'I Believe I'm Trustworthy,' OpenAI CEO Testifies In Musk Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

OpenAI Inc. CEO Sam Altman took the stand Tuesday in the California federal jury trial over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion, acknowledging that colleagues have accused him of being deceptive while testifying that "I believe I'm a trustworthy person."

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3rd Circ. Says Financial Services Rule Thwarts Privacy Suit

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Third Circuit declined to reinstate class claims made by a group of John Hancock customers from Illinois accusing Amazon Web Services Inc. and Pindrop Security Inc. of collecting consumers' voice data without their consent, ruling Tuesday that exemptions under Illinois and federal law applied.

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PayPal Settles Gov't DEI Probe With Small Biz Program

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with PayPal Inc. to end an investigation into what the department said was a discriminatory investment program for Black- and minority-owned businesses.

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Authors Accuse OpenAI Of Arguing Differently On Each Coast

By Elliot Weld

An attorney representing authors accusing OpenAI of feeding their copyrighted works into training data for large language models told a New York federal magistrate judge Tuesday that the AI startup was asserting vastly different positions in New York and in an ongoing trial in California about whether it ever intended to become a for-profit enterprise.

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Ex-Google Engineer's Bid To Nix Conviction Nears Partial Win

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge appeared open Tuesday to partly unwinding a jury's decision to convict a former Google engineer of trade secret theft and economic espionage, saying he's "somewhat skeptical" of the economic espionage charges since he doesn't see sufficient evidence the engineer intended to benefit China.

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Ex-Palantir Workers Get Trade Secret Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Lauren Berg

A New York federal judge Tuesday sent to arbitration Palantir Technologies Inc.'s lawsuit accusing three former employees of absconding with its confidential intellectual property for their rival company, Percepta AI.

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Google, Meta Hit With Suits Over Use Of Voices For AI

By Adam Lidgett

A group of journalists and voice actors has hit Google, Meta, Microsoft, chipmaking giant Nvidia and speech synthesis software company ElevenLabs with proposed class actions in Illinois federal court accusing the companies of wrongly using the plaintiffs' voices to train their artificial intelligence models.

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ChatGPT Gave Student Fatal Drug Advice, Parents Say

By Emily Field

The parents of a college student who died of an overdose sued OpenAI on Tuesday in California state court, alleging that ChatGPT coached him to mix kratom and Xanax without telling him that this mix would likely kill him.

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House Dem Probes Retailers' Use Of Surveillance Pricing

By Allison Grande

The top Democrat on an influential U.S. House committee has begun to scrutinize corporate "surveillance pricing" practices, pushing Target, Walmart, Costco, Family Dollar, Whole Foods and 20 others Tuesday to explain whether and how they're using consumers' personal data to set individualized prices for certain products and services.

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FDA Leaders Outline How AI Is Shaping The Agency's Work

By Dan McKay

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is using generative artificial intelligence to help redact records before public release, summarize documents and evaluate scientific literature, federal officials said in a recent conference.

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Copyright Chief Says Cox Ruling Merits Congressional Action

By Ivan Moreno

The leader of the U.S. Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, told senators Tuesday they may need to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court's March decision that narrowed contributory liability for internet service providers, saying the ruling "left a bit of a hole in the law."

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CFTC's Selig Says AI Regulations May Be On The Horizon

By Jessica Corso

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig said Tuesday that his agency may introduce regulations regarding the use of artificial intelligence by exchanges and other regulated entities as a newly created innovation task force has started meeting with companies expressing an interest in the new technology.

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Comcast, Power Co. In FCC Tug Of War Over Pole Upgrades

By Christopher Cole

Comcast claims it's still having problems getting Appalachian Power Co. to cover the cost of utility pole fixes for broadband upgrades, but it's not clear whether the Federal Communications Commission is ready to spring into action to resolve the dispute.

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Sports Broadcasting Protections Need Overhaul, Groups Say

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

State broadcasting groups have called on Congress to update the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to protect fan access to programming amid the growing number of streaming paywalls.

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Low-Power TV Group Asks FCC To Allow 5G Broadcast Standard

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Low-Power TV Broadcasters Association asked the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to allow it to use the 5G broadcast standard to deliver content to smartphones.

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7th Circ. Urged To Revive Hartford $4M Wire Fraud Fight

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois agency that administers financially distressed insurers' estates Tuesday urged the Seventh Circuit to revive its lawsuit seeking insurance coverage for a cyberattack during which its financial chief provided confidential login information to hackers, who used his email account to instruct employees to wire them nearly $7 million.

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Micron Foe Owes $8M 'Patent Troll' Bond, Idaho Court Says

By Lauren Berg

An Idaho federal judge said Tuesday "the time has finally come" for Longhorn IP and its Katana Silicon Technologies unit to pay an $8 million bond imposed three years ago under a state law against "patent trolls" after they alleged Micron Technology made memory devices that infringe their semiconductor patents.

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Shopify Must Face Most Buy Now, Pay Later Antitrust Claims

By Emilie Ruscoe

E-commerce company Shopify Inc. can't shed monopolization claims brought by buy now, pay later payment platform Sezzle Inc., although a Minnesota federal judge has trimmed the dispute.

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​​​​​​​Amazon Beats Sanctions Bid Over Supplement Product Pages

By Ben Adlin

A Washington federal judge declined to sanction Amazon for allegedly failing to preserve product pages for dietary supplements that shoppers claim were improperly labeled, ruling that the retail giant fulfilled its duty to retain the information despite storing it as lines of code instead of viewable documents.

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Bernstein Litowitz Client Wins Battle To Lead Kyndryl Suit

By Sydney Price

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP will lead a proposed class of investors accusing information technology services company and IBM spinoff Kyndryl Holdings Inc. of misleading shareholders with representations that the company had sufficient control over its cash management practices, a Manhattan federal judge said on Tuesday.

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Gray, Dish Settle FCC Complaint After Retransmission Deal

By Christopher Cole

Gray Television has settled with Dish Network over a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission alleging that the satellite TV provider was airing Gray's content without permission, after the companies ended a retransmission consent dispute this month.

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Quotient Investors Seek Approval Of $48M Merger Deal

By Jarek Rutz

Investors in Coupons.com parent Quotient Technology Inc. have asked Delaware's Chancery Court to approve a $48 million settlement resolving claims that the company's former CEO, its financial adviser and the buyers steered Quotient's $430 million sale to Neptune Retail Solutions at too low a price.

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Drone Co. Skirts Unfair Biz Practices Claim In Ex-VP's Pay Suit

By Hayley Fowler

North Carolina's Business Court pared down a dispute between a company that makes emergency response drones and its former vice president of sales, finding his claim that the company misled him about its intent to pay him a bonus doesn't rise to the level of an unfair or deceptive business practice.

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Viewing Seed Genetic Material Not Patent Infringement: DOJ

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division waded into a private patent infringement lawsuit Monday, telling a Delaware federal court that just "reading" a patent, or viewing and sequencing the genetic material that must be submitted for the seed patents at issue, can't on its own count as infringement.

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AliveCor Wants Apple Health Monitor Patent Claims Tossed

By Adam Lidgett

A medical software company has told a California federal court that claims in a pair of health monitoring patents Apple has accused it of infringing are actually invalid, saying they only cover abstract ideas without a technological innovation to save them.

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Zillow Fights Buyers' Effort To Revise Home Loan Lawsuit

By Grace Dixon

Zillow told a Washington federal court that homebuyers should not be allowed to amend their complaint alleging the real estate platform used its market dominance to inflate costs nationwide, arguing the late changes cure none of the deficiencies in the buyers' claims.

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Cigna Says HIPAA Doesn't Save Website Privacy Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A proposed group of Cigna health plan participants can't cite HIPAA to keep up their claims that the insurer improperly tracked their private information through its websites, since the privacy law doesn't cover the kind of information the company collected, the insurer told a Pennsylvania federal court.

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Teen's Estate Says Grindr Suit Unfairly Sent To Arbitration

By Y. Peter Kang

The estate of a 16-year-old girl who was lured in by a 35-year-old man on the Grindr platform and tortured and murdered told a Florida federal judge to reconsider the court's decision to send the case to arbitration, saying developing case law says otherwise.

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Google, Apple, Lenovo Hit With IP Suits Over Tap-To-Pay Tech

By Theresa Schliep

A Delaware company has lodged lawsuits against Google, Apple and Lenovo alleging that they have infringed its patents covering contactless payment technologies, targeting the use of tap-to-pay systems in their smartphones and wearable devices.

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Bitcoin Depot Allowed Crypto Scam Via ATMs, Couple Says

By Zak Kostro

Bitcoin Depot systematically facilitated fraud involving cryptocurrency through its bitcoin ATM network, which targeted consumers who have lost thousands of dollars through the machines, according to a proposed class action in Idaho federal court brought by a couple who alleged they fell victim to such a scam.

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Investor Says AI Startup Duped Him Out Of $10M

By Jarek Rutz

A Pennsylvania investor has sued LifeBrand Inc.'s founder, executives, a financial adviser and two financial institutions in the Delaware Chancery Court, claiming they used inflated business claims, hidden commissions and insider payouts to induce him to put more than $10 million into the social media monitoring startup.

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Female Medtronic Manager's Firing Driven By Bias, Court Told

By Benjamin Morse

Medtronic fired a longtime manager for disciplining a male subordinate and raising concerns about gender discrimination and retaliation, the worker told a Colorado state court.

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Brief

Tobacco Giant RJ Reynolds Sued Over Telemarketing Texts

By Abigail Harrison

Cigarette and e-cigarette giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. was accused in North Carolina federal court of violating federal law by texting residential telephone numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry.

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EBay Rejects $56B GameStop Bid, Says Offer Isn't 'Credible'

By Al Barbarino

EBay said Tuesday it is rejecting a $55.5 billion unsolicited cash-and-stock offer from GameStop Corp., calling the proposal "neither credible nor attractive" and citing concerns over financing, strategic risk and governance at GameStop.

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Blockchain Analytics Biz Raises $120M Series D Funding

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic on Tuesday announced that it has hit a valuation of $670 million after closing its latest funding round with $120 million of investor commitments.

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FCC OKs EchoStar $40B Spectrum Sales To AT&T, SpaceX

By Ganesh Setty

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced on Tuesday that FCC staff has approved EchoStar's sale of "underused" spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX, in deals collectively totaling roughly $40 billion.

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DOL Suspends Data Co.'s Requests To Hire Foreign Workers

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday it was freezing a data company's access to a program that allows employers to hire foreign workers, following a Department of Justice lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against U.S.-based job candidates by earmarking specific positions for employees on temporary visas.

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4th Circ. Allows $3.6M Seizure In IPhone Trafficking Case

By Parker Quinlan

The Fourth Circuit ruled Tuesday that federal prosecutors can seize over $3.6 million in assets from a North Carolina man who was convicted on multiple counts of selling illegally obtained iPhones and other electronics to buyers overseas.

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Citron Founder Didn't Believe His Own Position, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

A cannabis company CEO testified Tuesday as the first witness in Citron Research founder Andrew Left's criminal securities fraud trial, telling a California federal jury that Left published an inaccurate short sale report on his company that quickly tanked its stock even though it appears he lacked the "conviction" of his attack.

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Ex-Lottery.Com CEO Wants SEC Fraud Suit Tossed

By Sydney Price

The former CEO of Lottery.com has asked a New York federal judge to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims he participated in a scheme to inflate the gambling platform's fiscal performance, arguing the suit does not show he intentionally duped investors or had incentive to do so.

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ABB To Sink $200M Into Grid Tech Manufacturing In Europe

By Grace Dixon

ABB has announced plans to invest $200 million over the next three years in European manufacturing capabilities as the electrification technology company eyes grid modernization needs driven by higher electricity and data center demand.

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Baker McKenzie Adds Alston & Bird Cybersecurity Atty In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Baker McKenzie has added a cybersecurity, data privacy and incident response partner from Alston & Bird LLP, who joins the team in Washington, D.C., at a time when cyberattacks and data breaches against companies and others are increasing.

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Pillsbury Adds WilmerHale VC Pro In Silicon Valley

By Rose Krebs

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has added a former WilmerHale attorney to expand its global emerging companies and venture capital practice group and capacity to handle venture capital financing matters.

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JAMS Launches Alternative Dispute Resolution Tech Group

By Matt Perez

Alternative dispute resolution provider JAMS announced Tuesday the launch of a technology industry group to address disputes regarding new innovations such as artificial intelligence, digital assets and biotechnology.

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DOJ's FCA Data-Miner Focus Raises Compliance Stakes

A new U.S. Department of Justice initiative aims to help its Civil Division better vet False Claims Act suits brought by data-mining whistleblowers, signaling that data-driven qui tam enforcement is a priority and making it increasingly important for attorneys and companies to bolster compliance, documentation and internal data monitoring, say attorneys at Wiley.

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Opinion

USPTO Must Address The Right Question In Sanofi Case

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Appeals Review Panel's questions in Ex parte Baurin indicate recognition of broader doctrinal issues, but rather than approaching from separate angles, the panel should concentrate on a single fundamental question about obviousness-type double patenting, says Jeremy Lowe at Spencer Fane.

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Mass. Draft Regs Signal Nationwide Scrutiny Of Junk Fees

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's new draft regulations for assisted living facilities is only her latest move in the war on junk fees — and part of a national reordering of consumer protection enforcement in which states are aggressively and creatively asserting authority, says Steve Provazza at Arnall Golden.

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Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.

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4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

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How They Won It

Attys For Tufts Profs Didn't Blink In A Tenure Standoff

By Julie Manganis

When Jennifer Henricks and Kevin Peters first learned what was happening to tenured professors at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston a few years ago, they knew that what was at stake involved more than just a dispute over the terms of a contract.

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Palestinian Ex-Associate Slaps DLA Piper With Bias Claim

By Lynn LaRowe

DLA Piper has been hit with a federal civil rights lawsuit in Illinois from a former summer associate alleging discrimination, a hostile work environment and retaliation based on her identity as a Palestinian, Gazan, Arab and Muslim woman.

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Fired Immigration Judge Says Trump Can't Skirt Bias Laws

By Grace Elletson

A former immigration judge urged a D.C. federal court not to throw out her bias suit challenging her firing, arguing the U.S. Department of Justice was pushing the "breathtaking proposition" that the president was empowered to commit unlawful discrimination.

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Law Student Can't Get School To Nix Kirk Comment Discipline

By Mike Curley

A Texas federal judge on Tuesday said the court cannot force Texas Tech University's leaders to rescind a reprimand against a law student who allegedly celebrated following the death of Charlie Kirk, as the university has sovereign immunity.

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Michigan Dems Noncommittal On Trump's Judicial Pick

By Courtney Bublé

Michigan's two Democratic senators played it coy on Tuesday when asked if they would support the district court nominee for their state that the president announced the night before.

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