7th Circ. Eyes Sanctions In 'Are We Dating The Same Guy' Suit

By Lauren Berg

The Seventh Circuit Friday refused to revive a Chicago-area man's suit over allegedly false reports of his "obnoxious behavior" on an "Are We Dating the Same Guy?" Facebook page, while questioning why he shouldn't be sanctioned for "frivolously appealing" the tossed claims and submitting a brief containing "fictitious" citations.

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Citron Founder Phoned Fed. Agent During FBI Raid, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

An inspector with the U.S. Postal Service told a California federal jury considering securities fraud charges against Citron Research founder Andrew Left on Friday that even as she participated in the FBI's raid of his home, Left called her and spoke at length about the allegations against him for over an hour. 

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'I've Looked At Your Billing Records,' Rivian Judge Jokes

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge said Friday that she intends to grant final approval to Rivian's $250 million investor settlement, and drew laughs when she cut off a plaintiffs' attorney arguing that counsel worked hard for their requested fees, quipping, "I've looked at your billing records, I know."

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Maxim Denied Bid To Stop Playboy Contest Amid IP Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge shot down Maxim's bid to stop Playboy from allegedly ripping off the mechanics behind Maxim's "Cover Girl Competition," saying Maxim's delay in voicing misappropriation concerns and efforts to partner with Playboy amid the magazine's "Great Playmate Search" undermined Maxim's claims of irreparable harm.

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Meta Safety Monitor Would Create Roadblock, Judge Told

By Cara Salvatore

Putting Meta under the supervision of a court-ordered monitor would only cause a slowdown in the development of new child safety features, a compliance executive testified Friday in the New Mexico attorney general's bench trial seeking changes to company practices.

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Fed. Circ. Drops A Theme Song, Talks Guest Judges

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's full lineup came together Friday to provide practitioners with insight about their experience sitting on other courts, in a conference where the chief judge dropped the court's first (and only) single.

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Interview

8 Questions For Rural Broadband Advocate Mike Romano

By Christopher Cole

Several developments in rural connectivity, from a cascade of federal grants to legislative efforts to shore up the Universal Service Fund, means a crowded plate for the NTCA's new boss, Mike Romano. Here, Law360 catches up with Romano to hear more about his plans as he settles into his role.

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Bankers Group Backs Stricter Robocalls Regs

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The American Bankers Association is backing a Federal Communications Commission effort to ensure that companies routing outgoing robocalls know that the communications are legitimate.

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Calif. High Court Releases EdTech Co. From Data Breach Suit

By Allison Grande

California's top court struck down a proposed class action accusing education technology provider Illuminate of failing to safeguard students' personal and health information, which was exposed in a data breach, finding the plaintiff hadn't sufficiently alleged key elements for his claims under the state's medical confidentiality or data security laws.

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Amazon Fights Revival Of Class Claim In Alexa Recording Suit

By Ben Adlin

Amazon on Friday urged a Washington federal judge to deny Alexa users' bid to reinstate a class consumer protection claim based on allegations the devices secretly recorded their personal conversations, arguing that the court correctly recognized the e-commerce giant "clearly" and "repeatedly" disclosed its data practices.

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X.AI Urges 9th Circ. To Block Calif. AI Data Disclosure Law

By Ivan Moreno

Elon Musk's company, X.AI LLC, has asked the Ninth Circuit to overturn a California court's refusal to block a state law that requires artificial intelligence developers to publicly disclose details about their training data, saying the judge's decision was "flawed from top to bottom."

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GoPro Freed From $8.2M Verdict As Judge Axes Camera IP

By Adam Lidgett

A California federal judge has freed camera giant GoPro from owing $8.2 million for infringing a claim in a video technology patent owned by Contour IP Holding LLC, finding that the claim was invalid.

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Med Device Groups 'Overshot' In Fair Use Args, Judge Says

By Elliot Weld

A judge on a D.C. Circuit panel said a set of industry groups covering the advanced medical device industry might have "overshot" in a challenge to a Library of Congress exemption that said use of copyrighted software for the purpose of repairing those devices fell under fair use, since the groups tried to lump the software that merely operates the machines into the case.

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Caitlyn Jenner Faces Fresh Suit Over Meme Coin Collapse

By Emilie Ruscoe

Media personality and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner faces potential class action fraud claims in California state court over the collapse of her meme coins after a similar action was tossed from federal court last month because a judge said the plaintiff couldn't sustain his securities fraud claims.

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Judge Won't Undo Ax Of Location Patent Suit Against Google

By Elliot Weld

A New York federal judge said he would not grant a favorable judgment or a new trial to the owner of a location tracking patent who accused Google of infringement, saying the owner had not raised any arguments that would merit disturbing the finding that he acted with intent to deceive the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Meta Fights Uphill To Nix BIPA Voiceprint Privacy Claims

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge said Friday she's inclined to deny Meta Platforms Inc.'s summary judgment bid on an Illinois resident's claims Meta violated the Prairie State's Biometric Information Privacy Act by obtaining her voice recordings from Facebook and Messenger platforms, saying there's enough evidence to establish a material factual dispute.

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Renters Seek Approval For $218M In RealPage Landlord Deals

By Isaac Monterose

A class of renters asked a Tennessee federal court to preliminarily approve more than $218 million worth of settlements that aim to resolve antitrust claims against a group of multifamily landlords accused of using property management software company RealPage Inc.'s technology for rent price-fixing.

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Hertz Inks $10M Deal To End Investor Suit Over EV Demands

By Gina Kim

A Hertz investor asked a Florida federal judge Friday to preliminarily approve a $10 million settlement to resolve claims the car rental company overhyped the demand for electric cars, only later to announce a $200 million earnings hit as it sought to offload the vehicles, causing stock prices to fall.

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Former Google Employee Alleges Racial Bias Behind Firing

By Celeste Bott

A former Google employee sued the tech giant in Illinois state court, claiming he suffered pervasive racial discrimination from his direct supervisor that ultimately culminated in his termination, purportedly for poor productivity, even when he was at a pace to meet or exceed his revenue targets.

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Grok Chatbot Shares Private Info With Tech Cos., Suit Says

By Gina Kim

Users of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok have had their most personal queries and conversations shared with Meta, Google and TikTok for advertising purposes without the users' permission, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.

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Fed. Circ. OKs Decisions Clearing Banks In Patent Cases

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Friday backed lower court decisions that cleared a pair of banks of allegations that they infringed an online banking patent, but threw out a nearly $85,000 sanctions order against the patent owner and its counsel.

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Software Firm Seeks Belgian Venue For Calif. Cannabis Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A Belgian software company has urged a California state court to throw out a nearly $400,000 fraud and breach of contract lawsuit filed by the owners of the PlugPlay cannabis vape brand, arguing both sides agreed all disputes must be litigated in Belgium.

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Claims Court Tosses Wireless Co.'s 'Rip And Replace' Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has thrown out an SI Wireless LLC suit claiming the Federal Communications Commission owed it more than $157 million for removing Chinese-made equipment from its network, ruling that the suit was brought in the wrong court.

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Insurer Owes No Coverage In Ill. Genetic Testing Fraud Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

An insurer does not have to defend an embryo storage lab against a proposed class action alleging it used deceptive marketing to sell genetic testing services to IVF patients, because misleading promotion doesn't fall under the lab's coverage, an Illinois federal judge has ruled.

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Metals Co. Sued Over Massive Feb. Data Breach

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia-based steel and metal distributor was hit with a proposed class action in federal court alleging it failed to safeguard the personal data of more than 5.5 million account holders during a February data breach.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Cassels, Ropes & Gray

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Equinox Gold Corp. and Orla Mining Ltd. announce a merger to create a major gold producer, OpenAI plans to form a company to boost adoption of its software across enterprises and private equity firm Apollo acquires trade show operators Emerald Holding and Questex.

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Cerebras' Mega IPO Boosts Confidence In AI Pipeline

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Artificial intelligence computing company Cerebras Systems Inc.'s blockbuster debut was well received by deals attorneys who track the pipeline for initial public offerings, with lawyers saying the upsized $5.6 billion IPO is a sign that investor confidence in the AI sector is growing. 

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DOJ Open To Criminal Enforcement Against Pricing Software

By Matthew Perlman

An official from the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division warned that algorithmic pricing software could be subject to criminal enforcement if the companies using it know their nonpublic data is going to be used to set prices for competitors.

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Payments Co. Cliq Must Pay $6.5M For Violating FTC Deal

By Aislinn Keely

A Nevada federal judge has directed Cliq Inc. and its executives to pay a $6.5 million sanction over the Federal Trade Commission's claims the payment processor violated the terms of a 2015 settlement by continuing to work with high-risk merchants that allegedly defrauded customers.

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FTC's Case Alleging Zillow, Redfin Pact Set For August Trial

By Nate Beck

A Virginia federal judge has set an August trial date after shutting down a bid by Zillow and Redfin to escape a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing the companies of sealing a deal to stop competing on multifamily rental listings with a $100 million payment.

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FCC Launches E-Rate Subsidy Probe In Minnesota

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission is scrutinizing the activities of some Minnesota E-Rate providers for possible fraud in the federal program used to expand connectivity in schools and libraries.

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Kilpatrick Lands Calif. Patent Litigation Duo From Reed Smith

By Madison Arnold

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP has expanded its patent litigation team in San Francisco with the addition of two partners from Reed Smith LLP.

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3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

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AI Investment Advice May Fail Investor Protection Rules

Based on an ongoing study of artificial intelligence platforms' investment advice given to retail investors, direct access to AI may not yield recommendations for typical households that are suitable under relevant securities rules, raising new and important issues in the regulation of financial markets, says Bruce Carlin at Rice University.

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Exploring The Legal Gray Area Around AI Voices In Music

The growing prevalence of AI music on online platforms highlights unique legal questions and ambiguities surrounding the usage of artificial intelligence to create accurate voice clones of existing singers, says Michael Maicher at Volpe Koenig.

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'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

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Murdaugh Sues Ex-Court Clerk Who Tried To Sway The Jury

By Jack Karp

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh is suing the court clerk whose attempt to influence the jury in his murder trial led the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn his murder conviction.

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Barred From Harvard Suit Over AI Error

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts judge on Monday said a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney may not appear before him in a suit against Harvard University over the theft of body parts donated to its medical school, saying the lawyer did not learn his lesson after signing off on briefs in another case with fake case law generated by artificial intelligence.

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Trump Seeks Circuit Seats For 2 Judges He Appointed

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's recent picks for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits mark the first time in his second administration that he's seeking to elevate judges he appointed in his first term.

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Health Co. Wants Kirkland Off IP Case For 'Cardinal Sin'

By Elliot Weld

A healthcare company suing medical technology company Commure Inc. over alleged trade secret theft has said Kirkland & Ellis LLP should be disqualified from representing Commure because the healthcare company had tried to retain Kirkland prior to filing the suit and shared confidential information before anyone asked who the defendant was going to be.

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Wyoming Prosecutor Confirmed Despite Misconduct Rebuke

By Courtney Bublé

Just a few days ago, federal judges tossed nine criminal indictments after President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. attorney's office of Wyoming was accused of prosecutorial misconduct. On Monday evening, he was confirmed to permanently lead the office.

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Analysis

Half The Nation's Bar Apps Could Remove Rape Questions

By Cara Bayles

By next year, it's possible that about half of U.S. jurisdictions will have amended character and fitness questions to avoid dredging up aspiring lawyers' sexual trauma. But while advocates hail the reforms as progress, concerns linger about the patchwork this could create across the country.

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Ex-Willkie Atty Banned By SEC For Insider Trading

By Emily Sawicki

A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP mergers and acquisitions attorney who earlier this month admitted to taking part in a widespread BigLaw insider trading scheme will be barred from representing a client before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a minimum of four years, according to an order the agency issued Monday.

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NY Judge Largely Halts Manhattan Immigration Courts Arrests

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge Monday largely barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting arrests at three Manhattan immigration courthouses, finding there was no good reason why "unfettered discretion" by ICE officers was better than a policy with arrest limitations.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of celebrity estate litigation, merger disputes, investor suits, record demands, sanctions fights and questions over corporate moves away from Delaware.

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