Analysis

Trump's AI Cyber Directive Leaves Cos. Guessing At Upside

By Allison Grande

A recent executive order intended to boost the security of advanced artificial intelligence systems hinges on developers voluntarily making their models available to the government for prerelease testing, but lingering questions about the potential trade-offs of this exchange raise doubts about the ultimate effectiveness of this model.

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Supreme Court Lets Texas Age Verification Law Stand

By Spencer Brewer

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave a green light for the Texas attorney general to enforce a law requiring app stores to block minors from downloading apps without parental consent, dealing a blow to advocacy groups who hoped to stay enforcement of the law.

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Musk Loses New Trial Bid In Twitter Investor Fraud Suit

By Jessica Corso

Elon Musk on Monday was denied a second shot at proving that he did not defraud Twitter Inc. shareholders when he cast doubt on an agreement to take the platform private for $44 billion, although the verdict against him was trimmed. 

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Data Co. Founder's $25M Fraud Trial Set For January

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday set a January trial date for the founder of California data company Near Intelligence on charges that he conspired to inflate revenues by $25 million, but heard that he is engaging in plea negotiations.

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Live Nation Pushes Bid To Nix Antitrust Trial Loss

By Christine DeRosa

Live Nation is backing its bid for judgment in its favor and a new trial after state enforcers won a jury verdict finding the company monopolized key parts of the live entertainment industry.

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Stability And Runway Trained AI On 100K Car Pics, Suit Says

By Craig Clough

Stability AI, Runway AI and DeviantArt used at least 100,000 copyrighted car photos without permission to train their artificial intelligence image generators, according to a lawsuit lodged by automotive photography company Evox Productions in California federal court.

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Latest Squires Order Accepts 9 Patent Petitions, Rejects 2

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director granted nine petitions for America Invents Act patent scrutiny and denied two others, while also saying he'd assess the merits of a dozen other challenges.

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Analysis

After Tense Terms, Hints Of High Court Harmony With Circuits

By Jeff Overley

Following several U.S. Supreme Court terms teeming with reversals and rebukes of lower appeals courts, the justices this term found fault less often with rulings by circuit judges, who are likely becoming better attuned to the conservative supermajority, attorneys say.

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Feature

The Funniest Moments Of The Supreme Court's Term

By Jeff Overley

When one of the U.S. Supreme Court's most talkative members suddenly struggled to speak, the atmosphere at oral arguments grew increasingly anxious — until the justice deadpanned that it was an advocate's golden opportunity to avoid a grilling.

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Analysis

The Moments That Shaped The Monsanto Decision

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

U.S. Supreme Court justices forged unusual alliances when they ruled a federal statute preempts claims Monsanto failed to warn consumers its Roundup weed killer may cause cancer. Oral arguments provided insights on the 7-2 outcome, highlighting issues the jurists were grappling with and showcasing rationales that found their way into the opinion.

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Analysis

Justices Find Middle Ground In Favoring Criminal Defendants

By Brandon Lowrey

The U.S. Supreme Court's criminal law rulings this term often sided with defendants, ruling in ways that defied simple conservative and liberal labels.

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House Bill Aims To Block Fiber From 'Countries of Concern'

By Christopher Cole

A recently introduced bipartisan House bill would block the use of federal funds to purchase fiber-optic network gear from "countries of concern," as the bill's sponsors described foreign adversaries.

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Stakeholders Push For Expanded Brazil Tariff Exemptions

By Dylan Moroses

Industry associations urged the U.S. Trade Representative's Office to expand tariff exemptions for the 25% duty anticipated on Brazilian goods as a result of its alleged unfair trading practices, according to recently published comment letters.

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Feds Spell Out State, Local Roles In Mitigating Drone Threats

By Christopher Cole

Federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, have spelled out the roles of states, city police forces and other nonfederal authorities in reducing the safety risks of drones.

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Brief

FCC Unveils Location Map For Alaska Mobile Funding

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday released the first locations in Alaska for which the agency is willing to provide subsidy funds to see them set up with mobile service as part of the billion-dollar Alaska Connect Fund.

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Workday Can't Get Quick Appeal In AI Bias Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Workday can't ask the Ninth Circuit to immediately review a ruling allowing job applicants to bring disparate impact claims under federal age bias law in a suit alleging the company's artificial intelligence tools discriminated against them, a California federal judge ruled, saying a midcase appeal would not advance the litigation.

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DCG Can Send Crypto Securities Question To 2nd Circ.

By Aislinn Keely

A Connecticut federal judge gave Digital Currency Group and its executives the green light to ask the Second Circuit whether certain cryptocurrency lending agreements amount to securities, waving on an appeal of a February order that kept alive a proposed class action over the collapse of DCG's crypto lending subsidiary.

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Medtronic Denied Bid To Nix $382M Antitrust Loss

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal court has denied Medtronic Inc.'s attempt to ditch a roughly $382 million trial loss in an antitrust case accusing the company of maintaining its monopoly over a surgical device through contracts that a jury found blocked competition.

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Judge Tosses Most Apple AirPods Max Defect Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

A Brooklyn federal judge on Monday permanently dismissed most claims in a proposed class action alleging Apple's $549 AirPods Max headphones have a condensation defect, saying the devices still serve their ordinary purpose of playing audio even if they aren't perfect.

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Deloitte Drops Trade Secrets Beef With Sagitec For Now

By Hailey Konnath

Deloitte agreed to voluntarily dismiss its suit accusing competitor Sagitec of stealing Deloitte's copyrighted computer program for unemployment insurance claims, according to a notice filed in Delaware federal court Monday though a related criminal case against a pair of former Deloitte employees is still slated for a January trial.

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CS Disco Investors Seek Initial OK Of $11.5M Deal

By Sydney Price

E-discovery provider CS Disco has reached a nearly $12 million deal with shareholders that would end claims that the company concealed information regarding the sustainability of its rapid revenue growth in 2021 and sexual harassment allegations against its CEO.

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Apple Moves To Toss App Developers' Off-App Purchases Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Apple has urged a California federal court to toss, or at least pause, a proposed class action that seeks payback of profits it allegedly received in violation of an injunction blocking prohibitions on developers steering customers to alternative purchasing mechanisms, saying a prior settlement released the plaintiff developers' claims.

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Illumina Looks To Duck DNA Rival's Renewed Antitrust Case

By Matthew Perlman

Illumina told a California federal court an antitrust case from DNA sequencing startup Element Biosciences should be tossed for good because it continues to attack legitimate discounts that do nothing to block competition.

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Apple Hit With Ill. Biometric Privacy Suit Over Eye Scans

By Celeste Bott

A putative class sued Apple in Illinois federal court, alleging it violated Illinois' biometric privacy law, claiming that while Apple informs users it collects facial template geometry for facial recognition purposes, it doesn't disclose the scans it takes of irises or retinas and can't secure written consent the law requires.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week handled disputes involving arbitration, corporate control, advancement rights, freeze-out mergers and insolvent company wind-downs.

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Roundup

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Rapid-Fire Rulings, Word Of Warning

By Hayley Fowler

Summer is heating up in North Carolina Business Court with a slew of recent rulings, including one greenlighting a data breach class action brought by current and former workers who allege Charlotte-based Bojangles failed to guard their personal information from hackers.

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5 Firms Steer Solstice's $14.5B Element Solutions Buy

By Nate Beck

Solstice Advanced Materials, a company spun off from Honeywell, will acquire fellow chemical company Element Solutions for $14.5 billion, creating a larger supplier of components serving the data center and semiconductor manufacturing industries.

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Lockheed Martin Strikes $3.5B Deal For Ultra Maritime

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Global defense company Lockheed Martin, advised by Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, on Monday unveiled plans to acquire private equity-backed undersea warfare solutions company Ultra Maritime in a $3.45 billion deal.

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Paul Weiss-Led Data Center Operator CSquare Eyes $1.3B IPO

By Nate Beck

Data center owner CSquare said Monday it aims to raise $1.3 billion in an initial public offering next week advised by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and underwriters' counsel Latham & Watkins LLP.

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Gibson Dunn, Kirkland Build Versant's $530M Full Swing Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Media and entertainment company Versant Media Group Inc., advised by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, on Monday announced plans to buy sports technology group Full Swing from Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led Bruin Capital in a roughly $530 million cash deal.

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Judge Says No To Amicus On Attorney Privilege In FTC Case

By Nadia Dreid

A defense bar advocacy group will not get a chance to weigh in on the FTC's antitrust case against Amazon over allegations the e-commerce behemoth used attorney-client privilege to hide evidence from discovery after a Washington federal judge declined to hear from the group.

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10 Years, 150 Cases: The Rise And Fall Of Post-Halo Damages

When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Halo v. Pulse in 2016, patent practitioners predicted that enhanced damages would become easier to win, but analysis of every contested district court ruling on a motion for enhanced damages in the last 10 years shows that courts have shown increasing restraint, say attorneys at Reichman Jorgensen.

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Why Biotech Cos. Need Litigation Plans Before Bad News

Biotech companies should take proactive steps to respond to the growing trend of securities litigation filed against them, due to the inherently uncertain nature of their business models and heightened scrutiny of clinical trial disclosures, regulatory communications and investor-facing statements, says Wesley Horton at FBFK.

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High Court's FCC Fine Ruling Reframes Agency Enforcement

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T sweeps aside uncertainty about what kinds of regulatory enforcement trigger a Seventh Amendment right, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

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A Potential Turning Point For Short-And-Distort Claims

A California federal jury's conviction of Andrew Left signals that the historically blurry line between securities fraud and legitimate criticism of companies is growing clearer, and that there is a viable recourse against so-called short-and-distort campaigns intended to create a false impression of the market, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

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Immigration Ruling Maps Alternative To Universal Injunctions

A Rhode Island federal court's decision in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS vacating policies that froze key immigration adjudications for nationals of 39 countries, and paused asylum applications altogether, suggests how practitioners might press for the Administrative Procedure Act's bad faith exception to record review and seek vacatur as a viable alternative to universal injunctions, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

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Blank Rome Sued Over Breach Allegedly Affecting 57K People

By Steven Lerner

An attorney with Blank Rome LLP was tricked into uploading sensitive files to an external Google Drive account, allegedly exposing private information belonging to more than 57,000 individuals, according to a proposed class action accusing the law firm of inadequate cybersecurity safeguards and delayed breach notification.

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Richards Layton Faces Possible Sanctions Over AI Errors

By Rose Krebs

Richards Layton & Finger PA and one of its attorneys have been directed by the Delaware Court of Chancery to show why they should not be sanctioned for a brief submitted with "hallucinated legal propositions" generated by artificial intelligence and for not taking steps to remediate those errors.

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Partnership Docs Sealed In Clifford Chance Clawback Spat

By Ryan Boysen

A federal judge has sealed the partnership agreements that two ex-Clifford Chance LLP practice group heads who jumped to Sidley Austin LLP included in their lawsuit challenging a nearly $6 million clawback demand, after Clifford Chance claimed the tactics put it at a competitive disadvantage. 

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Murdaugh Fights Clerk's Bid To Ax Jury-Tampering Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A former court clerk found to have interfered in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial cannot escape civil claims over the tampering, the disgraced attorney told a South Carolina federal court, stating in an opposition that the clerk cannot argue her way out of the state Supreme Court's finding that she tampered with the jury.

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DOJ Looks To Block ABA's Trump Adviser Subpoenas

By Jack Karp

The American Bar Association cannot demand documents and deposition testimony from a Trump adviser in its lawsuit over the Trump administration's executive orders targeting law firms, since any communication between a presidential adviser and the chief executive is privileged, the government has told a New York federal court.

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Roc Nation Calls Out Alleged AI Citations In Fat Joe Case Brief

By Andrea Keckley

Roc Nation LLC has told a New York federal judge that plaintiff Terrance Dixon's opposition brief filed in a pending Rule 11 sanctions fight should be struck down in part because it includes what the company alleges are fabricated quotations attributed to real judicial decisions.

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Kasowitz Sued Over College Antisemitism Settlement Fees

By Adrian Cruz

A group of Columbia University students who reached a settlement with the school over alleged antisemitism on campus accused Kasowitz LLP of wrongfully taking over $6 million from the deal and engaging in "self-dealing and misappropriation."

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Split 5th Circ. Backs Bond Hearings For Immigrant Detainees

By Ganesh Setty

The Fifth Circuit has limited its recent decision permitting the federal government to subject unauthorized immigrants to mandatory detention without bond, finding such individuals are still entitled to an eventual bond hearing under their Fifth Amendment due process rights.

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GOP Bill Would Cement DOJ Fraud Division In Federal Law

By Courtney Bublé

A pair of House Republicans are looking to put a congressional stamp of approval on the new fraud division in the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Nadine Menendez's Attys Rebuked For Medical Disclosures

By Carla Baranauckas

A New York federal judge rebuked Nadine Menendez's attorneys on Monday for publicly filing a request to delay her surrender date that included "extensive intimate details" of her medical condition, calling the disclosure "astonishing" and ordering the parties to refile a redacted version by Wednesday.

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