'Profits Won': States Say Meta Targeted Kids As Trial Opens

By Dorothy Atkins

An attorney for more than two dozen states told a California federal jury during opening statements Tuesday that Meta hid what it knew about social media's mental health harms and prioritized profits over safety in a yearslong effort to hook kids on its platforms, while Meta defended its safety practices as best-in-class.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Zuckerberg Waved Off Filter Criticism, Tenn. Jury Hears

By Cara Salvatore

A former Meta executive overseeing responsible innovation testified Tuesday that Mark Zuckerberg iced out her thoughts regarding the harm to teens of cosmetic surgery image filters, but said generally the company's employees are well intentioned when it comes to user safety.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Big Tech, PTAB Attys Urge Justices To Fix USPTO Power Grab

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's refusal to curb the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director's power over instituting Patent Trial and Appeal Board challenges has allowed leaders to "wreak havoc" without accountability, top tech companies have warned the U.S. Supreme Court.

7 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Hesai Deprived Due Process Over DOD List, DC Circ. Says

By Craig Clough

A D.C. Circuit panel held Tuesday that a Department of Defense decision to include Shanghai lidar-maker Hesai on a list of Chinese military companies didn't give the company due process, reversing a lower court's ruling while also allowing the designation to remain in effect.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Publishers Target Google's 'Fake Privilege' In Ad Tech MDL

By Bryan Koenig

A group of website publishers targeting Google's advertising placement technology dominance in a wider multidistrict litigation asked a New York federal judge Monday to force discovery into corporate policies allegedly hiding evidence that have continuously haunted the technology giant across antitrust cases from government and private plaintiffs.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ABC Sues FCC To Stop License Renewal 'Retaliation'

By Nadia Dreid

ABC sued the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of using the agency to threaten the Disney-owned network's licenses in a bid to stop it from broadcasting anything displeasing to the president.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

House GOP Still Pushing For Broadband Permit Bill This Year

By Christopher Cole

Despite months of delays, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are still pressing for legislation that would compel local governments to act faster on broadband permit applications, a top congressional aide said Tuesday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Pennsylvania Now Requires Local Approval For Data Centers

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday he has signed an executive order imposing additional requirements on developers seeking to build data centers in the state, including a mandate that projects must obtain approval by local municipalities before the state will allow them to advance.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FCC Seeks Public Input On AT&T's Bid To End Copper Service

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking public input on AT&T's application to stop providing domestic legacy voice service amid a push toward a wireless system.

Comments attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fed. Circ. Won't Revive PTAB Challenge Of Westport Patents

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board was right when it declined to eliminate claims in a pair of fuel injection patents owned by Westport Fuel Systems Canada Inc., saying that Mercedes-Benz and an engineering and technology company didn't prove the invention's obviousness.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Coinbase Must Face Investor Suit Over SEC, Bankruptcy Risks

By Jessica Corso

A New Jersey federal judge on Tuesday denied Coinbase's latest bid to escape a proposed class action accusing it of misleading investors about risks tied to regulatory action and potential bankruptcy, ruling that it is "not difficult to infer" that the company and its leadership were financially motivated to deceive shareholders.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ITC Probing Transformers Over Trade Secrets Theft Claim

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission has opened an investigation into a California transformer manufacturer's claims that an Indian competitor stole its trade secrets in order to accelerate its entrance into the U.S. market, along with false advertising and trademark infringement claims.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NJ Justices Signaled Likely End To Daniel's Law, Experts Say

By George Woolston

First Amendment experts said the New Jersey Supreme Court likely doomed the state's judicial privacy law when it found that the statute did not require those seeking damages to establish mental state, a decision that the Third Circuit hinted could result in the measure being struck down.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Cyber Policies Don't Cover Antitrust Claims, Insurers Say

By Hope Patti

Insurers urged a Colorado federal court to deny a real estate investment trust's bid for a pretrial win in a dispute over coverage for antitrust claims against landlords accused of using RealPage Inc.'s software for rent price-fixing, saying the allegations don't fall within the scope of cyber coverage.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Boeing Is Pressed For Financial Records In NASA IP Row

By Elaine Briseño

Wilson Aerospace LLC asked a Washington federal judge to compel the Boeing Co. Inc. to turn over financial materials and other documents that have information relevant to their dispute over technology used in NASA's moon program.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Sportradar Wants Altenar To Arbitrate Data Monopoly Case

By Matthew Perlman

Sportradar told a New Jersey federal court the antitrust claims being brought by sports betting technology company Altenar are based entirely on a business agreement that contains an arbitration provision.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Snap Says Pixel Suit Refiled To Avoid Skeptical Calif. Judge

By Allison Grande

Snap is pushing to move a proposed pixel-tracking class action from federal court in Los Angeles to San Francisco, arguing that the dispute "bears all the hallmarks of strategic forum selection designed to avoid" litigating in front of a Northern District of California judge who's called the state's wiretap statute "a total mess."

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

PE Music Rights Co. Sues Anthropic, Suno Over AI Training

By Bonnie Eslinger

Private equity music publisher Round Hill Music has sued Anthropic, Suno and web-scraping provider Bright Data in separate federal lawsuits in California, accusing the companies of "rampant commercial copying" of thousands of its copyrighted songs and lyrics without permission to build and train artificial intelligence systems.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-Meta Worker Says His EB-2 Letter Concerns Got Him Fired

By Carla Baranauckas

A former Meta Platforms Inc. product design manager sued the social media giant and his former supervisor in New Jersey federal court, claiming that he was fired after refusing to sign an immigration support letter for a colleague because he believed it contained inaccurate or unsupported facts.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Microsoft Harvests K-12 Student Data, Class Action Claims

By Ben Adlin

Microsoft Corp.'s partnerships with K-12 schools in Washington have allowed the technology giant to collect and profit from swaths of personal student data in violation of state and federal law, according to a proposed class action filed by four minor students who attend public schools in Spokane, Washington.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Property Management Co. Hit With Suit Over Data Breach

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class of consumers accused property management company Cambridge Management Inc. on Tuesday of failing to protect their personally identifiable information from hackers who breached the company's systems.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2 Cos. Claim Mich. City's Data Center Moratorium Is Unlawful

By Isaac Monterose

Two companies have accused the Michigan city of Gibraltar of enforcing "an unlawful moratorium" that is preventing them from converting a steel processing plant into a data center.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Intuit Hid AI, Mailchimp Woes From Investors, Suit Says

By Sydney Price

TurboTax distributor Intuit Inc. has been hit with a shareholder's proposed class action accusing it of falsely telling investors that it was well-positioned to integrate generative artificial intelligence tools even though the technology was actually diminishing Intuit's primary businesses.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

​​​​​​​Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving multibillion-dollar mergers, corporate oversight, founder control, SPAC litigation, commercial contracts and attorney fees.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

DSW, Sony Strike Deal In Social Media Music Copyright Fight

By Ivan Moreno

Sony Music Entertainment and DSW's parent company, Designer Brands, have reached a settlement in principle in a copyright infringement suit accusing the shoe retailer and related companies of using more than 100 copyrighted songs in social media advertising without authorization, according to a notice filed in California federal court.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Orrick, Kirkland Steer Weave's $650M Take-Private

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Patient engagement platform and payment services company Weave Communications Inc., led by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, on Tuesday revealed it will become a private company after it was acquired by Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised private equity shop Francisco Partners in a $650 million deal.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AI Biz Fort Robotics To Go Public Via $556.6M SPAC Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Fenwick & West LLP-advised tech company Fort Robotics Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to go public by merging with special purpose acquisition company Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp., led by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, in a deal that values the merged business at a pro forma enterprise value of $556.6 million.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2 Firms Guide Ohio Uranium Site Data Center Development

By Nate Beck

OpenAI said it will take a 20-year lease at a planned data center campus being built by Nvidia and SoftBank on a Cold War-era nuclear site in central Ohio, in a project advised by Latham & Watkins LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Medical Device Exec Cashed In On Bad Quarter, Feds Charge

By Pete Brush

A former Treace Medical Concepts executive was arrested on insider trading charges Tuesday, after New York federal prosecutors said he exploited secret warnings about the Florida medical device company's sales and turned a $37,000 profit betting its stock would fall.

Indictment attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DLA Piper Taps Weil Partner As New York PE Co-Lead

By Andrea Keckley

DLA Piper has announced it hired a Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP partner to co-lead its private equity practice in New York.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jackson Lewis Atty Appointed Privacy, AI Lead Of L&E Global

By Matt Perez

Labor and employment firm Jackson Lewis PC announced Tuesday that its attorney Mary T. Costigan was appointed co-leader of data protection and artificial intelligence at L&E Global, an alliance affiliated with Jackson Lewis.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

A Deepening Patent-Trademark Divide Over Irreparable Harm

Recent Federal Circuit decisions, along with legislation being considered in Congress, may exacerbate the differences that patent owners and trademark owners face when seeking to stop infringement before irreparable harm is caused, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

White House Aims To Shield Advisers Behind Law Firm EOs

By Emily Sawicki

The Trump administration and Justice Department "strongly object" to an Aug. 3 discovery order requiring them to name individuals involved in drafting and approving executive orders targeting law firms, amid their repeated refusal to hand over certain communications in a suit brought by the American Bar Association.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-DOJ Atty Says Trump's University Probes Were Political

By Hailey Konnath

Trump administration officials forged ahead with investigations into Harvard, Columbia and other universities despite its own lawyers raising legal concerns and, in some cases, finding "little to no factual predicate justifying opening them," according to a whistleblower disclosure from a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer made public Tuesday.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Troutman Sidelined Associate After Heart Attack, Suit Says

By Patrick Hoff

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP derailed an associate's career because he took medical leave to recover from a heart attack and spoke up about senior attorneys' fraudulent billing practices, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New Jersey federal court.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Names 9 Judicial Picks Across 6 States

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced nine nominees Tuesday for judicial spots in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Alaska. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bot Errors Doom Expert's Credibility In Tainted-Supplement Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge Tuesday disposed of a U.S. Army nurse's lawsuit claiming supplement maker Thesis Nootropics sold products tainted with amphetamines, concluding that a key expert destroyed his credibility by submitting a report containing bot-generated false citations — much like errors for which the plaintiffs' counsel was recently sanctioned.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Quill & Arrow Says Ford Can't Rehash Lemon Law Fee Fights

By Linda Chiem

Quill & Arrow LLP has asked a California federal judge to dump a "retaliatory" lawsuit alleging the personal injury firm saddled Ford Motor Co. with high-priced legal bills for work purportedly handled by virtual assistants overseas or nonlawyers, saying the automaker is trying to chill product liability litigation.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »