Judiciary AI Rule Draws Fire As Judges Get Deepfakes Survey

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary policymakers heard extensive concerns Thursday regarding high-profile plans to formally screen evidence generated with artificial intelligence, and they set the stage for more feedback by preparing an AI survey for every federal trial judge.

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BOE Owes $66.9M In Display Patent Case, Jury Says

By Adam Lidgett

A jury in the Eastern District of Texas on Thursday found that Chinese display maker BOE Technology Group Co. owes nearly $67 million for infringing a trio of LCD patents owned by an Irish company.

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Tinder's $60.5M Deal For Charging Users Over 29 More OK'd

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has granted preliminary approval to a $60.5 million settlement Tinder reached with a class of users who alleged the dating app unlawfully charged subscribers age 30 and older more than younger daters, drawing the decade-long litigation to a close.

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Epic CEO, Google Execs To Testify At Play Store Deal Hearing

By Dorothy Atkins

Epic Games and Google plan to call Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, an economist, a Google executive and in-house counsel during an upcoming evidentiary hearing into their proposed Android app distribution settlement, which has drawn skepticism from the judge, who has appointed an economist to independently evaluate the deal.

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Calif. Justices Order Prosecutors To Explain Alleged AI Errors

By Dorothy Atkins

The California Supreme Court has ordered Nevada County prosecutors to explain to a lower court why they shouldn't be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings.

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Book Publishers Ask To Join Authors' AI Suit Against Google

By Ivan Moreno

Book publishers Cengage Learning and Hachette Book Group on Thursday asked to intervene in a proposed copyright class action from writers and illustrators accusing Google of using their works for AI training, arguing that as major publishers they have significant interests that are not currently represented in the case.

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Google Worker In IP Theft Trial Impersonated Exec, Jury Hears

By Bonnie Eslinger

An ex-Google engineer accused of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets to help China used a fake email account to impersonate a Google vice president that he'd listed as a business reference, and also had voice modification software on his computer, an FBI agent told jurors Thursday.

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Musk Child's Mom Says Grok Created Nonconsensual Images

By Hailey Konnath

Influencer Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, has sued Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, claiming she was depicted in sexually explicit imagery generated by Grok without her consent and that xAI has "chosen to willfully turn a blind eye and even celebrate" similar sexual exploitation.

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PTAB Denials, Reexams & New Patent Suits Rose In 2025

By Theresa Schliep

The volume of Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions dropped last year, while requests for ex parte reexaminations surged with a 66% increase from those in 2024, according to a new report from Unified Patents.

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State Dept. Releases List Of Countries Targeted By Visa Pause

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Department of State released an official list of the 75 countries for which it will pause issuing immigrant visas, after it said immigrants from these countries "take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates."

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NY Bill Criminalizes Unlicensed Cryptocurrency Businesses

By Frank G. Runyeon

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York State Sen. Zellnor Myrie on Thursday announced a proposed law to criminalize operating a cryptocurrency business without a license, saying crypto has become an "ideal vehicle for money laundering."

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Verizon, Calif. Strike Diversity Deal In Frontier Takeover

By Christopher Cole

California utility regulators approved Verizon's takeover of Frontier Communications' fiber network Thursday, after the wireless giant has reached several agreements to support statewide diversity and digital equity initiatives.

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Civil Rights Groups Fight Relaxed Media Ownership Regs

By Christopher Cole

Groups representing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders urged the Federal Communications Commission not to allow media companies to further expand their ownership of local broadcasters, citing the need to protect viewpoint diversity and consumers.

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Fed. Circ. Won't Stop Injunction Against BMW Foe In IP Fight

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit has declined for now to halt a Texas federal court's order blocking a patent company from pursuing legal action against BMW in Germany.

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Judge Sinks Claims Against Samsung In Converter IP Case

By Adam Lidgett

A Texas federal judge has agreed to throw out CogniPower LLC's accusations that certain Samsung products infringed power converter patents, accepting a magistrate judge's finding that a key infringement question has already been answered in another case.

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Wash. Anti-Spam Law Not Federally Preempted, Judge Rules

By Ben Adlin

A Seattle federal judge has shot down Nike Inc.'s effort to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the sportswear giant of sending false or misleading marketing emails to shoppers in Washington, ruling that the state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act is not preempted by federal law.

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Expedia Can Seek Singapore's Aid To Get Docs In Rival's Suit

By Yun Park

A Washington federal judge has granted Expedia's request to seek assistance from Singapore's court system to obtain documents from Trip.com to support its defense in an antitrust case filed by Switzerland-based bankrupt online hotel booking company Amoma Sarl.

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Data Tech Co. Sues To Confirm Exit From $2.35B Deal

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has been asked to resolve a looming contract dispute after a data analytics and technology company sued to confirm that it lawfully terminated a $2.35 billion acquisition of roofing software company ExactLogix Inc., blaming an unexpected and prolonged Federal Trade Commission investigation for derailing the deal.

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Nvidia Sued In Del. For US 'Tax' On Chip Deal With China

By Jeff Montgomery

Alleging possible company conflicts of interest and unlawful agreements involving the White House and Commerce Department, two NVIDIA Corp. stockholders sued the company late Wednesday for records involving company agreements to pay the U.S. Department of Commerce percentages of high-end graphics processing chip sales to buyers in China.

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Xreal Accuses Smart Glasses Rival Of Patent Infringement

By Craig Clough

Chinese-owned smart glasses maker Xreal on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Texas federal court against rival Viture Inc., accusing it of being a latecomer to the market and choosing a "shortcut" of patent infringement with its competing products. 

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Ex-WebAI Engineers Say Demos Were 'Faked' In Major Deals

By Abigail Harrison

WebAI Inc. turned a blind eye to a company leader who not only targeted two successful technology engineers but imperiled high-stakes deals with Qantas Airways and the U.S. Department of Defense by allowing a "fake demo" and inaccurate presentations, former company engineers have told a North Carolina state court.

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3 Firms Advise On Boston Scientific's $14.5B Penumbra Deal

By Al Barbarino

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling and Arnold & Porter are advising Boston Scientific Corp. on an agreement announced Thursday for the global medical technology company to purchase Davis Polk-advised Penumbra Inc. at a $14.5 billion enterprise value.

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Playlist, EGYM Merging To Create $7.5B Wellness Platform

By Al Barbarino

Fitness and wellness company Playlist has agreed to merge with German fitness technology company EGYM in a deal that will value the combined business at $7.5 billion, the companies announced Thursday.

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Simpson Thacher Guides New Mountain's $1.2B Fund Close

By Isaac Monterose

New Mountain Capital LLC, guided by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, has closed its second noncontrol private equity fund with $1.2 billion raised, aiming to use the funds to target companies in industries such as healthcare technology and life sciences, the alternative investment firm announced on Thursday.

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Digital Infrastructure Biz Nets $240M For Data Center Expansion

By Isaac Monterose

Digital infrastructure company DC Blox obtained $240 million worth of holdco financing in order to support the company's plan to expand hyperscale data centers, the company announced Thursday.

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Apple Will Pay $150K To End NJ's Visible Pricing Law Claims

By Sydney Price

Apple Inc. will pay the state of New Jersey a $150,000 penalty and alter its business practices to settle claims that its stores did not properly mark merchandise with the total selling prices, violating state law and a consent order from nearly nine years ago, the state attorney general said Thursday.

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SEC Says Healthcare Exec Misspent $10.6M In Investor Funds

By Katryna Perera

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday accused a healthcare company CEO of misappropriating over $10 million from investors by falsely claiming the funds would be used to develop cancer screening and treatment technology when in fact they were spent on credit card debt, luxury vehicles and strip club visits.

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Musk Slams SEC's 'Premature' Bid For Twitter Buy-Up Win

By Emilie Ruscoe

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shouldn't be handed an early win on its claims Elon Musk didn't make timely disclosures of his stake in Twitter when the regulator hasn't yet produced discovery in the matter, the tech billionaire has argued.

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4th Circ. Denies Former CEO's Bid To Delay Prison Term

By Anna Scott Farrell

A former software executive found guilty of failing to pay employment taxes reported to prison Thursday after the Fourth Circuit denied his emergency request for a delay of his yearlong sentence while he fights his conviction.

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Jenner Atty And Ex-Newsom Aide O'Leary Heads To OpenAI

By Hailey Konnath

Jenner & Block LLP public policy partner Ann O'Leary, who previously worked as chief of staff for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, has joined OpenAI in the newly created role of vice president of global policy, according to an announcement this week.

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Insights From 2025's Flood Of Data Breach Litigation

Several coherent patterns emerged from 2025's data breach litigation activity, suggesting that judges have grown skilled at distinguishing between companies that were genuinely victimized by sophisticated criminal actors despite reasonable precautions, and those whose security practices invited exploitation, says Frederick Livingston at McDonald Baas.

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2 OFAC Sanctions Actions Highlight PE Compliance Risk

Recent Office of Foreign Assets Control enforcement actions against two private equity firms for facilitating sanctioned persons' access to the U.S. financial system underscore the need for nonbank financial institutions' compliance programs to consider the sanctions risk of their investors, including indirect dealings with blocked persons, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

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Considerations In Building Guardrails For AI Use In Arbitration

A recent California federal court case involving allegations of artificial intelligence ghostwriting an arbitration award, prior analogous practice on tribunal delegation, and emerging generative AI recommendations all support building a forward-looking framework for arbitration rules to minimize the risk of AI-based challenges, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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Series

Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

The regulatory and litigation developments for California financial institutions in the fourth quarter of 2025 were incremental but consequential, with the Department of Financial Protection & Innovation relying on public enforcement actions to articulate expectations, and lawmakers and privacy regulators playing a role as well, says Stephen Britt at Stinson.

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4 Ways GCs Can Manage Growing Service Of Process Volume

As automation and arbitration increase the volume of legal filings, in-house counsel must build scalable service of process systems that strengthen corporate governance and manage risk in real time, says Paul Mathews at Corporation Service Co.

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Fly-Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Much like skilled attorneys, the best anglers prize preparation, presentation and patience while respecting their adversaries — both human and trout, says Rob Braverman at Braverman Greenspun.

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As Goldstein Trial Begins, Gov't Points To 'Lavish' Lifestyle

By Jared Foretek

An accountant for billionaire investor Alec Gores said that Thomas Goldstein had suggested he open a foreign account for Gores' poker-related transactions or even classify him as a professional player for tax purposes, although Gores was just getting started in the high-stakes poker world.

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Simpson Thacher Offers Stipend To Lure Summer Associates

By Tracey Read

In an effort for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to attract top students who want to pursue public interest work, the firm said it will pay a stipend of $42,500 for the 2026-2027 cycle for those who opt to spend their 1L summer in a qualifying public service, government, academic, in-house legal or nonprofit role.

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ICE Detention Facilities Nearly Doubled Last Year, Report Says

By Tom Lotshaw

An American Immigration Council report said the Trump administration detained record numbers of noncitizens last year, most without criminal records, and held them in a rapidly expanding network of facilities that could soon rival the federal criminal prison system.

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Fla. High Court Opens Door To Non-ABA Accrediting Entities

By Carolina Bolado

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday changed the bar exam admission requirements to allow graduates of law schools accredited by entities other than the American Bar Association to sit for the Florida bar exam.

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5th Circ. Revives Allstate's Fraud Suit Over Car Crash Billing

By Gina Kim

The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday revived Allstate's racketeering suit alleging doctors and personal injury lawyers unleashed a barrage of unnecessary treatments for car accident patients and caused Allstate to pay $4.7 million in claims, finding the insurer sufficiently pled details about the conspiracy and specifics surrounding each allegedly fake medical billing.

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Sens. Advance Indiana Judge Nominee Grilled Over Sermons

By Courtney Bublé

A federal judicial nominee for Indiana who came under scrutiny by a Republican senator for his past sermons as an ordained elder was voted out of committee Thursday alongside five other judicial nominees.

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Trump US Atty Pick In NM Bumped To First Assistant

By Emily Sawicki

A New Mexico federal judge has ruled the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for New Mexico is not validly serving in the role but declined to disqualify the prosecutor from a slate of cases pending in the district, instead determining the lawyer may continue to work in the federal prosecutor's office as first assistant.

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Wash. Judges To Pick US Atty As Floyd's Term Set To Expire

By Gina Kim

The chief judge for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday announced the court's intent to select a U.S. attorney to serve on a temporary basis if President Donald Trump's pick, Charles Neil Floyd, who has been serving on an interim basis, isn't confirmed by the Senate by next month. 

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