The Ninth Circuit has put on hold a Washington federal judge's decision to reinstate Roger Rogoff as Seattle's top federal prosecutor, a post Rogoff held for less than an hour before he was fired by President Donald Trump.

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Jackson Walker Deal Stalled By Standing Issue, Trustee Says

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Trustee's Office told a Texas federal judge that its settlement with Jackson Walker LLP to disgorge fees from cases touched by scandal is on ice while a bankruptcy judge examines the watchdog's standing to seek such relief.

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Eckert Seamans Says Data Breach Harm Is Only Speculative

By James Boyle

Pittsburgh-based law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday a pair of proposed class actions claiming damages from a data breach at the firm have not made specific complaints of actual harm caused by the breach and should be dismissed.

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