'What're We Doing Here?' Judge Asks FTC After Deere Deal

By Bryan Koenig

An Illinois federal judge wondered aloud Friday whether John Deere's $99 million class action settlement with farmers, and more importantly its promised facilitation of independent equipment repairs, mooted the Federal Trade Commission's still-pending right-to-repair lawsuit.

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Meta Must Face Mass. AG's Instagram Addiction Suit

By Chris Villani

Meta Platforms Inc. will have to face a suit brought by the Massachusetts attorney general claiming the company is illegally hooking kids on Instagram, the state's top court ruled Friday.

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​​​​​​​Apple Asks To Keep Stay In Epic Case During High Court Bid

By Craig Clough

Apple has asked the Ninth Circuit not to undo its order staying a decision in Epic Games Inc.'s favor while Apple petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling that largely affirmed an injunction barring Apple from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases.

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Texas REIT Discloses $53M RealPage Settlement With Renters

By Isaac Monterose

A Texas-based real estate investment trust has reached a $53 million class action settlement for multidistrict litigation in Tenneseee federal court that accused the REIT and multiple landlords of using property management software company RealPage Inc.'s revenue management software for rent price-fixing.

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IBM To Pay $17M Over DOJ's Claims Of Illegal DEI Practices

By Lauren Berg

IBM agreed to pay the Trump administration $17 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act with efforts to increase the diversity of its workforce, which the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday said was the first settlement under its initiative against diversity, equity and inclusion.

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DLA Piper Partner Rejects Pregnant Atty's Account Of Firing

By Pete Brush

The DLA Piper partner who fired a pregnant associate said she did so lawfully, telling a Manhattan federal jury her former employee was "in over her head" and disputing that the associate raised pregnancy bias concerns on a termination call.

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Exclusive

Calif. Privacy Audits Starting This Year, Agency's Head Says

By Allison Grande

The California Privacy Protection Agency is continuing to build out its new Audits Division and is aiming to begin conducting checks of businesses' compliance with the state's comprehensive data privacy regime this year, the agency's director recently told Law360 in an exclusive interview. 

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Analysis

Tech's AI Coding Boom On Collision Course With Copyright

By Ivan Moreno

Tech companies embracing generative tools to write their software code — and boasting about it — may be running into a gap in copyright protection: the more they rely on them, the harder it may be to claim exclusive rights when that code is copied or leaked.

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Feds Renew Push Against 'Bad Labs' In Equipment Test Rules

By Christopher Cole

A new draft proposal from the Federal Communications Commission would make it even harder for foreign adversaries to take part in electronic device testing if they are located in a country that lacks reciprocal testing agreements with the U.S.

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FCC Says Current 'Audible Crawl' Rule Doesn't Work

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission is thinking about ditching a requirement that video service providers ensure that nontext emergency information that pops up during a TV broadcast comes with an auditory translation for the visually impaired.

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Brief

USPTO Launches Pilot Aimed At Reducing Exam Backlog

By Elliot Weld

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it will launch a pilot program requiring some applicants at the national stage to request examination of their patent applications.

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Fed. Circ. Affirms Roku PTAB Win Over Remote-Control Patent

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that invalidated a set of patent claims covering remote controls that were asserted against Roku Inc.

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Uber Had 'Non-Delegable Duty,' Judge Finds In Assault MDL

By Rae Ann Varona

Uber is a "common carrier" and thus it owed a "non-delegable duty" to safely transport a woman who alleged that a driver on its platform sexually assaulted her, a California federal judge ruled Friday, rejecting the ride-hailing company's contention that it doesn't carry passengers but merely connects them to others who independently provide transportation.

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OpenAI 'Persistently Evaded' Antitrust Suit Discovery, X Says

By Rae Ann Varona

X Corp. has urged a Texas federal court to make OpenAI hand over several sets of documents for its suit accusing its artificial intelligence rival of entering an anticompetitive integration deal with Apple, saying its attempts to get the documents have been futile, despite depositions set to begin this month.

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Medtronic Can't Ax $382M Trial Loss, Applied Medical Says

By Hailey Konnath

Applied Medical Resources Corp. has urged a California federal court to reject Medtronic Inc.'s attempt to ditch its roughly $382 million antitrust trial loss, arguing that Medtronic is simply repeating "erroneous legal arguments this court already rejected."

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Microsoft Keeps PTAB Win Against Communications Patent

By Adam Lidgett

Network technology solutions company Lemko Corp. lost its bid to revive claims in a distributed mobile architecture patent after the Federal Circuit backed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that Microsoft was able to show the claims were invalid.

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FCC Fines Are Just Paper, But 'Still Tigers,' High Court Told

By Christopher Cole

AT&T and Verizon told the U.S. Supreme Court that no matter how the Federal Communications Commission portrays its fines, they amount to binding orders that run afoul of the Seventh Amendment because there's no clear path to challenge them in court.

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CNN Can't Ditch Privacy Class Action Over Tracking Tools

By Dorothy Atkins

A New York federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action alleging CNN violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act by surreptitiously installing data trackers and sharing the data with third parties including Microsoft for targeted advertising, finding the alleged privacy harm and claims are sufficiently pled.

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Oracle Says Laid-Off Worker Threatening To Sell Trade Secrets

By Lauren Berg

Oracle Corp. says one of its recently laid off sales employees has been trying to extort "an unreasonable and outsized fee" by threatening to sell the software firm's trade secrets to the "highest-bidder," asking a North Carolina federal court to prevent the former employee from exposing any sensitive business information.

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Ark. Asks 8th Circ. To Lift Injunction On Social Media Law

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The state of Arkansas has asked the Eighth Circuit to undo an injunction blocking a law banning social media platforms from implementing algorithms and other features that can cause users to become addicted to social media or lead to suicide or other types of self-harm.

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Cisco Seeks Ruling That It Never Infringed Chip Patents

By Adam Lidgett

Cisco Systems wants a federal judge for the Eastern District of Texas to rule that it never infringed two patents covering ways to manage parts of computer chips, after the patent owner dropped them from its case just before a scheduled trial.

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Uber Wants NC Jury To Hear Rider's Mental Health History

By Hayley Fowler

Uber wants to be able to bring up a passenger's mental health history during a sexual assault trial to discredit her damages theory, saying the jury should be able to evaluate her alleged emotional distress in the context of her preexisting conditions.

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Nexstar-Tegna Judge Shows No Sign Of Unpausing Deal Block

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge Friday ordered a seven-day extension of the temporary restraining order blocking broadcast giants Nexstar and Tegna from fulfilling their merger, seeing "no evidence" contradicting the initial reasons for the TRO that DirecTV and Democratic attorneys general want solidified into a preliminary injunction.

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3 Valve 'Loot Box' Suits Merged, Hagens Berman To Rep Users

By Ben Adlin

A Seattle federal judge has consolidated three putative class actions accusing gaming giant Valve Corp. of promoting illegal gambling by offering "loot boxes" for its PC gaming titles, and appointed Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP as interim lead counsel for the gamers.

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4th Circ. Won't Revive Boy's Child Sex Image Confession Suit

By Mike Curley

The Fourth Circuit has declined to reinstate a suit from a minor student against the assistant principal at his school and a school resource officer alleging they violated his constitutional rights by investigating whether he had nude photos of another student, finding that the evidence doesn't show that his confession was coerced or that the search of his phone was unreasonable.

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Gambling Tech Co. Seeks To Add Rival In NJ Defamation Case

By George Woolston

A gambling technology company asked a New Jersey state court to add a rival company as a defendant in its defamation suit against investigative firm Black Cube and law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP, accusing the rival of orchestrating a smear campaign in an effort to eliminate competition.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen the owner of an oil tanker stuck in the Strait of Hormuz sued by an energy company and an insurer, law firm Boodle Hatfield LLP and two Serle Court barristers sued by a group of Winston Churchill's great-grandchildren, and Welsh Water hit with a fresh class action over polluted rivers.

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Brief

Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Instrument Monitoring Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Friday said it won't revive claims in a Sentient Sensors military instruments monitoring patent after the Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that the claims were invalid as obvious.

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Brief

Viamedia-Comcast Trial Pushed Back At Least A Month

By Nadia Dreid

Viamedia's antitrust fight against Comcast was set to come to a head after more than a decade later this year, but the judge overseeing the matter in Illinois federal court said the media and tech companies will have to wait a month longer to go to trial.

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Brief

Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Video-Decoding Patent

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that all the challenged claims of a patent covering video-decoding technology are invalid, after the patent owner argued that it had been improperly prevented from using written description support for its arguments.

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Kirkland-Led Leeds Closes $1.9B Fund For Education Buyouts

By Al Barbarino

Leeds Equity Partners said Friday that it has closed its latest flagship fund with commitments of approximately $1.9 billion, surpassing its $1.4 billion predecessor, with legal guidance from Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

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US Outpaces Global M&A Amid 'Made In America' Push

By Al Barbarino

U.S. companies were a major driver of a global M&A rebound in the first quarter of 2026, with domestic dealmaking surging to its strongest start in four years and outpacing global growth amid lower borrowing costs and a "Made in America" policy push, according to a first-quarter Mergermarket report.

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Drone Co. Aevex Eyes $312M IPO Amid Defense Tech Surge

By Hailey Konnath

Drone-maker Aevex Corp. on Thursday announced plans for an estimated $312 million initial public offering steered by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP team as well as Latham & Watkins LLP advising the underwriters.

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Simpson Thacher-Led Blackstone Preps Data Center REIT IPO

By Charlie Innis

Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust Inc., a newly formed real estate investment trust focused on data centers, filed plans Friday for an initial public offering, with guidance from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and underwriters' counsel Paul Hastings LLP.

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Roundup

Don't Miss It: Kirkland, Simpson Thacher Steer Hot Deals

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

A lot can happen in the world of mergers and acquisitions and equity fundraising over the course of a couple of weeks, and it's difficult to keep up with all the deals. Law360 recaps the ones you may have missed, including transactions helmed by Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Goodwin, CMS, Wilson Sonsini

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Gilead Sciences Inc. acquires clinical-stage biotechnology company Tubulis GmbH, private equity firm Court Square Capital Partners closes a multibillion-dollar fund and Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. buys rare-disease drugmaker Soleno Therapeutics Inc.

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Fla. Atty Faces Possible Bar Referral For Citing Bogus Cases

By Madison Arnold

A divorce attorney may be referred to the Florida Bar for discipline after a Florida state appeals court found she filed a petition and reply that contained nonexistent cases, likely hallucinated by artificial intelligence.

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Uber Must Give FTC, States Contact Info On 30M Subscribers

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal magistrate judge Friday ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission and states on multiple discovery disputes in their litigation alleging Uber dupes consumers into its paid subscription service, requiring Uber to hand over contact data on roughly 30 million Uber subscribers.

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Agri Stats Atty 'More Optimistic' About Settling DOJ Case

By Bryan Koenig

An attorney for Agri Stats Inc. told a Minnesota federal judge Friday that a settlement resolving the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust case could be on the horizon ahead of an early May trial accusing the company of helping major chicken, turkey and pork producers hike prices.

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Calculating Damages In IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation

To calculate damages in the spate of refund litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the central question will be how to determine where in the supply chain their economic burden ultimately came to rest, say analysts at Charles River Associates.

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The Federal Circuit's Evolving View Of Trade Secrets

In recent years, the Federal Circuit's approach to defining "readily ascertainable" information and determining sufficiency of trade secret identification has shifted, trending away from other circuits and potentially presenting a higher bar for trade secrets plaintiffs, say attorneys at MoFo.

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Trump Taps Personal Atty For 2nd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening he's tapping Matthew Schwartz, his attorney in the New York hush money case, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

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Calif. Atty Avoids Sanctions For Filing Bogus Citations With AI

By Matt Perez

A California attorney has avoided sanctions over his use of artificial intelligence for a filing in a civil rights case, which resulted in false citations.

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NJ Justices Won't Review Beasley Allen's DQ From Talc Cases

By George Woolston

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court's order booting the Beasley Allen Law Firm from multicounty litigation in the Garden State over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder, according to an order made public Friday.

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6th Circ. Won't Revisit EFAA Ruling Against Adams & Reese

By Patrick Hoff

The Sixth Circuit said it won't reconsider its ruling that a law barring mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment cases kept a former Adams & Reese LLP paralegal's sex harassment and disability bias suit in court, concluding that the firm's objections were already considered.

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Conn. Justices Block Agency's Bias Probe Into Atty Licensing

By Brian Steele

Because citizens blocked the legislature from reviewing court decisions when ratifying the state's 1818 constitution, a Connecticut human rights agency has no power to investigate alleged bias in attorney licensing decisions, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday in a unanimous opinion.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Other states might follow the lead of California and break with President Donald Trump's policies in implementing guardrails for state agencies to contract with AI companies. And after three individual indictments last month for selling banned tech to China, Supermicro has hired Munger Tolles & Olson LLP to conduct an independent investigation, assigned its general counsel to lead an internal compliance review, and shaken up its compliance leadership.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Andrea Keckley

Two personal injury firms in Michigan lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions for their work to secure a more than $300 million verdict against a prison health services provider and one of its doctors for refusing to approve a 34-year-old man's surgery while he was detained at a local jail.

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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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