Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

By Jeff Overley

The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

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Justices Say FCC Fines Can Stand Without Jury Trial

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue monetary penalties Thursday, knocking down challenges to nearly $200 million in fines against the Big Three wireless carriers for failing to protect consumer data privacy.

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Ecobee's $11.5M Thermostat IP Trial Loss Erased By Fed. Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out an $11.5 million award against Ecobee Technologies in a smart thermostat patent infringement suit from Ollnova Technologies, citing problems with the verdict form and how jurors were instructed to look at the patents.

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5th Circ. Unblocks Texas App Age-Check Law During Appeal

By Lauren Berg

The Fifth Circuit on Thursday paused an injunction halting a Texas law that requires app store owners to verify users' ages and block minors from downloading apps or making in-app purchases without parental consent, saying the state will likely succeed in showing the district court erred in blocking the law.

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Meta Says Section 230 Foils Social Media Addiction Verdict

By Rae Ann Varona

Meta urged a Los Angeles judge on Thursday to toss a landmark verdict against the social media giant and Google for harming a young woman's mental health, saying it deserves a total victory under Section 230 because the plaintiff was addicted to third-party content, not the platforms themselves.

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Trump Era Worse Than McCarthy For Speech, Law Dean Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

The dean of UC Berkeley's law school told an audience of lawyers and artists on Thursday that America is experiencing "an unprecedented assault on the Constitution, on the First Amendment, and on freedom of speech," comparing the country under President Donald Trump unfavorably to the McCarthy era.

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Draft House Bill Aims To Set Federal AI Regulatory Standard

By Allison Grande

A bipartisan pair of House members Thursday released a draft proposal to create a federal framework for AI governance that would require large developers to take steps to address and disclose "catastrophic" risks while prohibiting states from crafting or enforcing laws "targeting the development of AI models" for three years.

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USPTO Mulling Certain Patent Apps After 'Atypical' Case

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is asking why it should keep reviewing patent applications that would not end up giving their owners rights to assert against alleged infringers, following a Federal Circuit decision in what the appellate court called an "atypical" appeal.

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NTIA Chief Presses To Close 'Gap' In Gov't Spectrum Fund

By Christopher Cole

The head of the U.S. Department of Commerce agency that manages federal spectrum pushed Thursday to change a legal provision that could delay the transfer of government-held airwaves to the private sector.

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Fed. Circ. Solidifies Google, Oath Wins In Arendi Patent Suits

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday upheld Google LLC and Oath Holdings Inc.'s wins over Arendi SARL's lawsuits that accused them of infringing various data system patents, agreeing with a Delaware federal court that the patents weren't valid to begin with.

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Flyers Ask Full 5th Circ. To Rehear CrowdStrike IT Outage Suit

By Linda Chiem

Airline passengers have asked the full Fifth Circuit to review a panel decision rejecting their proposed class action alleging the cybersecurity firm behind 2024's crippling global IT outage should be held liable for stress and physical injuries they suffered while stranded by delayed or canceled flights.

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Meta Says 9th Circ. Needn't Revisit Facebook Genocide Ruling

By Mike Curley

Meta Platforms Inc. is fighting a petition from two women asking the Ninth Circuit for a full court rehearing of their suit alleging that Facebook's 2009 algorithms contributed to the destruction of their villages during the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, saying the circuit's interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act doesn't need revisiting.

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Judge Trims 2 Patents From Website Incentives Case

By Elliot Weld

A judge sitting in Delaware federal court has trimmed two out of three patents asserted by engagement agency BI Worldwide against Kobie Marketing Inc. that cover incentives offered by websites, ruling that they did not pass muster under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice test.

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MAC Must Face Customer's Makeup Try-On BIPA Suit

By Lauraann Wood

A MAC Cosmetics customer can pursue Biometric Information Privacy Act allegations targeting virtual makeup try-on technology the company uses in store and online because she has plausibly alleged that the technology's face scans can be used to identify consumers, an Illinois federal judge said Thursday.

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Al Jazeera Beats DMCA Claim, For Now, In Storm Video Suit

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge has dismissed videographers' claim that Al Jazeera falsified copyright attribution on weather footage posted to YouTube, finding the plaintiffs failed to plausibly allege the network acted with intent to facilitate infringement, while giving them a chance to amend their complaint.

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Judge Won't Rethink Insurer's Duty To Cover Data Center Row

By Isaac Monterose

A California federal judge refused to allow Navigators Specialty Insurance Co. to file a reconsideration motion for a prior ruling that dismissed the insurer's claims in its coverage suit against a client company taken into arbitration over a California data center project.

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Tech Co. Settles Fired Worker's Sex Harassment Suit

By Grace Elletson

An ultrasonic technology company has agreed to settle a former employee's suit claiming she was fired after she rejected her boss's ongoing romantic advances and began looking into legal action against him, according to New York federal court filings.

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Texas Judge Shields Some ChatGPT Chats As Work Product

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas Business Court judge shielded from discovery some of a party's personal ChatGPT conversations in car dealership buyout litigation, saying that the chats were protected work product and that using the OpenAI tool did not itself waive that protection.

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Zillow Says Compass Won't Detail Talks With MLS

By Matthew Perlman

Zillow told an Illinois federal court that real estate brokerage Compass and a Chicago-area multiple listing service are refusing to document their communications with each other, even though they're accused of conspiring to block listings on Zillow's platform.

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PayPal Brass Sued Over Branded Checkout Disclosures

By Sydney Price

PayPal executives and directors were hit with a shareholder's derivative suit in Delaware federal court accusing them of damaging the company with positive comments about the growth potential of the company's branded checkout segment that were walked back earlier this year.

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Parking Cos. Face Privacy Class Action Over Plate Readers

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Four private parking operators and technology vendors in Maryland are facing a proposed privacy class action after five drivers accused them of illegally pulling their personal information from the state DMV to send them invoices with exorbitant fees.

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ERMI Failed To Protect Patient Health Data, Class Action Says

By Kelcey Caulder

A medical services provider is facing a proposed class action in Georgia federal court over a 2025 data breach that allegedly exposed the protected health information of its patients, including diagnostic treatment information and provider names.

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JD Power Claims Chime's Bogus '#1' Banking Ads Rip Off TMs

By Dorothy Atkins

J.D. Power has hit Chime Financial Inc. with a lawsuit in New York federal court, accusing the fintech company of willfully infringing J.D. Power's trademarks to support a "widespread, multi-channel" deceptive advertising campaign falsely suggesting that the data analytics firm rated Chime "America's #1 Choice for Banking."

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Cannibas Co. Dutchie Is Biased Against Men, Suit Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

A project manager sued Oregon-based cannabis software company Dutchie on Thursday in Iowa federal court, saying he was paid less than a less-qualified female colleague and fired just days after complaining about the disparity.

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US Middle Market PE Surge Expected After Strong 2025

By Al Barbarino

U.S. middle market private equity dealmakers are signaling renewed optimism, with the vast majority expecting a meaningful jump in buyout activity over the next two years after a robust 2025, according to survey results published on Thursday. 

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Latham, Davis Polk Lead Quantinuum's Upsized $1.7B IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Quantum computer developer Quantinuum hit the public markets on Thursday after raising $1.7 billion in its initial public offering steered by Latham & Watkins LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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Brief

Simpson Thacher, Davis Polk Lead Liftoff Mobile's $437M IPO

By Nadia Dreid

AI-powered advertising platform Liftoff Mobile Inc. hit public markets Thursday, raising $437 million in its initial public offering that was steered by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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Inotiv Gets Cash Access To Pursue Ch. 11 Prepack Track

By Vince Sullivan

Bankrupt drug research and development company Inotiv Inc. received interim approval on Thursday to access a $25 million bankruptcy loan as it pursues a prepackaged balance sheet restructuring in Texas court.

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Live Nation Remedies Discovery To Wait On New Trial Motions

By Bryan Koenig

A New York federal judge said that state attorneys general will have to wait on discovery to bolster their bid for a Live Nation Entertainment Inc. breakup, preferring to first tackle the live music giant's bid to upend jury findings faulting the company for monopolizing the industry.

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Texas AG Says ActBlue 'Fraud' Outweighs Free-Speech Concern

By Julie Manganis

Counsel for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged a skeptical Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday not to block an enforcement action against Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, arguing any "incidental" infringement of the group's First Amendment rights is outweighed by alleged evidence that it violated a Texas consumer protection law.

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DOJ Says Meta And Others Froze $3.8M Tied To Crypto Fraud

By Sydney Price

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that private sector corporations, including Meta Platforms Inc. and Google LLC, voluntarily froze over $3.8 million in stolen cryptocurrency during an event known as "Disruption Week."

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Compass Under Antitrust Probe After $1.6B Anywhere Deal

By Nate Beck

New York state has launched an antitrust investigation into Compass Inc. after the country's biggest real estate brokerage announced last year that it would acquire Anywhere Real Estate, the second-largest brokerage, in a $1.6 billion deal.

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Product-Or-Content Question Is Pivotal In AI Litigation

A growing range of civil cases against OpenAI address the question of whether the output of a generative artificial intelligence system is a product, subject to traditional tort doctrine, or third-party content — and the framing courts adopt will shape software liability well beyond AI, says David Meldofsky at Lawsuit Informer.

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FTC Sweep Signals Increased 'Made In USA' Claim Scrutiny

After the Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement sweep targeting allegedly deceptive "Made in USA" claims, companies should expect continued scrutiny of both traditional and digital marketing channels, coupled with sustained focus on supply chain transparency and claim substantiation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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2nd Circ.'s Embedded Video Ruling May Protect Publishers

The Second Circuit's recent decision in Richardson v. Townsquare, dismissing an infringement claim arising from an embedding of a YouTube-hosted interview, reaffirms a potent defense for publishers who regularly use social media platforms' embed functionality, says Amanda Harris at Jassy Vick.

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Citron Founder Verdict Tests Reach Of 'Half-Truth' Fraud

A California federal jury's conviction this week of Citron founder Andrew Left may be remembered less as a conventional manipulation prosecution than as a case about how far the "half-truth" doctrine can reach when applied to modern market speech, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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Roundup

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

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the U.K.'s oldest Indian restaurant launch an appeal against King Charles III's property company in an effort to stop its eviction, trustees of a bankrupt former EY tax partner file a claim against his wife, and 37 leading insurers bring a lawsuit against agrichemical company Syngenta over an insurance dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Katten Is Latest Firm To Match Milbank Associate Pay Raise

By Kevin Penton

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has joined the growing list of firms that are largely matching a new pay scale for associates set earlier this week by Milbank LLP, with attorneys set to see annual pay increases of $10,000 to $20,000.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week, investor advocates have questioned the legality of the SEC's plan to withdraw corporate climate disclosure regulations, and an insurance broker's report found claims made under policies for mergers and acquisitions have risen in frequency and severity.

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North Korea Sanctions Case Ends In Plea After 2 Mistrials

By Phillip Bantz

A Chinese national pled guilty on Thursday in D.C. federal court to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in a sanctions evasion scheme involving North Korean tobacco smuggling, bringing an end to a protracted prosecution after two separate deadlocked juries.

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ICE Atty's Bid To Ax Contempt Order Is 'Absurd,' Amicus Says

By Emily Sawicki

A court-appointed amicus curae has told the Eighth Circuit that a Minnesota federal judge was right to hold a government attorney in contempt after finding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flouted a court order, leading to a detained man being released hundreds of miles from his home without legal identification.

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Morgan & Morgan Explores Private Equity Investment Options

By Emma Cueto

The nation's largest personal injury firm, Morgan & Morgan, is exploring its options with regard to a potential private equity investment, with the firm saying Friday it is in the early stages of understanding what such an investment might mean and whether it is a good opportunity or "fool's gold."

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Winston Taylor leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a patent suit over Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.'s generic version of a heart drug that uses a so-called skinny label.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis

By Matt Perez

John Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan PA has been at the forefront of data privacy litigation for nearly three decades, but what stands out to his colleague Ryan McGee is not the litany of wins but the attorney's humility.

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Legal Job Market Surges With Special Litigation, Gov't Work

By Tracey Read

The legal sector saw 1,200 more jobs in May after gaining 1,900 positions the month before, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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First Democrat Returns A Blue Slip For Judicial Nominee

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is the first Democratic senator in the second Trump administration to return a blue slip for a judicial nominee.

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DLA Piper Urges 2nd Circ. To End 'Vexatious' Malpractice Suit

By Emily Sawicki

The Second Circuit should uphold the dismissal of a Chinese software company's legal malpractice suit and $635,000 in sanctions against it and its lawyers, DLA Piper has argued, citing previous favorable rulings in the matter by a federal magistrate judge, district court judge, state justice and five-judge panel of the New York state appeals court.

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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.

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