A California federal jury on Thursday found former Google software engineer Linwei Ding guilty of seven counts of trade secret theft and seven counts of economic espionage in a criminal trial over allegations that he stole the tech giant's artificial intelligence trade secrets to help himself and China.
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

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Calif. Jury Convicts Ex-Google Engineer Of Stealing AI Secrets

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal jury on Thursday found former Google software engineer Linwei Ding guilty of seven counts of trade secret theft and seven counts of economic espionage in a criminal trial over allegations that he stole the tech giant's artificial intelligence trade secrets to help himself and China.

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Analysis

3 Fed. Circ. Clashes To Watch In February

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit's argument calendar for next month includes the latest round of the patent slugfest between VLSI Technology and Intel Corp. as well as a patent owner's bid to escape a ruling that it must pay $4 million in attorney fees for a "baseless" suit against EMC Corp.

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Feature

From TikTok To The Courtroom, The Rise Of Lawfluencers

By Chris Villani

A growing group of legal influencers with huge followings say social media use is helping them expand their practices along with their brands and offering marketing lessons that even BigLaw can learn from.

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Attacks Haven't Killed Judiciary's AI Rule, May Strengthen It

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary advisers Thursday confronted the most extensive opposition yet in their campaign to ensure the reliability of evidence utilizing artificial intelligence, but the criticism appeared constructive, possibly upping the odds of a digital age addition to U.S. court rules.

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Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Streaming IP Suit Against Hulu

By Dani Kass

A California federal judge was right to free Hulu LLC from allegations that it infringed Sound View Innovations LLC's streaming patent, the Federal Circuit determined Thursday.

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Optis' Patent Case Against Apple Inches Closer To 3rd Trial

By Elliot Weld

A Texas federal judge has denied competing motions for summary judgment from Apple Inc. and Optis Wireless Technology LLC and preserved a claim accusing Apple of willfully infringing Optis patents.

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Fitness App Must Face Trimmed Suit Over Tracking Cookies

By Allison Grande

A California federal judge cut several wiretap and fraud claims from a proposed class action accusing MyFitnessPal of allowing third parties to track the browsing activities of website visitors who rejected the use of tracking cookies while allowing the plaintiffs to proceed with invasion of privacy and two other allegations.

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Apple Dodges Users' Deposition In Google Antitrust Case

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge has quashed a Christmas Eve deposition subpoena that sought information from Apple Inc. concerning dealings with Google LLC, saying users who accused Google of suppressing rival search engines through anticompetitive deals had no valid reason for the subpoena.

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Boies Schiller Hits Meta With Arbitration Bids Over Addiction

By Hailey Konnath

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP on Thursday filed nine arbitration demands against Meta Platforms Inc. on behalf of young Instagram users, claiming that the social media company's products are harmful and intentionally designed to hook young people.

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NHTSA Opens Waymo Probe After Autonomous Car Hits Child

By Dorothy Atkins

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened another investigation into Waymo LLC autonomous vehicles and how they operate in school zones after one hit a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, marking the second safety probe into Waymo's maneuverings around children since October.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Feds OK Expansion To Boost Techs In 6 GHz Airwaves

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday agreed to new rules expanding use of the 6 gigahertz spectrum band, mainly to drive the growth of devices using the Internet of Things and virtual and augmented reality.

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FCC To Collect More Info On Cos.' Ties With US Adversaries

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to require companies seeking telecommunications approvals to attest in writing if they are owned or controlled by foreign adversaries in a bid to increase national security in the media and telecom industries.

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Md. Tech Groups Praise Cybersecurity Tax Credit Plan

By Sanjay Talwani

Expanding eligibility for Maryland's cybersecurity tax credit would help more customers use tools from companies in the state to protect their data and information systems, industry representatives and the state's Commerce Department director told legislators Thursday.

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Brief

FCC's Carr Says More Plans To 'Delete' Regs On Way Soon

By Christopher Cole

The chief of the Federal Communications Commission says more rounds of his "Delete, Delete, Delete" initiative to scale back what he views as obsolete telecom rules will be coming up soon.

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LITIGATION

Robbins Geller To Lead CarMax Investors' Tariffs-Linked Suit

By Emilie Ruscoe

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP will represent a proposed class of CarMax Inc. investors in a suit accusing the used car retailer of mischaracterizing a bump in sales caused by consumers trying to get ahead of the Trump administration's tariffs as a sign of sustainable growth.

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Valve Scores Partial Win As Its Patent Troll Claims Near Trial

By Rachel Riley

A Seattle federal judge found Wednesday that inventor Leigh Rothschild breached an intellectual property licensing deal by leveling bogus infringement claims against Valve Corp. in 2022 but left other key questions for jurors to consider when the video game company's patent trolling case heads to trial next month.

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PubMatic Fails To Score Complete Dismissal Of Privacy Suit

By Corey Rothauser

A California federal judge has largely refused to dismiss a proposed class action that accuses digital advertising firm PubMatic Inc. of secretly tracking internet users across the web and selling their data, with the judge allowing most privacy and wiretapping claims to move forward.

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RealNetworks Can't Exit Investor Suit Over Take-Private Deal

By Katryna Perera

RealNetworks Inc., an artificial intelligence-focused digital media company, cannot escape a shareholder suit alleging that the company and its top brass misled investors in a 2022 take-private transaction, a Washington federal judge has ruled.

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ITC Judge Clears Innoscience's Redesigned Semiconductor

By Dani Kass

The U.S. International Trade Commission's 2025 decision that Innoscience's semiconductor imports infringe one of Infineon Technologies' patents was made public Thursday, revealing Innoscience has a path to avoid any upcoming ban.

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ITC To Review Medical Imaging Imports For Infringement

By Elliot Weld

The U.S. International Trade Commission said it is looking into medical imaging device imports for alleged patent infringement in response to a complaint from a Canadian-American firm.

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Apple Aims To Boot Anti-Moonlighting Suit To Arbitration

By Ben Adlin

Apple Inc. urged a Seattle federal judge to throw out a former employee's proposed class action accusing the company of unlawfully barring lower-wage workers from taking second jobs, arguing that plaintiff Gabriel Fisher gave up his right to sue when he signed an arbitration agreement included in his job offer.

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Inspire Medical Leaders Face Suit Over Apnea Device Rollout

By Emilie Ruscoe

Brass of Inspire Medical Systems Inc. face shareholder derivative claims they breached their fiduciary duties by concealing issues affecting the launch of the company's latest sleep apnea device, damaging investors after its trading prices fell 32% when the issues were disclosed.

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Shoddy Funds Cost Bloomberg 401(k) Investors Big, Suit Says

By Grace Elletson

Bloomberg may have lost its workers almost $200 million by failing to nix two underperforming investment funds from its $5 billion retirement plan, according to a proposed class action filed in New York federal court on Thursday claiming the financial data and media company shirked its fiduciary duties.

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Wolfspeed Says Jaguar Land Rover Reneged On Supply Deal

By Hayley Fowler

North Carolina-based chipmaker Wolfspeed Inc. has accused Jaguar Land Rover of refusing to pony up payments under a supply agreement for allegedly underbuying products last year, saying the automotive giant can't use slowdowns elsewhere as an excuse for its nonpayment.

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Luminar Sues Semiconductor Co. To Recover On $2.2M Loan

By Gina Kim

Bankrupt self-driving vehicle technology developer Luminar Technologies has hit Next Semiconductor with a suit in Texas bankruptcy court alleging the chipmaker has defaulted on a $2.2 million loan while "wrongly" suggesting Luminar's Chapter 11 proceedings somehow exempt it from paying the debt. 

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Fight To Control Security Screening Co. Hits Del. Chancery

By Jarek Rutz

A former director of a Florida-based weapon screening technology maker has asked the Delaware Chancery Court to determine who actually controls the company, bringing a summary proceeding challenging his recent removal from the board following what he described as an invalid stockholder vote grounded in a deeply flawed capitalization table.

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DEALS

3 Companies Begin Trading After Raising $1.3B In IPOs

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Satellite maker York Space Systems began trading publicly Thursday after raising $629 million in its upsized initial public offering, joining Brazilian digital banking platform PicPay and insurance platform Ethos Technologies, both of which also made their public debuts Thursday.

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ENFORCEMENT

6th Circ. Backs Gov't In $125K Crypto Forfeiture Case

By Sydney Price

The Sixth Circuit has sided with the U.S. government in a suit over its rights to more than $100,000 in allegedly laundered cryptocurrency, ruling the previous receivers of the funds missed the deadline to bring a claim after the government seized the assets.

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TAX

Microsemi To Report $144M In Overseas Sales In Settlement

By Anna Scott Farrell

Semiconductor manufacturer Microsemi has agreed to report $144 million in income from sales to its Irish affiliate but will avoid some tax penalties under the terms of a transfer pricing settlement with the Internal Revenue Service, according to a filing in the U.S. Tax Court.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

AI Licensing Suit Exhibits Pitfalls Of Vague Contract Terms

Fastcase Inc. v. Alexi Technologies, a case in District of Columbia federal court, demonstrates the potential consequences of vaguely drafted contract terms amid unforeseen technological advances, but there is practical guidance parties may employ to mitigate the potential for similar contract disputes, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

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Patent Eligibility Faces Widening Gap Between USPTO, Courts

The year 2026 opened with a profoundly altered Patent Act Section 101 ecosystem — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has pushed eligibility as far open as it can for artificial intelligence technologies, but the courts are not on the same page, say attorneys at Skadden.

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How Generative AI Cos. Can Navigate Product Liability Claims

Increasingly, plaintiffs are aggregating disputes over generative artificial intelligence and pursuing them through mass-tort-style proceedings, borrowing tactics from litigation involving social media, pharmaceuticals and other consumer-facing products — but there are approaches that AI companies can use to narrow claims and manage long-term exposure, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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Series

Playing Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

An instinct to turn pain into purpose meant frequent trips to the tennis court, where learning to move ahead one point at a time was a lesson that also applied to the steep learning curve of patent prosecution law, says Daniel Henry at Marshall Gerstein.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

FTC Warns 42 Law Firms Of DEI 'Anticompetitive Collusion'

By Sarah Jarvis

The Federal Trade Commission announced Friday that it has sent warning letters to 42 major law firms for their purported participation in an outside diversity, equity and inclusion program, alleging their participation could constitute anticompetitive collusion.

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Analysis

Real Estate Attys 'Not Going In Blind' Amid Data Center Boom

By Chris Villani

The explosion of artificial intelligence has created a sharp demand for new data centers with no signs of slowing down, posing challenges that have some real estate attorneys turning to well-worn playbooks from other industries.

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Susman Faces Suit After Ex-Client's Arbitration Loss

By Adam Lidgett

Susman Godfrey LLP and a litigation funding business were hit with a lawsuit in Texas state court by an Irish patent litigation business that is challenging the outcome of an arbitration proceeding putting it on the hook for more than $37.8 million.

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Attys Rip Judge-Shopping Sanctions As Bid To 'Rewrite' Rules

By Jake Maher

Two Alabama attorneys who were sanctioned for allegedly judge shopping in a civil rights case urged the Eleventh Circuit to toss the sanctions Friday, arguing the judges accusing them were seeking to "rewrite" the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

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Brief

Bill Regulating Attorney AI Use Passes California Senate

By Emily Sawicki

A proposed California law that would regulate attorneys and arbitrators' use of generative artificial intelligence statewide has headed to the Assembly after the state Senate unanimously approved the measure.

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Colo. Firm Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado law firm failed to properly care for the personal information of clients and their customers and did not provide adequate notice of a February 2025 data breach, according to a proposed class action in state court.

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Litigation Funder Suit Against Janus Henderson Can Proceed

By Ryan Boysen

A lawsuit that claims a Janus Henderson Group subsidiary schemed to take over a mass torts litigation funder can go forward, after a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled the funder's case was compelling enough to survive a motion to dismiss.

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House To Vote On Reform Of Court Nondisclosure Orders

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., fumed at the House on Friday for trying to undo a provision that allows him and other senators investigated by special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages and held up the government funding vote as a result. But a bill the House is poised to take up next week could alleviate some of his concerns.

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9th Circ. Says DOJ Can Withhold VW Grand Jury Records

By Emily Field

The Ninth Circuit on Friday held that the U.S. Department of Justice couldn't be forced to hand over about 6 million Volkswagen documents that were part of a Jones Day investigation into the automaker's 2015 emissions-cheating scandal, as the government obtained them through a grand jury subpoena.

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Analysis

The Message From Delaware Courts: Change Is Coming

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Supreme Court delivered a reminder to the state's corporation law ecosystem recently with a reversal of a Court of Chancery decision invalidating a 7-year-old stockholder agreement that granted broad corporate powers to investment bank Moelis & Co.'s founder.

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Roundup

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London saw collapsed solar bonds company Rockfire Capital sue the Royal Bank of Scotland, e-ticket platform Eventbrite target the owners of Salford Red Devils rugby club over an alleged contract breach, and Scottish distiller William Grant & Sons square off against a former MP in a trademark tussle tied to its Glenfiddich whisky. 

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

When Minnesota-based companies publicly called for de-escalation after two fatal shootings by federal ICE agents, the nation saw how CEOs and their general counsel can step up amid controversy. And a new study shows that white collar offenders received more than half of all recent pardons. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick PLLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a D.C. Circuit panel revived a lawsuit that accuses pharmaceutical companies of aiding a Hezbollah-linked militia's terrorism in Iraq.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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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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Promo that reads 2025 Practice Groups of the Year

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

3M Co.

AB Volvo

AE Industrial Partners LP

Alphabet Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Arbitration Association

American Civil Liberties Union

Apple Inc.

Arxada

Ashland Inc.

Association of Corporate Counsel

AstraZeneca PLC

Baker Hughes Co.

Bank of Cyprus Holdings PLC

Barclays PLC

Berkshire Hathaway Energy GT&S

BlackRock Inc.

Bloomberg LP

Burke Inc.

CLS Bank International

CarMax Inc.

Cargill Inc.

Cisco Systems Inc.

Comcast Corp.

Convex Insurance UK Ltd.

Dell Technologies Inc.

DraftKings Inc.

ESPN Inc.

Eventbrite Inc.

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

FTI Consulting Inc.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

Fox Corp.

GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.

Google LLC

HDI Global SE

HSBC Holdings PLC

Hulu LLC

Infineon Technologies AG

Inspire Medical Systems Inc.

Instagram Inc.

Insurance Europe Ltd.

Intel Corp.

Investments Ltd.

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd.

Janus Henderson Group PLC

Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Lambda Legal Defense & Educational Fund

Leidos Holdings Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

Lloyds Bank PLC

Longford Capital Management LP

Luminar Technologies Inc.

Lyft Inc.

Match.com Inc.

McDonald's Corp.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsemi Corp.

Microsoft Corp.

Moelis & Co.

Mozilla Corp.

NXP Semiconductors NV

Nasdaq Inc.

National Westminster Bank PLC

Novo Nordisk A S

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Paramount Global

Patent Asset Management

Pfizer Inc.

PubMatic Inc.

RealNetworks, Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

SentencingStats.com Inc.

Sequoia Capital Operations LLC

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Stanford University

T. Rowe Price Group Inc.

Target Corp.

Tesla Inc.

The Home Depot Inc.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC

The UPS Store

The Walt Disney Co.

Themis Solutions Inc.

TikTok Inc.

Ulta Beauty Inc.

United Parcel Service Inc.

University of Arkansas

University of Iowa

Valve Corp.

Victory Park Capital Advisors LLC

Vinci SA

Volkswagen AG

Waymo LLC

William Grant & Sons Ltd.

YMCA of the USA

York Space Systems LLC

YouTube Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Addleshaw Goddard

Advisors LLC

Akerman LLP

Alston & Bird

Alston Asquith

Arnold & Itkin

Arnold & Porter

Bailey & Glasser

Baker & Hostetler

Baker Botts

Baker McKenzie

Boies Schiller

Bradley Arant

Bryan Cave

Bursor & Fisher

CJ Jones Solicitors

CMS Cameron McKenna

Charhon Callahan

Christensen Law LLC

Clyde & Co

Cohen Milstein

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

DNL Zito

DWF LLP

David Boies

Davis Malm & D’Agostine

Davis Polk

Debevoise & Plimpton

Dechert LLP

Dentons

Desmarais LLP

DiCello Levitt

Dominick Feld

Emery Reddy

Faegre Drinker

Fieldfisher

Finnegan

Foley & Lardner

Fox Rothschild

Fried Frank

Gibson Dunn

Gillam Smith

Goodwin Procter

Gordon Rees

Gray Reed

Greenberg Traurig

Gutride Safier

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Knight

Husch Blackwell

Irell & Manella

JCP Solicitors

Jackson Lewis PC

Jones Day

K&L Gates

Kahn Swick

Kaplan & Grady

Katten Muchin

Kellogg Hansen

Kilpatrick Townsend

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Knights PLC

Kuit Steinart

Labaton Keller

Latham & Watkins

Law Offices of David W. Klasing

Law Offices of Lawrence G. Papale

Lester Aldridge

Lewis Brisbois

Lightfoot Franklin

Linklaters LLP

Littler Mendelson

Marshall Gerstein

Mayer Brown

Maynard Nexsen

McDermott Will & Schulte

McGuireWoods

McKool Smith

Meritz Reddy

Meyler Legal

Milberg Coleman

Mills & Reeve

Mintz Levin

Monteverde & Associates

Montgomery Little

Morgan Lewis

Morris Nichols

Nabarro LLP

Nelson Mullins

O'Melveny & Myers

Ogletree Deakins

Orrick Herrington

Pashman Stein

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Pillsbury Winthrop

Polsinelli PC

Potter Anderson

Redgrave LLP

Reed Smith

Rigrodsky Law

Robbins Geller

Ropes & Gray

Russell-Cooke

Sanford Heisler

Shakespeare Martineau

Sheppard Mullin

Shook Hardy

Sidley Austin

Signature Litigation LLP

Silverman Thompson

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Skadden Arps

Smith Gambrell

Sullivan & Cromwell

Susman Godfrey

Taylor Wessing

Troutman

Ven Johnson Law

Weil Gotshal

White & Case

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

Wilson Elser

Wilson Sonsini

Winston & Strawn

Wolf Greenfield

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alabama Attorney General's Office

California Air Resources Board

Companies House

Delaware Court of Chancery

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

Internal Revenue Service

International Trade Commission

Judicial Conference of the United States

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Serious Fraud Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Transportation

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Tax Court

UK High Court

UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO)

United States District Court for the District of Colorado