Zuckerberg Can't Be Trusted On Kids' Safety Online, Jury Told

By Dorothy Atkins

A Meta whistleblower testified Wednesday in a California federal jury trial over states' claims Meta hid social media's harms that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ignored calls for Meta to prioritize kids' safety while publicly touting Meta's safety practices, saying "I feel that you just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids."

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Amazon Wants Full 9th Circ. To Rethink Block On Perplexity AI

By Hailey Konnath

Amazon is pressing the full Ninth Circuit to consider a lower court's injunction preventing Perplexity's "uniquely reckless" artificial intelligence tool from purchasing items for users on Amazon, arguing that a panel erred in lifting the block earlier this month.

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Outcome Health Execs Owe $270M And Counting For Fraud

By Lauraann Wood

Former Outcome Health executives who were convicted of a $1 billion fraud against investors, lenders and customers must repay $270.8 million to certain victims, though that amount will climb higher with additional calculation, an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday.

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OpenAI Opposes Early Discovery In Apple Trade Secret Suit

By Ivan Moreno

OpenAI and two of its employees have asked a California federal court to reject Apple's bid for expedited discovery in its trade secret lawsuit accusing OpenAI of using former Apple employees to obtain confidential information, arguing that discovery will begin soon enough.

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Spirit Flight Attendants Object To Google Data Sale

By Rick Archer

The union representing Spirit Aviation's flight attendants has asked a New York bankruptcy judge to reject the bankrupt airline's request to sell its internal data to Google for artificial intelligence training unless the privacy of its members is protected.

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XAI Sued Over Grok's Alleged Creation Of CSAM Deepfakes

By Craig Clough

Elon Musk's xAI failed to implement industry-standard safeguards on its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok and knowingly allowed it to be used to create deepfakes of real children depicted in child sexual abuse material, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.

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Q&A

Nutter Leader Eyes Fla. Growth, AI-Driven Billing Shift

By Chris Villani

After overseeing Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP's expansion into New York City, California and Hawaii, co-managing partner Michael Scott is setting his sights on extending the firm's footprint into Florida within the next year and leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to lower clients' bills.

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FCC Will Reconsider TCPA Petitions Over 'Online' Fax Ruling

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission will take another look at a trio of years-old petitions challenging the agency's finding that unsolicited advertisements sent to people using online fax services don't violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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FTC Warns Secret Personalized Prices Likely To Draw Scrutiny

By Allison Grande

Retailers and other businesses that use consumers' personal data to set individualized prices are likely to face regulatory backlash if these practices aren't clearly disclosed, the Federal Trade Commission cautioned in a proposed policy statement issued Wednesday that vowed the agency would "aggressively" enforce such misconduct.

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CFTC Seeks Input On Derivatives To Hedge AI Costs

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is calling for expert feedback on a new type of derivative contract that could offer companies a way to hedge the cost of artificial intelligence development, with the agency's leader saying Wednesday that the market could help the country "win the AI race."

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Broadband Co. Asks FCC To Fix 'Ineffective' State Pole Regs

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Broadband provider GoNetSpeed has asked the Federal Communications Commission to open a rulemaking proceeding to tackle "ineffective" state regulation of utility pole attachments for broadband equipment.

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Brief

FCC Seeks Comments On Proposal To End E-Rate Program

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking public input on a proposal to amend, and possibly curtail, a broadband subsidy for schools and libraries.

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9th Circ. Asked To Revive YouTube 'Choking Challenge' Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

Parents of children harmed by online "choking challenge" videos have urged the Ninth Circuit to revive their suit against Google's YouTube and TikTok, arguing their claims are not barred by a federal law which grants immunity to third-party internet content providers.

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Firms Cut From $101M Anthropic Atty Fees Appeal To 9th Circ.

By Lauren Berg

Two law firms involved in securing artificial intelligence company Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement with a class of authors and publishers are appealing to the Ninth Circuit an order excluding them from attorney fees awarded to court-appointed class counsel.

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AI Co.'s 'Scattershot' Bid Protest Loses In Claims Court

By Elaine Briseño

A Court of Federal Claims judge has rejected the protest of an artificial intelligence firm over a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency contract, criticizing the company's "kitchen sink" approach to litigating the matter.

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Scribd To Pay $3M To End Wash. Wage Scale Class Action

By Ben Adlin

Document hosting service Scribd Inc. will pay $3 million to resolve a class action accusing the tech company of violating Washington state law by failing to include pay information on job postings, according to a settlement agreement given preliminary approval by a King County Superior Court judge.

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Google Beats Class Suit Over Free Workspace Promises

By Gina Kim

Google has defeated a class action alleging it reneged on its promise to offer free access to its business-productivity tools, formerly known as Google Apps, with a California federal judge saying the contracts with users affirmatively authorized the company to stop offering a free version of the service. 

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Paramount Viewers Stuck With Bringing Amended Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge refused Tuesday to reconsider dismissing a consumer complaint challenging Paramount's completed merger with Skydance and its planned purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, holding that the filing of an amended complaint mooted the motion.

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Deloitte Can't Shake Leave Bias Suit From Ex-Manager

By MJ Koo

A California federal court has refused to dismiss a proposed class action accusing Deloitte Consulting LLP of penalizing employees through a performance evaluation system that shortchanges the compensation of workers who take parental or pregnancy leave.

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Medtronic, Former Exec Settle Whistleblower Retaliation Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado state judge tossed a whistleblower lawsuit against Medtronic Inc., granting a dismissal bid from the company and a former executive after they reached an undisclosed settlement.

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Digital Equity Suit On Ice As Gov't Preps Program Relaunch

By Nadia Dreid

The D.C. federal judge overseeing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's shutdown of the Digital Equity Act's Competitive Grant Program has put the case on hold until the government relaunches the program without provisions that consider the applicants' race, as it has agreed to do.

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Social Media Use Has Addiction Hallmarks, Meta Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A psychologist told a Tennessee jury considering claims against Meta on Wednesday that it's well accepted in his field that social media use can cause behavior that looks like addiction, and social media is a challenging presence in the lives of 15% to 20% of his patients.

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Prison Phone Co. Says Techs Aren't Owed Public Works Pay

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A prison phone service provider told a New York federal judge that three field service technicians who installed and maintained telecommunications systems in hospitals and prisons did not agree to a "public works" contract and aren't guaranteed higher pay under state labor laws.

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Asurion Fired Manager Over Bias Report, Anxiety, Suit Says

By Kia Fatahi

A technology insurance company fired a Black manager whom it had recognized as "one of the strongest salespeople in the country" after she took medical leave to deal with anxiety exacerbated by alleged retaliation she received for raising concerns about a manager's sexually and racially offensive behavior, according to a complaint filed in Tennessee federal court Wednesday.

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Google Gets $12.2B Option To Buy Stake In Chipmaker Marvell

By Al Barbarino

Marvell Technology has issued Google a warrant to buy up to 58.97 million shares of its common stock, worth about $12.2 billion at the warrant's exercise price, according to a Marvell securities filing Wednesday.

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3 Firms Steer $7.5B Stripe, OpenRouter AI Gateway Deal

By Al Barbarino

Financial services company Stripe said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire artificial intelligence routing platform OpenRouter, as three law firms take lead roles in steering the roughly $7.5 billion transaction.

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Willkie, Latham Guide Defense Tech Firm Lyntris' $298M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity-backed defense technology company Lyntris Inc. hit the public markets Wednesday after raising $298 million in its initial public offering steered by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP.

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Electric Vehicle Biz ALSO Secures $150M Series D

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Goodwin Procter LLP-led small electric vehicle manufacturer ALSO, which was originally incubated within Rivian, on Wednesday announced that it raised $150 million in its latest financing round.

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DOJ Touts 'Targeted' Probes In Sales Software Merger OK

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday it had closed an in-depth review into a sales tracking software merger, mollified by the likelihood of artificial intelligence-enabled competition, in an announcement touting the use of "targeted" scrutiny to end the probe quickly.

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TaxAct Settles Conn. Claims Of Info Sharing Via Site Trackers

By Gina Kim

The Connecticut attorney general announced Wednesday that TaxAct will pay $275,000 to resolve allegations it shared sensitive taxpayer information with Meta and Google via tracking technologies, and will also implement new policies and procedures to track and manage such technologies on its platform. 

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Apple Makes App Store Policy Changes In Europe

By Matthew Perlman

Apple has made several changes to its policies for app distribution in Europe, after enforcers found restrictions and fees were blocking competition from App Store alternatives and outside payments methods.

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Brief

Video Tech Co. Founder Gets 6 Years For Stock Fraud

By Lauraann Wood

The founder of a Silicon Valley video streaming service was sentenced to six years in federal prison Wednesday for orchestrating a pump-and-dump stock fraud scheme that stole money from at least 100 investors.

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Brief

Harvey Sticks With Seat-Based Pricing Amid Usage Debate

By Steven Lerner

As legal artificial intelligence companies debate whether customers should pay for AI by the seat or by usage, Harvey is sticking with traditional software-style pricing following a major product overhaul that was introduced Tuesday.

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Bradley Arant Adds SCP Health In-House Vet In Atlanta

By Emily Johnson

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has added the senior vice president and associate general counsel of healthcare company SCP Health to its Atlanta office, strengthening the firm's healthcare practice.

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Rethinking Corporate Travel Rules After Device Search Cases

A recent New York federal court decision approving a warrantless seizure and search of company laptops and a pending Georgia federal court criminal case over a phone's data deletion underscore how little protection corporate personnel have at the border, necessitating a review of corporate travel programs, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

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6 Key Takeaways From CFIUS Annual Report

Attorneys at Simpson Thacher review highlights from the annual report of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., released to Congress this month, including the launch of the American First Investment Policy and the Known Investor Pilot Program, and the agency's continued focus on enforcement despite its resource constraints.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Surviving A Long Trial

Most of law school trial advocacy is geared toward the sprint of trying a short case, but beyond managing a cross-examination or closing argument, effectively handling the marathon of a lengthy trial requires the ability to maintain composure, organization and credibility with the jury, says Mihir Elchuri at Hirschler.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Seeks Release During Appeal

By Rachel Rippetoe

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein on Tuesday asked to be released from federal custody while he appeals his 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions and a six-year prison sentence, saying he is not a flight risk and it would be a "grave injustice" for him to begin a sentence he believes will eventually get axed.

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Davis Wright Vets Scolded: Don't Tell Foes 'How To Run Firm'

By Jeff Overley

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP veterans have failed to dodge six-figure sanctions in a prominent discovery donnybrook, and a California magistrate judge added invective to the financial injury, lambasting "troubling" omissions in case citations and heavy-handed "nitpicking" akin to commandeering an adversary's law firm.

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Atty, Son Charged In Probe Of Alleged Penn State Drug Ring

By Rose Krebs

An equity partner based in Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck PLLC's Pittsburgh office has been charged with tampering with evidence and obstructing an investigation in connection with an alleged cocaine ring at Penn State University that allegedly involved his son, according to news reports.

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Texas Judge Flags 'Alarming' Number Of Bogus Citations

By Emily Sawicki

A federal judge presiding over an Austin, Texas, immigration case is warning of possible future sanctions after an attorney included an "alarming" number of "hallucinated" case citations in support of a habeas corpus petition.  

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Jackson Walker Says US Trustee Can't Claw Back Legal Fees

By Clara Geoghegan

Jackson Walker said this week that the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog is beyond the bounds of its authority in a yearslong effort to force the firm to return millions of dollars in legal fees over an undisclosed relationship between a former partner and a Texas bankruptcy judge.

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Over 120 Ex-Judges Demand Probe Of DHS GC's 'Worst' Posts

By Adrian Cruz

A pair of nonprofits along with a bipartisan group of 128 former state and federal judges have asked the Florida Bar to investigate the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a recent series of social media posts attacking sitting judges.

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Polsinelli Can't Rep Doctor In 'Bad Faith' IP Suits, Cos. Say

By Lauren Berg

Two medical device companies suing Polsinelli PC and its longtime client, a patent-holding doctor, for allegedly pursuing "bad faith" infringement claims asked federal courts in Tennessee and Mississippi to disqualify the firm from defending the doctor in the lawsuits, citing their "diverging interests and liabilities."

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Ex-US Attys Protest Trump's Swift Firing Of Rogoff In Seattle

By Rachel Riley

Thirty former U.S. attorneys backed Roger Rogoff's bid for reinstatement as Seattle's top federal prosecutor after President Donald Trump fired him on the heels of his court-ordered appointment, arguing Tuesday that Trump is trying to "sidestep the Senate's advice-and-consent role and sideline the judiciary" by letting unappointed individuals play such roles.

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DOJ Urges Court Not To Dismiss Suit Against DC Bar

By Alison Knezevich

The U.S. Department of Justice is urging a federal judge not to toss its lawsuit against Washington, D.C., attorney disciplinary authorities, saying the court "needs to halt defendants' flagrantly unconstitutional overreach into the president's executive power."

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USPTO Says Patent Atty's Suit Shouldn't Stop Discipline Case

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has said an Ohio federal court shouldn't pause professional discipline proceedings against an attorney while he sues the agency, saying he's likely to fail with his suit challenging the fact that a judge from another agency is overseeing his discipline case.

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Sinema Says Brief Signal Chat Can't Anchor NC Affair Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A single exchange on the encrypted messaging app Signal became the focal point of former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's testimony on Wednesday as she sought to convince a North Carolina federal judge that she cannot be hauled into court in the Tar Heel state over an affair — which she declined to characterize as a "passionate" romance — she had with her married security guard.

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