EU Lets Microsoft Unbundle Teams To Avoid Fine

By Bryan Koenig

European Union antitrust officials signed off Friday on Microsoft's plans to offer cheaper Office 365 suites without the Teams collaboration platform in order to avoid a potentially hefty fine for past policies shackling the two services together.

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Analysis

What To Know About Anthropic's Pending $1.5B IP Settlement

By Ivan Moreno

The largest settlement in copyright history may still materialize, but the path for authors and Anthropic negotiating a $1.5 billion agreement is filled with challenges, including determining what portion of the millions of books the tech company allegedly downloaded from pirate sites is eligible for compensation.

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9th Circ. Rejects Rethink, Unpauses Google Play Store Order

By Bryan Koenig

The countdown for Google to open up the Play Store is ticking down again after the Ninth Circuit again affirmed district court monopolization findings.

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23AndMe Inks $3.25M Data Breach Deal With Canadian Users

By Gina Kim

23andMe has asked a Missouri bankruptcy judge to approve a $3.25 million settlement reached with a class of 300,000 Canadian citizens whose information was compromised following a cybersecurity breach, touting the deal as an "excellent result" considering limited funds available and other issues implicated by the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

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Texas Jury Finds AT&T Didn't Infringe Telecom Patent

By Elliot Weld

A Texas federal jury has found that Irish company Daingean Technologies Ltd. hadn't proven that AT&T infringed a telecommunications patent when it launched its 5G phone service networks.

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Google Gets IP Claims Against Some AI Products Tossed

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge trimmed Thursday a consolidated proposed class action alleging Google's artificial-intelligence training models infringed artists and writers' copyrights and dismissed its parent company Alphabet altogether, finding that the creators can only pursue claims implicating six out of 16 of Google's AI products.

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Hytera Fights Motorola's Contempt Bid Over Subsidiary Sale

By Lauraann Wood

Hytera Communications Corp. has urged an Illinois federal judge to reject Motorola Solutions' bid to hold it in contempt for using subsidiary sale funds to pay off lenders instead of paying Motorola what it's owed under a trade secrets judgment, arguing it shouldn't be punished for conducting ordinary business.

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Disney Sees Another Class Claim Over Child Privacy Practices

By Ben Adlin

Disney invaded the privacy of millions of children by failing to appropriately tag its YouTube videos as "made for kids" and thus allowing the collection of minors' personal data and location information, according to a proposed class action in Washington federal court.

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Stewart Issues New Slate Of Discretionary Denials

By Dani Kass

Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart rejected 18 petitions for Patent Trial and Appeal Board review based on discretionary factors on Friday, but didn't introduce new elements to her analysis.

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Calif. Sends Groundbreaking Data Use Opt-Out, AI Bills To Gov.

By Allison Grande

The California Legislature has approved several cutting-edge measures to boost online data privacy and safety protections for consumers, including proposals that would require browser operators such as Apple and Google to enable users to easily stop the sale and sharing of their personal data across websites and push AI-powered "companion" chatbot providers to implement safeguards. 

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FCC Refuses To Revisit Denial Of 105 Low-Power FM Stations

By Christopher Cole

After denying more than 100 applications for new low-power FM radio stations across the South, the Federal Communications Commission says it's not going back on the decision.

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Targeting 'Bad Labs' Based Only On Location Called Bad Idea

By Nadia Dreid

Several top telecom trade groups have come together to tell the FCC that its plan to ban Chinese test labs and certification bodies from being used on devices destined for the United States will cost a lot and cause much disruption, "without delivering commensurate security benefits."

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FCC Faulted For Changes In Broadband Inquiry's Scope

By Christopher Cole

By no longer measuring factors like broadband affordability, the Federal Communications Commission has unacceptably trimmed its yearly look at the state of deployment, just like the old vaudeville joke about "blue plate specials" devoid of food, an advocacy group said.

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Brief

Broadband Company Wants To Give Another Its Rural Funds

By Nadia Dreid

A Texas-based company that was set to receive Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money to service a couple of hundred locations in Wyoming is asking the FCC's permission to transfer that obligation — and the funds that go along with it — to a different company.

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Samsung, Headwater End Patent Fights After $279M Verdict

By Adam Lidgett

Headwater Research has agreed to end a series of lawsuits accusing Samsung of infringing various wireless communications patents, including one where a jury had found Samsung owed nearly $279 million.

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Quinn Emanuel's $30M Fee Bid Flouts Ch. 11, Co. Says

By Julie Manganis

Israeli printed circuit maker Nano Dimension has told a Massachusetts federal judge that Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP can't claim a $30 million attorney's lien to make an "end run" around the bankruptcy of 3D printing company Desktop Metal, a former client that Nano acquired.

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In Fees Fight, OpenAI Rival Says TM Case Not Exceptional

By Elliot Weld

Nothing "stands out" from a successful trademark case brought by OpenAI against Open Artificial Intelligence Inc., the latter company told a California federal judge, urging the court to deny OpenAI's request to make it pay $10 million in attorney fees.

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Robotics Co. Defends Accounting Errors As 'Growing Pains'

By Sydney Price

Supply chain automation company Symbotic asked a Massachusetts federal court to end a suit from an investor accusing it and its executives of hiding faulty accounting processes, saying the suit wrongly attempts to "convert a freshly public company's growing pains" into securities fraud.

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Apple Lets Thieves Drain Unsecured Gift Cards, Suit Alleges

By Lauren Berg

Apple assures customers that its gift cards can be securely purchased and redeemed for various products, but the tech company's lack of "simple and commonsense security measures" allows thieves to drain activated cards before customers can use them, alleges a proposed class action in California federal court.

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Shein Uses AI To Steal Popular Designs, Suit Claims

By Elliot Weld

Fast-fashion e-commerce giant Shein is facing a suit in California federal court by a Florida artist who claims the company uses artificial intelligence and other automated technology to dredge the internet and steal popular works to be misappropriated for profit.

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Off The Bench: NCAA Athlete Ban, WNBA Sun Controversy

By Elaine Briseño

In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA administered permanent bans to three basketball players, and two high-profile politicians warned the WNBA that it could be at risk of violating antitrust laws if it interferes in the sale of the Connecticut Sun.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen former Master Chef presenter Gregg Wallace sue the BBC, Elon Musk's xAI take legal action against a staff engineer, and fashion mogul Kevin-Gerald Stanford file a fresh claim against Lion Capital-owned Klotho and EY amid a long-running All Saints share acquisition dispute.

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4 Companies Led By 4 Firms Ride IPO Wave, Raising $1.9B

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Four companies across wide-ranging industries — including an engineering firm, a transportation tech startup, a cryptocurrency exchange and a coffee chain — began trading Friday after raising a cumulative roughly $1.9 billion in their initial public offerings, capping off the year's busiest week for new listings.

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Digital Infrastructure SPAC Starts Trading After $200M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Special purpose acquisition company OTG Acquisition Corp. I began trading on Friday after pricing a $200 million initial public offering, with plans to merge with a company in the digital infrastructure services sector.

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Taxation With Representation: Felesky Flynn, Gibson, Kirkland

By Jaqueline McCool

In this week's Taxation With Representation, copper mining companies Anglo American and Teck Resources plan to merge, EchoStar agrees to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX, and Diversified Energy acquires fellow energy operator Canvas.

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Brief

Microsoft, OpenAI Ink Tentative Deal On Nonprofit Restructure

By Al Barbarino

OpenAI and Microsoft have announced that the OpenAI nonprofit is taking a major step in its development, gaining control of a new Public Benefit Corporation and receiving an equity stake worth more than $100 billion.

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John Deere Rival Won't Get Redo On Safeguards In FTC Case

By Emily Field

An Illinois federal court on Thursday refused a bid from a Deere & Co. competitor asking for reconsideration of an order denying a bid to block the distribution of confidential information produced during the Federal Trade Commission's right-to-repair investigation into the farming equipment company.

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Amazon Says FTC Can't Subpoena Corporation For Prime Trial

By Cara Salvatore

Amazon has told a Seattle federal judge that the Federal Trade Commission can't subpoena the company itself for a testimony at an upcoming trial over allegations that it tricked customers into Prime subscriptions and prevented them from undoing their membership, arguing subpoenas that do not name individuals "skirt the rules."

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DOJ Says It Rejected Info-Sharing In Wayne-Sanderson Talks

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice sought to show a Maryland federal judge a key document from its settlement talks with Wayne-Sanderson Farms, arguing it underscores that the poultry producer wanted to keep sharing wage information, only for the company to be told no.

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Chinese Co. CEO, Adviser Charged In $100M Pump-And-Dump

By Gina Kim

An executive for a publicly traded Chinese technology company and a financial adviser were indicted Wednesday for allegedly running a complex pump-and-dump scheme that bilked more than $110 million from unwitting investors, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

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French Court Rejects Challenge To Digital Services Tax

By Kevin Pinner

France's digital services tax is consistent with the country's constitution, the country's Constitutional Council said Friday in a decision that rejected arguments put forward by several companies concerning the effects of its design.

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How Value-Based Patent Fees May Shape IP Strategies

If the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office implements rumored plans to correlate patent fees with patent value, the financial and strategic consequences would largely depend on the specifics of how, when and how often patent values are assessed, say attorneys at Cleary.

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When AI Denies, Insurance Bad Faith Claims May Follow

Two recent rulings from Minnesota and Kentucky federal courts signal that past statements about claims-handling practices may leave insurers using artificial intelligence programs in claims administration vulnerable to suits alleging bad faith and unfair trade practices, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

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Agentic AI Puts A New Twist On Attorney Ethics Obligations

As lawyers increasingly use autonomous artificial intelligence agents, disciplinary authorities must decide whether attorney responsibility for an AI-caused legal ethics violation is personal or supervisory, and firms must enact strong policies regarding agentic AI use and supervision, says Grace Wynn at HWG.

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Ex-Epstein Prosecutor Maurene Comey Sues DOJ Over Firing

By Emily Sawicki

Maurene Comey, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who brought high-profile criminal cases against the likes of Jeffrey Epstein and Sean "Diddy" Combs, sued the Justice Department on Monday alleging her abrupt July firing came "solely or substantially" because she is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, a Trump critic.

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Tom Goldstein Can't Pay Attys With 'Tainted Funds,' DOJ Says

By Jeff Overley

Indicted appellate luminary Tom Goldstein cannot cover his legal bills by selling his multimillion-dollar home, because it's a "tainted asset" worth "far less" than his attorney fees, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a blistering court filing, adding that Goldstein may flee the country as his reputation and marriage collapse.

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Feds Urge 3rd Circ. To Restore NJ US Atty's Authority

By Emily Sawicki

The federal government has urged the Third Circuit to reverse a district court ruling disqualifying acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba from prosecuting two criminal cases in New Jersey after the clock allegedly ran out on her interim term, arguing that her appointment is valid and that the court erred in its interpretation of the statute.

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Calif. Court Issues AI Hallucinations 'Warning,' Sanctions Atty

By Y. Peter Kang

A California appeals court has issued a published opinion "as a warning" to Golden State attorneys to personally review case law quotations made by generative artificial intelligence, and imposed a $10,000 monetary sanction on plaintiff's counsel in an otherwise straightforward appeal in an employment case.

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Fired DOJ Deputy Says Lobbyists 'Playing Dangerous Game'

By Bryan Koenig

A former top Justice Department Antitrust Division deputy, allegedly fired for opposing the "pay-to-play" settlement clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, had a warning Monday for the lobbyists he said made the deal possible: there are only so many times they can go over division leadership.

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Stradley Ronon Wants Keesal Young's Poaching Suit Tossed

By Emma Cueto

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP has moved to nix a suit by California firm Keesal Young & Logan, saying its recruitment of 10 former Keesal Young attorneys was entirely above board and that the noncompete clauses in Keesal Young's partnership agreement were not allowed under California law.

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FTC Commissioner Says Antitrust Moment Has Been Building

By Matthew Perlman

Federal Trade Commissioner Mark R. Meador said Monday the current interest in antitrust enforcement has been building for the last several decades as corporate boardrooms increasingly take control over the economic lives of Americans.

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3 Law Firms Want Ford's 'Thermonuclear' RICO Suit Snuffed

By Linda Chiem

Knight Law Group LLP, the Altman Law Group and Wirtz Law APC have urged a California federal judge to dismantle Ford Motor Co.'s racketeering lawsuit accusing the firms of overzealous billing and conspiring to dupe unsuspecting clients in product liability and personal injury cases against automakers.

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Software Co. Defends Contempt Order Against Womble Atty

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal court fairly held Womble Bond Dickinson partner Pressly Millen in contempt after he and his client made misrepresentations in a "parallel" trademark dispute abroad, U.S.-based software company Dmarcian Inc. told the Fourth Circuit on Friday.

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DC Circ. Says Fed's Cook Can Keep Job For Now

By Jon Hill

A D.C. Circuit panel said Monday that Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook can remain on the central bank's board while challenging President Donald Trump's effort to fire her, clearing the way for her to participate in a key interest-rate policy vote this week.

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Senate Confirms Top Trump Economist To Federal Reserve

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed top White House economist Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board on Monday, giving President Donald Trump a close ally at the central bank as he pushes for greater control over the traditionally independent body.

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DC Circ. Won't Stay District Court's Order On Quick Removals

By Jared Foretek

The D.C. Circuit declined to stay a district judge's suspension of specific U.S. Department of Homeland Security actions implementing expedited removal of noncitizen parolees Friday, saying that the government faces no irreparable harm from the order because it has separate, pre-existing regulatory authority to quickly deport parolees.

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W.Va., Idaho Tell Justices Trans Sports Bans Based On Science

By Elaine Briseño

West Virginia and Idaho urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that courts should not use subjective preferences when analyzing whether laws that ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams different from their sex assigned at birth violate the Constitution.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's governor weighed in on a challenge to recently approved state legislation that bars damages or "equitable" relief for some controlling stockholder or going-private deals. Meanwhile, Moelis told the Delaware Supreme Court that the struck-down stockholder agreement that triggered that legislation was valid. Additionally, one of two newly funded magistrates' posts in the Chancery Court has been filled.

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