Anthropic Confidentially Files IPO Plans

By Lauren Berg

Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic announced Monday that it had confidentially submitted a proposed initial public offering to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, just days after it hit a post-money valuation of $965 billion after securing $65 billion of investor commitments in its massive Series H funding round.

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Fed. Circ. Debates Line Between Extortion And Settlement

By Dani Kass

A Federal Circuit panel Monday questioned whether OpenSky Industries LLC should be punished for allegedly extorting VLSI Technology LLC by threatening to challenge its patent, or if any misconduct would be covered under a doctrine meant to protect those petitioning the government.

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Ramey Takes Fight Against $162K Fee To Supreme Court

By Elliot Weld

Prolific patent attorney William Ramey has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to look at a case in which his client was ordered to pay the attorney fees of a rival litigant after the case was tossed for asserting expired patents, saying the case had seen the standard for attorney fee awards "rewritten."

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Citron Founder Convicted Of Manipulating Stock Prices

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal jury Monday returned a verdict finding Citron Research founder Andrew Left guilty of using his public platform, including tweets, to manipulate the stock prices of a slew of companies, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

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SEC Defends Deal Over Musk's Late Twitter Buy-Up Disclosure

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday defended its settlement with Elon Musk over his initial purchase of Twitter stock in 2022, saying the deal was not the result of collusion, after the D.C. federal judge overseeing the case questioned whether Musk was getting special treatment.

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'Sauce For The Goose': X Can't Limit Apple, OpenAI Depos

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Texas federal judge on Friday ordered Elon Musk's X Corp. to offer up 20 of its employees for extra depositions in its antitrust suit against Apple and OpenAI, saying that since the court granted X more depositions, "sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."

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Atty-Client Privilege Shields Bias-Testing Data In Workday Suit

By Grace Elletson

Workday won't be required to hand over bias-testing data in a suit claiming the company's artificial intelligence-powered software unlawfully discriminated against job applicants, after a California federal judge ruled that the information is protected by attorney-client privilege.

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Florida AG Sues OpenAI, Says ChatGPT Is Aiding Violence

By David Minsky

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that his office is suing OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, saying ChatGPT is spurring young people to commit crimes and acts of violence. 

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US Trade Officials Open IP Probe Into Vietnam

By Adam Lidgett

U.S. trade officials have launched an investigation into Vietnam over what they said were concerns about how the country is allegedly not effectively protecting the rights of intellectual property owners.

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Broadband Co. Still Asking FCC For Waivers On 800 MHz Band

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A broadband services company is pressing the Federal Communications Commission to waive the agency's buildout deadlines so that utilities and other providers can offer expanded terrestrial and nonterrestrial wireless services.

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SES Wants Feds To Scrap Rule Restricting 12.75 GHz Uses

By Christopher Cole

Satellite company SES has asked the Federal Communications Commission to toss a restriction on high-speed uplinks in a prime swath of airwaves that the company argues has unnecessarily hindered the growth of domestic fixed satellite service.

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Portland Pushes Back On FCC's Lifeline Rule Changes

By Christopher Cole

The city of Portland, Oregon, bristled against the Federal Communications Commission's plan to tighten rules to check eligibility for the Lifeline phone subsidy given that it's likely to curtail enrollment in a program that helps with broadband affordability.

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Conn. Alters Pot Tax, Gives Cities Aid To Cut Property Taxes

By Jaqueline McCool

Connecticut will change its cannabis tax structure, provide funding to local governments for property tax reductions and make other tax changes under a 2027 budget bill signed by the governor.

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Justices Seek Feds' Input On Robinhood Investor Suit

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to weigh in on a dispute between trading app operator Robinhood and investors who sued over the company's $2.1 billion initial public offering, as the high court considers whether to hear the case.

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Fed. Circ. Side-Eyes ParkerVision Appeal In Qualcomm IP Suit

By Theresa Schliep

A Federal Circuit panel Monday seemed reluctant to consider ParkerVision's challenge to a lower court's claim construction while other parts of its patent suit against Qualcomm remain pending, with one judge saying the litigation's protracted nature doesn't make it exceptional or justify special treatment.

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Judge Tosses USPTO 2-Factor Authorization Patent Suit

By Elliot Weld

A Court of Federal Claims judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that claimed its website infringed patents covering two-factor authorization, agreeing with the office that the litigation mimicked a suit that was thrown out in 2016.

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Judge Trims Dental Patent Case, But Keeps Patent Alive

By Adam Lidgett

A Delaware federal judge has refused to invalidate a pair of dental patents that medical technology companies Align Technology and Medit Corp. were accused of infringing, but did agree to narrow the case.

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Feds Must Share Info On Source Code They Say Was Stolen

By Elliot Weld

A New York federal judge on Monday denied a quantitative trader's bid to escape a charge of trade secret theft but granted his request for prosecutors to turn over information on the source code he allegedly stole.

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ESPN Wins Arbitration Of Disney+ User's Meta Privacy Claims

By Aaron Keller

A Disney+ user must arbitrate his claim that ESPN Inc. gave his viewing data to Facebook's parent company Meta without his permission, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled, saying federal arbitration law preempts a Pennsylvania Superior Court decision that applied higher standards to private dispute resolution contracts.

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KnowBe4 Escapes Suit Over $4.6B Take-Private Deal

By Sydney Price

Security awareness platform KnowBe4 and several affiliates successfully argued for dismissal of a suit from shareholders challenging the company's $4.6 billion sale to private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, with the court finding the suit does not adequately allege the company's ex-CEO and its financiers breached their fiduciary duties.

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Kia, Hyundai Workers' Attys Get $3.45M Fee Award In Visa Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A Georgia federal court on Monday awarded $3.45 million in attorney fees and costs to lawyers for workers who reached an $11.5 million settlement over claims that a Hyundai supplier, a Kia plant and staffing agencies recruited skilled Mexican engineers for production work and underpaid them.

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Meta VR Patent Suit Should End, Judge Recommends

By Ryan Davis

A Texas federal judge has recommended ending a virtual reality patent suit against Meta and rejected as "gamesmanship" patent owner Mullen Industries' bid to amend the suit, after it disclaimed numerous claims that Meta challenged in inter partes reviews.

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TriZetto, Infosys Fight Each Side's CEO Deposition Bids

By Ivan Moreno

Cognizant TriZetto Software Group and Infosys Ltd. have filed dueling motions to block depositions of each other's top executives in a trade secret lawsuit over allegations that Infosys misused confidential access to TriZetto's healthcare software to build competing products.

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AI Mapping Co. Says Rival's Copyright Suit Is Too Vague

By Rachel Konieczny

An artificial intelligence mapping software company sought to throw out a competitor's lawsuit accusing it of copying thousands of the firm's property maps, telling a Colorado federal judge the competitor never identified which maps had allegedly been infringed.

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GM Investors Seek Cert. In Cruise AV Securities Fraud Suit

By Gina Kim

General Motors investors who alleged the automotive giant misrepresented technological capabilities and commercial readiness of its self-driving unit's robotaxis urged a Michigan federal judge to grant class certification, arguing Friday the merits of their securities fraud case "turn on a common course of misconduct — defendants' public misrepresentations."

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Real Estate Co. Opposes CoStar Bid To Pause Antitrust Suit

By Grace Dixon

A real estate brokerage asked a Virginia federal court to allow proceedings to continue in its antitrust case against CoStar, noting that, although the parties agree that similar cases should be consolidated with the Virginia case, the suit need not be frozen in the meantime.

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Feds, County Say Telecom Drove Wash. Tribal Site Harm

By Crystal Owens

The federal government and Whatcom County, Washington, say they want out of a challenge by the Lummi Nation that looks to block a telephone company from continuing to construct a broadband project on sites where Indigenous remains have been unearthed.

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Charter Communications Faces 5 Suits Over Alleged Hack

By Aaron Keller

Charter Communications, which provides telecommunications services in 41 states, has been hit with five Connecticut federal court lawsuits alleging that hackers stole more than 40 million private records through a cyberattack that infiltrated an employee's computer access account.

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Microsoft Sued Over Alleging Price-Fixing Pact With Valve

By Rachel Riley

Microsoft has been hit with a proposed class action in Washington federal court by two gamers who claim the tech giant broke federal antitrust law by striking a price-matching deal with video game developer Valve Corp. for PC games sold in their respective digital storefronts.

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7-Eleven Sued After Data Breach Exposes 600,000 Records

By Spencer Brewer

A data breach victim hit 7-Eleven Inc. with a putative class action on Monday, following a cyberattack by the notorious hacking group known as ShinyHunters, saying 7-Eleven's negligence led to the leak of personal data.

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Garmin's Smart Scale Uses Estimates In Readings, Suit Says

By Lauraann Wood

Garmin has been hit with proposed class consumer fraud claims by an Illinois customer who says the company illegally misrepresents that its Index smart scale can accurately measure someone's body composition.  

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Data Protection Co. Hit With Stockholder Suit In NJ

By George Woolston

Data protection company Commvault was hit with a stockholder suit Friday in New Jersey federal court alleging that the company violated federal securities law with misleading statements about its projected annually recurring revenue growth for the 2026 fiscal year.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled disputes involving merger litigation, startup financing battles, cryptocurrency contracts, investor oversight claims and corporate governance challenges, while also issuing notable rulings in cases tied to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., cybersecurity company KnowBe4 Inc. and biotechnology firm Ayala Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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Roundup

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Referee Tapped, CEO To Be Deposed

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court rounded out May by appointing a discovery referee in a healthcare antitrust class action and ordering the deposition of a top executive in a trade secrets battle, in addition to fielding a new complaint alleging unpaid capital contributions for a captive insurance company.

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Brief

ITC Launches Digital Transmission Of Confidential Docs

By Jack McLoone

Lead counsel in investigations conducted by the U.S. International Trade Commission will be able to receive confidential documents through the commission's online portal starting Monday, the ITC announced. 

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Motorola Solutions Buying Drone Tech Firm D-Fend For $1.5B

By Al Barbarino

Motorola Solutions said Monday it has agreed to buy counter-drone technology company D-Fend Solutions for $1.5 billion, expanding its push into airspace security as governments and enterprises respond to rising drone-related threats.

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UK Fintech OpenPayd To Go Public Via $1.15B SPAC Deal

By Sydney Price

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling and Winston & Strawn LLP are steering a deal under which financial infrastructure platform OpenPayd will be acquired and taken public at an estimated equity value of $1.15 billion by Titan Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company purportedly focused on high-growth fintechs, the parties announced Monday.

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2 Firms Advise Data-Center Power Generator's $600M IPO

By Tom Zanki

ERock, a company that makes natural gas power systems for data centers, said it aims to raise $600 million at midpoint in an upcoming initial public offering guided by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Davis Polk LLP.

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23andMe Says California Data Breach Suit Evades Ch. 11 Plan

By Allison Grande

The bankruptcy plan administrator for the genetic testing company formerly known as 23andMe is urging a Missouri bankruptcy court to shut down a lawsuit recently lodged by California's attorney general that seeks to recoup potentially millions of dollars in statutory penalties for the company's alleged security and disclosure failings stemming from a 2023 data breach. 

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States Back FTC's DC Circ. Appeal In Meta Monopoly Case

By Matthew Perlman

More than two dozen state attorneys general have thrown their support behind the Federal Trade Commission's bid to revive its lawsuit accusing Meta of monopolizing social networking through its purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.

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Judge Limits Google's Access To Search Rival's Data

By Bryan Koenig

A D.C. federal judge imposed limits on the data Google can access from would-be rivals seeking its search data and syndicated search results, agreeing with the U.S. Department of Justice that the company can't access every piece of information submitted to a technical committee overseeing its monopolization remedies.

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GAO Denies Protest Of $122M NOAA Task Order

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected an IT company's protest of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's decision to choose another contractor's proposal for cloud migration services that cost $50 million more than its own lower-rated offer.

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Calif. Ruling Lowers Bar For Health Data Breach Claims

The California Supreme Court's ruling in J.M. v. Illuminate Education offers protection for non-healthcare companies that maintain health-related data but also adopts a new and more plaintiff-favorable standard for breach of confidentiality that companies maintaining any health-related data should address, say attorneys at Cooley.

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How Gambling Cos. Can Defend 'Addictive Design' Suits

Following the recent wave of addictive design litigation against video game companies and social media platforms, it appears that the gambling industry may soon face similar claims — but operators may have stronger legal defenses available to them, say attorneys at White & Case.

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AI Practices To Protect Trade Secrets Amid Unstable Case Law

Amid recent diverging district court approaches to whether inputting proprietary information into artificial intelligence tools could constitute a failure to take reasonable measures to safeguard secrets, trade secret owners must adapt their confidentiality practices to keep trade secrets secure, says Fitz Collings at MoFo.

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Ill. Passes Bill To Restrict Outside Investment In Legal Sector

By Emma Cueto

The Illinois state Legislature has passed a bill that aims to stop attorneys from fee sharing with non-lawyer-owned firms in other states and from accepting outside investment via a managed service organization structure.

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Bonus Spotlight

Hueston Hennigan To Pay Summer Bonuses Up To $35K

By Tracey Read

Trial firm Hueston Hennigan is the second boutique to announce it will dole out midyear bonuses to associates.

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As Judicial AI Use Gains Steam, Training Lags

By Emily Sawicki

Court systems around the country are emerging bullish on the use of generative artificial intelligence by judicial officers, but implementation, training, resources and overall regulations remain scattershot, giving rise to concerns that a learning gap could lead to missteps.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of May

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Chevron, Barclays and Topgolf. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from the last full month of spring.

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Plaintiffs' Counsel In Tylenol MDL Agree To $50K Donation

By Gianna Ferrarin

A plaintiffs' attorney and law firm sanctioned in multidistrict litigation alleging prenatal exposure to acetaminophen can cause autism agreed to donate $50,000 to maternal health organization March of Dimes in lieu of paying attorney fees, according to a letter filed Monday in New York federal court. 

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DOJ Will Obey Order Freezing $1.8B 'Slush Fund'

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday it will abide by a federal judge's decision to temporarily pause the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, adding that it disagreed with the ruling.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: Foley Hoag, Holland & Knight, Paul Hastings

By Julie Manganis

The rapidly expanding gaming and sports betting industry brought more legal industry players to the table in Massachusetts in May, with two firms beefing up their bench in that area, while other local attorneys made midcareer leaps into new roles.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Labaton Keller's Michael Canty

By Allison Grande

When Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP partner and general counsel Michael Canty decided to pursue a legal career, he had no doubt about what type of lawyer he wanted to be. 

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