Calif. AG Says Amazon Pressured Major Brands To Fix Prices

By Lauren Berg

Amazon bullied major brands like Levi Strauss & Co. and Hanesbrands Inc. to pressure Walmart, Target Corp. and other competing retailers to increase their prices on certain products to match Amazon's prices and ensure it can maintain its profit margins, according to new details unsealed Monday in California's price-fixing suit against the e-commerce giant.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Won't Review Vegas Hotel Algorithmic Pricing Suit

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition seeking to revive a proposed class action accusing casino-hotel operators on the Las Vegas Strip of using software from Cendyn Group to illegally inflate room rates.

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

Google Privacy Intervention Attempt 'Too Late,' 9th Circ. Says

By Craig Clough

The Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld a California federal judge's decision refusing to let a group of 185 Chrome users intervene in a privacy class action accusing Google of improperly collecting and misusing data from users browsing in Incognito mode, saying the proposed intervenors were "too little, too late."

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

Fed. Circ. Ends Anti-Suit Injunction Appeal In BMW Case

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Monday granted BMW's motion to dismiss Onesta IP's appeal of an anti-suit injunction barring the company's lawsuit against BMW in Germany on U.S. patents, a ruling the automaker's counsel called "a complete and unambiguous victory."

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

'It Isn't That Complicated': Judge Rips Nvidia Discovery Delays

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in a group of writers' proposed copyright class action against Nvidia ordered the multitrillion-dollar AI chipmaker to produce basic discovery information within a month, saying "it isn't that complicated" and that she's "astonished" and "puzzled" by Nvidia's monthslong delays.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jury Finds Uber Driver Committed Battery During NC Ride

By Hayley Fowler

A federal jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, found Monday an Uber driver committed battery against a passenger who accused him of grabbing her leg in 2019, and it awarded her $5,000 in damages, capping off a four-day bellwether trial against the ride-hailing giant.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mobile Game Co. Lied About Reliance On Skill, Jury Told

By Elliot Weld

An attorney for mobile game maker Skillz Platform Inc. told a Manhattan federal jury Monday that rival Papaya Gaming Ltd. lied to customers about their ability to win based on skill in its games, and that bots made sure users never won too much.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Kawasaki Asks To Double $48M Patent Win In Calif.

By Adam Lidgett

Kawasaki has urged a California federal court to double the $48 million jury award it won last month in a patent infringement suit against Japanese technology company Rorze Corp., while Rorze is asking for a new trial.

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

Google Wants Piracy Case Trimmed After Cox Ruling

By Elliot Weld

Google has asked a Manhattan federal judge to throw out a contributory infringement claim asserted by a group of textbook publishers in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that internet service providers aren't accountable for piracy committed by users.

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

House Votes To Re-Up National First Responder Network

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Monday to reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority for another decade.

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

Stewart Works Through PTAB Denial Policy With Tech Cos.

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart sat down with representatives of Apple, Nokia, InterDigital and other members of the technology industry on Monday to find "common ground" on discretionary denial policy at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

E-Rate Bid Revamp Likely To Be Harmful, Advocates Tell FCC

By Nadia Dreid

An organization that normally champions the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program, which subsidizes internet service for schools and libraries, has told the agency it thinks its plans to consolidate bids into a single competitive portal is a bad idea.

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

Justices Skip Challenge To NC Surveyor License Law

By Matthew Santoni

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it won't take up an appeal from a North Carolina drone operator who says his state's licensing and regulatory requirements for land surveyors restricted his First Amendment rights.

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

Video Privacy Law Covers All Consumers, Supreme Court Told

By Allison Grande

A Paramount Global newsletter subscriber is pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to refrain from limiting the reach of the Video Privacy Protection Act to only consumers that directly subscribe to audiovisual goods and services, arguing that such a narrow application would require a rewrite of the decades-old statute. 

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

Ill. Judge Sides With ICE Trackers In Meta Censorship Case

By Joyce Hanson

An Illinois federal judge has ruled in favor of a Facebook group and a phone app that track U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement immigration operations in their lawsuit accusing U.S. government officials of coercing Meta and Apple into disabling their content, finding their First Amendment rights were likely violated.

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

Northwestern Escapes Event-Photos Biometric Suit, For Now

By Lauren Berg

An Illinois federal judge tossed a proposed class action alleging Northwestern University's photographers capture and collect without permission the biometrics of people attending its events and then share the sensitive data with the SpotMyPhotos platform, but will allow the plaintiff to rework his complaint to provide more detailed allegations.

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

Section 230 Blocks Woman's Discord Suit Over Sexual Abuse

By Mike Curley

An Ohio federal judge on Monday threw out a woman's suit against Discord Inc. alleging the platform allowed her to be sexually abused by a known sex offender when she was a minor, finding all of her claims are blocked by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

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

Reddit Defends Data-Scraping Claims Against Perplexity

By Matthew Perlman

Reddit Inc. is defending its case accusing Perplexity AI Inc. and three data-scraping companies of circumventing security measures to access copyrighted content in order to train the artificial intelligence startup's "answer engine."

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

Netflix Eyes $3M In Fees In Suit Where Ramey Drew $95K Fine

By Adam Lidgett

Netflix's attorneys at Baker Botts and Perkins Coie are asking a California federal court to order a Finnish national and his former attorney at Ramey LLP to pay $3 million in fees the streaming giant incurred in defending a patent suit.

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

Insurer Rips Hyundai's Early Exit Bid In Theft Bellwether Trial

By Linda Chiem

State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co. has told a California federal judge that a jury must hear all its claims in a bellwether trial next month as it seeks to hold Hyundai Motor America liable for allegedly selling theft-prone vehicles that heightened the risk of insurance claims.

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

Zillow Asks Wash. Court To End IBM's Patent Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Zillow has urged a Washington federal court to sack IMB Corp.'s lawsuit that accuses the online real estate marketplace company of infringing a user sign-on patent, saying users logging into its platforms have to take an "overt action" that is "explicitly contrary" to what the patent requires.

Summary Judgment attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NFT Buyer Says Ex-Software Biz Orchestrated Token Rug Pull

By Emilie Ruscoe

A purported blockchain technology platform faces proposed class action allegations it made millions off a so-called rug pull, introducing a series of nonfungible tokens and teasing a cryptocurrency offering that never materialized, then selling those tokens into the artificial market it created and abandoning the platform.

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

Legal Tech Co. Sued Over Immigration Software Breach

By José Luis Martínez

Legal professional services software firm 8am LLC, owner of MyCase and formerly known as AffiniPay, has been sued in Texas federal court over a data breach exposing sensitive data of more than 100,000 people in the DocketWise immigration case management platform.

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

Union Urges Court To Back Arbitrator In DirecTV Layoff Fight

By Rachel Konieczny

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has asked a Colorado federal judge to affirm an arbitrator's finding that DirecTV's layoffs of union-represented technicians violated a collective bargaining agreement between the two entities.

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

Software Co. Fired Gay Worker For Reporting Bias, Suit Says

By Kelcey Caulder

A company that provides school district management software discriminated against a worker because he is gay, retaliated against him after he made an initial complaint and fired him when he reported the continued mistreatment, the former employee alleged in Georgia federal court.

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

Swim Training Co.'s IPO Was Pump-And-Dump, Suit Says

By Sydney Price

Singapore swim-school operator Fitness Champs Holdings Ltd. was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of concealing a social media-driven "pump-and-dump" scheme in which stock promoters posed as financial advisers to hype the stock through online forums, destroying the company's market capitalization after the shares were dumped.

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

Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week delivered another mix of procedural rulings, fiduciary duty disputes and deal litigation, highlighting both the court's gatekeeping role and its continued focus on stockholder rights and transactional fairness.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Paul Weiss, Jones Day Advise On QXO's $17B TopBuild Deal

By Al Barbarino

Building products distributor QXO Inc. has agreed to purchase Florida-based TopBuild Corp. for about $17 billion, with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP advising QXO and Jones Day representing TopBuild.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Kirkland-Led Cerberus Closes $2.3B Continuation Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised Cerberus Capital Management on Monday announced that it closed its latest single-asset continuation vehicle after securing $2.3 billion in commitments, which will allow the private equity firm to continue to own a controlling stake in critical digital infrastructure company Subsea Communications.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

4 Firms Guide $1.4B Honeywell, Brady Productivity Unit Deal

By Al Barbarino

Honeywell said Monday that it has agreed to sell its productivity solutions and services business to Brady Corp. as the company nears the completion of a multiyear portfolio transformation, with four law firms advising. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Gov't Hopes Court Rescues FCC Fines. Here's What Amici Say

By Christopher Cole

A rare U.S. Supreme Court showdown between the Big Three wireless carriers and their regulator takes place Tuesday, when the justices will put the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue fines under a microscope.

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

Live Nation Wants Expert, Damages Cut After Antitrust Verdict

By Matthew Perlman

Live Nation is asking a New York federal court to strike the testimony of a key expert witness for the states and to wipe the damages awarded by the jury based on her work, in the antitrust case accusing the company of monopolizing the live entertainment industry.

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

Mich. AG Fights Approval Of DTE-Oracle Data Center Plan

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan attorney general has filed two claims of appeal challenging orders from the Michigan Public Service Commission approving energy supply contracts between DTE Energy and a subsidiary of cloud-computing platform Oracle Corp. tied to a massive 1.4 gigawatt AI data center project, alleging regulators unlawfully bypassed a contested case process.

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

Tariff Refund Rollout Well Received, But Concerns Persist

By Dylan Moroses

The first phase of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's tariff refund system has largely held up against the influx of importers' initial claims, though some businesses have already identified issues in complying with the process, according to trade lawyers.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Digital Assets, AI Pro Rejoins Cleary From Amazon

By Andrea Keckley

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP announced on Monday that an alumnus of the firm who most recently worked as the head of responsible AI governance at Amazon has rejoined its ranks in New York.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

White & Case Partner Moves To A&O Shearman In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling has hired a career White & Case LLP partner in Washington, D.C., who had spent the past 13 years there working with antitrust and other matters, the firm announced Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

The Role Of Operational Data In Tech Platform Liability Suits

As litigation becomes a de facto substitute for the regulation of major technology platforms, with plaintiffs advancing claims under product liability, public nuisance and consumer protection laws, among others, courts are evaluating how platform systems operate in practice based on large-scale operational data, say attorneys at Brattle.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Opinion

USPTO Should Let Inventors Valuate Patents In Prosecution

By building patent valuation into the application process, rather than waiting until potential litigation years down the line, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would streamline the process for inventors protecting and enforcing their patents, says John Powers at Powers IP.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Insurer Lessons From 1st Wave Of GenAI Coverage Rulings

Several pending cases target the issue of whether generative AI may appropriately replace human professional decision-making, and though each case is still in discovery, the decisions thus far provide insurers with guidance on how courts may view these claims, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Del. Ruling Shows Power Of Postclose Governance Provisions

After the Delaware Court of Chancery reinstated a target company's CEO as part of the equitable remedy in Fortis Advisors v. Krafton, deal parties should emphasize the importance of postclosing governance provisions to earnout economics, knowing that they will have to live with these provisions for the duration of the earnout period, say attorneys at Sidley.

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

Black McDermott Atty Says White Men Favored For Partner

By Lauren Berg

A Black female McDermott Will & Schulte attorney accused the firm of gender, race and pregnancy discrimination in a lawsuit lodged in California state court, saying she has been consistently bypassed for promotion by less-experienced white attorneys and was yanked off casework after taking medical leave following a life-threatening illness during pregnancy.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Kind Of Lawyering We Don't Like': Judge Rips Quinn Emanuel

By Bonnie Eslinger

Guardant Health Inc. urged a California federal judge on Monday to make Quinn Emanuel pay nearly $1.3 million on top of $3 million in sanctions already imposed over misrepresentations lawyers made representing its rival Natera Inc., prompting the judge to criticize Quinn Emanuel lawyers for making distinctions so fine they veer into misrepresentation.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Q&A

She Has A Point: Fish & Richardson's Nitika Gupta Fiorella

By Dani Kass

Fish & Richardson PC principal Nitika Gupta Fiorella is "a no-stone-unturned, always super prepared" lawyer who "epitomizes professionalism and respect," according to Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP partner Cora Holt.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fox Lawyer In Dominion Case Confirmed To Texas Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 47-46 Monday evening to confirm Andrew Davis, a partner at Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP who defended Fox News in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, to serve on the bench in the Western District of Texas.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Won't Consider IP Theft Allegations Against Akin

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a former Cornell University graduate student's petition trying to revive his malpractice suit against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP stemming from patent litigation against Illumina Inc. over DNA sequencing intellectual property.

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

DC Ethics Office Says Ex-Interim US Atty Can't Remove Case

By Emily Sawicki

Washington, D.C., ethics officials have asked a federal court to send U.S. Department of Justice official Ed Martin's ethics case back to the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, arguing the D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction over a disciplinary matter, which is neither a civil action nor a criminal prosecution.

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

Ex-Newman Clerks, Judges Back High Court Suspension Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A group of former clerks for Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, as well as former federal judges, have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the challenge to her suspension imposed by her colleagues.

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

Insurer Intentionally Avoiding $200M Loan Claim, Court Told

By Hope Patti

A litigation funding firm has accused its insurer of wrongfully refusing to pay out its policy's guaranteed $200 million in coverage for an unpaid loan, saying the insurer buried it in duplicative and burdensome information requests to avoid paying a valid claim.

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

Judge Says Ill. Justices Can't Fire Him Over MAGA Op-Ed

By Jack Karp

Illinois Supreme Court justices have no authority to remove a state judge from the bench for alleged misconduct, so their effort to dismiss a retired state trial judge's claims that his removal for penning a political opinion column violated his constitutional rights should be rejected, the retired jurist has said.

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