Google Inks $8.25M Deal Over Kids' App Data Privacy

By Rae Ann Varona

Google has agreed to an $8.25 million settlement that, if approved, will fully resolve a potential class action that children filed in California federal court through their parents, accusing the tech giant of secretly tracking the personal information of children under the age of 13 through child-directed apps.

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Software Co. Loses Trade Secrets Appeal At 7th Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The Seventh Circuit has refused to revive claims that an energy management services company stole trade secret information from an appointment booking software application and incorporated its features into a new platform.

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USPTO Tells Fed. Circ. To Reject Assignor Estoppel Case

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has urged the Federal Circuit to reject a mandamus petition by Tessell Inc. that claimed the office flouted precedent by using assignor estoppel to reject patent challenges, saying the decisions were based on discretion, not that legal doctrine.

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Calif. Again Asks 9th Circ. To Unleash Kids' Privacy Law

By Dorothy Atkins

California's attorney general was back before the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday, urging the court to vacate a new preliminary injunction blocking a landmark law requiring tech giants to bolster privacy protections for children, and arguing the lower court wrongly found the entire statute likely implicates the First Amendment.

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Meta Wants Zuckerberg's Old 'Hot-Or-Not' Site Out Of LA Trial

By Craig Clough

Meta's attorney on Wednesday urged a California judge overseeing bellwether trials over claims social media harms young users' mental health to ban mention of the attractiveness-rating website Mark Zuckerberg created at Harvard, saying the plaintiffs want female jurors to see Zuckerberg as "a bad guy" and Facebook as "born in sin."

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Uber Resolves Family's Suit Over Driver Slain By Passengers

By Ben Adlin

Uber Technologies Inc. and the family of a driver who was murdered by his ridesharing passengers have agreed to dismiss a lawsuit filed in Seattle federal court claiming Uber should have reasonably foreseen the risk to the driver, Cherno Ceesay.

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Google Ex-Staffer Attys In 'Grave Danger' Of Testimony Misstep

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge appeared open Wednesday to letting prosecutors introduce previously suppressed evidence from the FBI's interview with an ex-Google engineer accused of stealing trade secrets, telling defense counsel that their efforts to paint Google and the government as in cahoots raised a "grave danger" he'd allow the evidence.

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Calif. AG Probes 'Avalanche' Of Grok-Created Sexual Deepfakes

By Lauren Berg

California is looking into the "avalanche" of nonconsensual sexually explicit materials, including "deepfake" images used to harass women online, that are reportedly being produced by Grok, the chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company xAI Inc., the state's attorney general announced Wednesday.

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Analysis

'The Work Has Changed': How White-Collar Attys Are Coping

By Phillip Bantz

The Trump administration's dramatic policy enforcement changes over the past year, along with turmoil and turnover at the U.S. Department of Justice, has tilted the white-collar world on its axis, forcing lawyers and firms to abruptly shift focus and expand their practices, sometimes beyond traditional white-collar criminal defense matters.

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State Dept. Pauses Immigrant Visas For 75 Countries

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of State said Wednesday that it is indefinitely pausing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries who the agency said are likely to rely on government support and stress the public purse.

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FCC Still Weighing 39% Broadcast Cap, Carr Tells Lawmakers

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission hasn't decided whether the law gives it wiggle room to lift the 39% cap on national audience share controlled by a single broadcast chain, a move that would let Nexstar merge with Tegna, the FCC's chief told lawmakers Wednesday.

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Uber, DoorDash Drivers Lost $550M In Tips, NYC Says

By Irene Spezzamonte

UberEats and DoorDash rolled out design tricks after New York City implemented a minimum pay standard for food delivery workers that has led to workers losing $550 million in tips, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said.

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Brief

Senate Bill Would Give FCC One Year For Satellite Licensing

By Christopher Cole

A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill unveiled Wednesday would speed up satellite applications by limiting their review at the Federal Communications Commission to one year.

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Call Vendors Skirt Wiretap Suit Over AI Transcription Tool

By Allison Grande

An Illinois federal judge has released dental support organization Heartland Dental LLC and its contractor from a proposed class action accusing them of illegally using an artificial intelligence-powered note-taking tool to record and analyze patient calls, finding that they couldn't be held liable because their alleged electronic interceptions were made for legitimate business purposes.

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University Of Phoenix Must Face Student's Pixel Tracking Suit

By Gina Kim

An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday refused to release the University of Phoenix from a proposed class action claiming it uses third party tracking tools to share students' video-viewing behavior with Meta, finding it plausibly alleges that third parties can intercept those communications in real-time directly from students who visit the school's site.

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No Crime-Fraud Exception For Meta Docs In Discovery Row

By Emily Field

A California federal judge overseeing discovery in litigation against social media giants over their platforms' alleged harm to youth mental health has said the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege doesn't apply to certain Meta documents about its internal research on young users.

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BOE Settles Display Patent Suits As Other Remains At Trial

By Ryan Davis

Chinese display maker BOE Technology Group Co. has settled two Eastern District of Texas patent suits brought by Optronic Sciences LLC, one of which was set for trial next month, according to a notice the parties filed, while an unrelated BOE patent trial is ongoing in the same court.

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Nokia Drops Patent Infringement Suit Against Hisense

By Kelcey Caulder

Nokia Technologies dropped its patent infringement suit alleging Chinese consumer technology firm Hisense sold millions of products that infringed on its video processing innovations while refusing to negotiate a standard licensing agreement.

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ITC To Probe Samsung's Oura Smart Ring Patent Case

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday said it is opening an investigation into claims made by Samsung that Oura's smart rings infringe four of its patents, part of an ongoing legal battle between the two companies.

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Monolithic Fights Investor Claims Over Nvidia Issues

By Sydney Price

Power management parts maker Monolithic Power Systems Inc. wants out of an investor suit accusing it of hiding critical defects in power modules used by its largest customer, Nvidia Corp., arguing that the suit's "fraud-by-hindsight" claims are not actionable.

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Ford Wants Out Of EV Battery Plant Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Ford Motor Co. urged a Michigan federal court to toss a proposed class and collective action accusing the company of stiffing workers on their full wages at an electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky, saying the named plaintiff failed to establish Ford was his employer.

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Microsoft Calls For Arbitration In Edge Privacy Suit Appeal

By Rachel Riley

Microsoft told a Washington state appeals court panel Wednesday that a proposed class action claiming secret collection of Edge users' browser data belongs in arbitration, contending a lower state court judge wrongly advanced the litigation after a Washington federal judge sent parallel claims to arbitration.  

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Payscale Presses Del. Justices To Revive Noncompete Claims

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over whether the state's Chancery Court went too far in dismissing Payscale's lawsuit seeking to enforce an 18-month noncompete clause against a former sales executive, focusing on when a court may decide, at the outset of a case, that a restrictive covenant is unenforceable as written.

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Oracle Sued By Pension Plan Over AI-Linked Debt Disclosures

By Katryna Perera

The Ohio Carpenters Pension Plan filed a proposed class action Wednesday in New York state court against Oracle, its founder Larry Ellison and other top brass, alleging the company failed to disclose that it would need to sell significant extra debt to fund its artificial intelligence buildout.

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Vox Media Sues Google, Adding To Ad Tech Antitrust Suits

By Rae Ann Varona

Google was hit Wednesday with yet another antitrust lawsuit over its ad tech, this time by Vox Media, which alleged in Manhattan federal court that the tech giant is unlawfully monopolizing the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.

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Cannabis Co. Says Rivals Infringe Distillation Patents

By Mike Curley

Natural Extraction Systems LLC has launched lawsuits against several makers of THC-infused products in federal courts, alleging that they have infringed four of its patents to create their products.

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Brief

SG Asks High Court To Reshuffle Sides In AT&T Fine Case

By Christopher Cole

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to realign the parties' designations in a combined case over the Federal Communications Commission's penalty powers after the justices recently granted review.

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Brief

Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Phone Security IP Suit Against Apple

By Dani Kass

A California federal judge properly freed Apple from claims that its iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches infringe two cellular security patents, the Federal Circuit said Wednesday.

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Brief

Fed. Circ. Backs Google PTAB Win Over Voice Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday declined to restore claims in a pair of voice technology patents owned by a Wi-LAN subsidiary, backing Patent Trial and Appeal Board findings that Google showed they were invalid.

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Czech Co. Seeks $873M IPO On Defense Spending Wave

By Nate Beck

Prague-based defense company Czechoslovak Group said Wednesday that it plans to raise some $873 million by listing on Euronext Amsterdam in the coming weeks in an initial public offering following rising defense spending from European and NATO governments.

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Lowenstein Sandler Guides Alpaca's $150M Series D

By Grace Dixon

Alpaca, a brokerage technology company, announced Wednesday that it had raised $150 million in a Series D round that valued the company at $1.2 billion in a deal steered by Lowenstein Sandler LLP.

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Judge OKs Flipcause Ch. 11 Trustee After Debtor Consents

By Emlyn Cameron

A Delaware bankruptcy judge granted the wish of the California Attorney General's Office that a trustee be installed to oversee the Chapter 11 case of fundraising tech company Flipcause, after the debtor voiced assent.

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Ligado Judge To Issue Ruling On Inmarsat Satellite Row

By Alex Wittenberg

A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Wednesday he would issue an oral ruling "in very short order" on telecommunications group Ligado Networks LLC's bid to stop litigation launched by Viasat unit Inmarsat Global Ltd. over Ligado's request to the government to let it license out spectrum rights.

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FTC Finalizes GM And Onstar Ban On Location Data Sharing

By Sarah Jarvis

General Motors and OnStar finalized a non-monetary deal with the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday, agreeing to a five-year ban on disclosing geolocation and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies, to end the regulator's allegations the companies didn't get drivers' consent before sharing.

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FTC Says Payments Co. Should Pay $53M For Violating Deal

By Emilie Ruscoe

The Federal Trade Commission has asked a Nevada federal judge to order a payment processor and two of its executives to pay over $52.9 million for consumer relief after allegedly violating terms of its 2015 settlement of the regulator's claims it willfully facilitated payments for bad actors.

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Miami Man Admits To $250K Zelle Scam In Connecticut

By Brian Steele

A Florida man has pled guilty to a conspiracy charge in Connecticut federal court over his role in scams that ripped off victims including Zelle users for more than $250,000, prosecutors said Wednesday.

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Zillow, Redfin Look To Toss FTC's Antitrust Case

By Matthew Perlman

Zillow Group Inc. and Redfin Corp. have urged a Virginia federal court to toss the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case against them, saying a partnership between the companies is meant to make their rental listing businesses more competitive, not to remove competition.

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Wilson Sonsini Creates Defense Tech Team, Hires Google Atty

By Andrea Keckley

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC announced Wednesday that it is launching a defense tech industry group with the hire of a brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve who most recently worked as an enterprise account executive for Google Public Sector's national defense business.

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Calif. AI Law Will Have Ripple Effect On Emerging Cos.

California's Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act is the first comprehensive state-level AI safety framework with mandated public disclosures in the U.S., and although it may not affect emerging companies directly, companies that embed governance and transparency into their operations will differentiate themselves in highly competitive markets, say attorneys at Mintz.

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IP Appellate Decisions Show 4 Shifts In 2025

In 2025, intellectual property decisions issued by the Ninth, D.C., and Federal Circuits trended toward tightening doctrinal boundaries, whether to account for technological developments in existing legal regimes, or to refine areas with some ambiguity, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.

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Opinion

US Cybersecurity Strategy Must Include Immigration Reform

Cyberthreats are escalating while the cybersecurity workforce remains constrained due to a lack of clear standards for national-interest determinations, processing backlogs affecting professionals who protect critical public systems and visa allocations that do not reflect real-world demands, says Rusten Hurd at Colombo & Hurd.

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Series

The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Forming Measurable Ties

Relationship-building should begin as early as possible in a law firm merger, as intentional pathways to bringing people together drive collaboration, positive client response, engagements and growth, says Amie Colby at Troutman.

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As Goldstein Trial Begins, Gov't Points To 'Lavish' Lifestyle

By Jared Foretek

An accountant for billionaire investor Alec Gores said that Thomas Goldstein had suggested he open a foreign account for Gores' poker-related transactions or even classify him as a professional player for tax purposes, although Gores was just getting started in the high-stakes poker world.

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Simpson Thacher Offers Stipend To Lure Summer Associates

By Tracey Read

In an effort for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to attract top students who want to pursue public interest work, the firm said it will pay a stipend of $42,500 for the 2026-2027 cycle for those who opt to spend their 1L summer in a qualifying public service, government, academic, in-house legal or nonprofit role.

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Calif. Justices Order Prosecutors To Explain Alleged AI Errors

By Dorothy Atkins

The California Supreme Court has ordered Nevada County prosecutors to explain to a lower court why they shouldn't be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings.

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Judiciary AI Rule Draws Fire As Judges Get Deepfakes Survey

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary policymakers heard extensive concerns Thursday regarding high-profile plans to formally screen evidence generated with artificial intelligence, and they set the stage for more feedback by preparing an AI survey for every federal trial judge.

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ICE Detention Facilities Nearly Doubled Last Year, Report Says

By Tom Lotshaw

An American Immigration Council report said the Trump administration detained record numbers of noncitizens last year, most without criminal records, and held them in a rapidly expanding network of facilities that could soon rival the federal criminal prison system.

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Fla. High Court Opens Door To Non-ABA Accrediting Entities

By Carolina Bolado

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday changed the bar exam admission requirements to allow graduates of law schools accredited by entities other than the American Bar Association to sit for the Florida bar exam.

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5th Circ. Revives Allstate's Fraud Suit Over Car Crash Billing

By Gina Kim

The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday revived Allstate's racketeering suit alleging doctors and personal injury lawyers unleashed a barrage of unnecessary treatments for car accident patients and caused Allstate to pay $4.7 million in claims, finding the insurer sufficiently pled details about the conspiracy and specifics surrounding each allegedly fake medical billing.

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Sens. Advance Indiana Judge Nominee Grilled Over Sermons

By Courtney Bublé

A federal judicial nominee for Indiana who came under scrutiny by a Republican senator for his past sermons as an ordained elder was voted out of committee Thursday alongside five other judicial nominees.

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Trump US Atty Pick In NM Bumped To First Assistant

By Emily Sawicki

A New Mexico federal judge has ruled the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for New Mexico is not validly serving in the role but declined to disqualify the prosecutor from a slate of cases pending in the district, instead determining the lawyer may continue to work in the federal prosecutor's office as first assistant.

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Wash. Judges To Pick US Atty As Floyd's Term Set To Expire

By Gina Kim

The chief judge for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday announced the court's intent to select a U.S. attorney to serve on a temporary basis if President Donald Trump's pick, Charles Neil Floyd, who has been serving on an interim basis, isn't confirmed by the Senate by next month. 

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