AI Flubs, More Secure PACER Get Judiciary Forum Spotlight

By Jeff Overley

Misuse of artificial intelligence tools and a "state-of-the-art" revamp of electronic dockets in federal cases were among the hottest topics Thursday at a major meeting of judiciary leaders, who also heard a lawmaker warn of eroding trust in the U.S. Department of Justice.

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SpaceXAI, Apple Must Show Texas Judge Antitrust Deal Terms

By Dorothy Atkins

A Texas federal judge has ordered Elon Musk's companies and Apple Inc. to provide him with a copy of their recent settlement for in-camera review after OpenAI Inc. demanded to look over the agreement and argued its terms may undermine the antitrust allegations SpaceXAI LLC is still pursuing against OpenAI.

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DOJ Touts 'Substantial' Ad Tech Fix, Leaves Room For Appeal

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice walked a fine line between hailing a Virginia federal judge's newly unsealed decision ordering Google to open up its advertising placement technology dominance, and leaving open the possibility of appealing the judge's accompanying rejection of its request for a breakup.

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'Astonishing Theft': Microsoft, OpenAI Staff Reckoned With AI

By Dorothy Atkins

Microsoft and OpenAI employees internally acknowledged for years that AI tools trained on news articles would likely replace publishers, leading to a "doom loop," with a Microsoft director calling it "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions" and potentially the "largest theft of labor in human history," documents unsealed Thursday show.

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Industry Groups, IP Attys Back High Court PTAB Denials Case

By Theresa Schliep

The bar association for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a group of intellectual property law attorneys and others have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to scrutinize the discretionary denial policies of current U.S. Patent and Trademark Office leadership.

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Skycom Engineer Says Huawei Was His Real Boss In Iran

By Stewart Bishop

A Tehran-born engineer who has since become a U.S. citizen on Thursday testified that he worked for Huawei on projects for the Iranian government, despite technically being employed by what prosecutors say was a thinly veiled subsidiary that the Chinese telecommunications company used to evade U.S. sanctions.

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Meta's Slow Content Reviews Not Biggest Concern, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

Meta's longtime content policy czar testified Thursday in New Mexico's data privacy trial that leaving up some violating posts for days while they underwent extra review was "less of a concern" than the mistake of pulling down an acceptable post by a high-profile account.

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Analysis

Sue To Stop AI Armageddon? Not So Fast, Attys Say

By Y. Peter Kang

As executives at leading artificial intelligence companies increasingly assert that their own technology could one day pose an existential threat to humanity, a natural question follows: If the risk is real, can anyone sue to stop it before disaster strikes?

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DOJ Official Says Political Appointees Play Antitrust Role

By Matthew Perlman

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. on Thursday defended the role political appointees play in enforcing antitrust laws, saying it would be "blatantly unconstitutional" if U.S. Department of Justice leadership merely deferred to unelected officials.

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EU Antitrust Chief Says AI Competition Mitigates Risk

By Matthew Perlman

Europe's top antitrust enforcer raised concerns Thursday about the need to regulate artificial intelligence companies, while a top U.S. official said enforcers need to hear more about potential collaborations on AI safety before deciding if they're problematic.

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AT&T Seeks To End Biz Landline Service In 34 States, DC

By Nadia Dreid

AT&T is continuing its quest to end legacy copper line service across the United States, this time asking the Federal Communications Commission for permission to end traditional phone service for businesses in 34 states and Washington, D.C.

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Groups Seek 4.4 GHz Revamp, But Clash On Exclusive Use

By Christopher Cole

Top wireless carriers and shared-spectrum advocates issued reports this week saying the government needs to set the 4 gigahertz band on a path toward industry use, but are at odds on whether to set aside the airwaves for full-power exclusive licenses.

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Canada Commits To Trade Initiatives With EU, Southeast Asia

By Dylan Moroses

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday committed to work with European Union officials to enhance the trading relationship between the bloc and Canada as the country's top trade official is scheduled to visit major partners in Asia in the coming days to advance negotiations on trade agreements.

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Brief

Cruz, Markey Urge Senate To Pass Bill On AM Radio In Cars

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., have called on the Senate to advance the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act following its passage in the House of Representatives.

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Justices Told Fed. Circ. Erred In Veterinary Software Feud

By Adam Lidgett

A healthcare consulting services company wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit's refusal to revive its copyright and contract claims in a fight over rights to healthcare software for a U.S. Army veterinary records system.

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DC Judge Scolds Feds Over Delays In VLSI's FOIA Fight

By Craig Clough

A D.C. federal judge on Thursday granted the government a second extension to respond to VLSI's summary judgment motion in litigation over redactions to a "whistleblower" report, but chastised the feds over a "lack of prioritization and commitment" to the court's deadlines.

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LinkedIn Secures Ban On Sweeping Data Scraping Operations

By Allison Grande

A California federal judge finalized an agreement that permanently bars a pair of software companies accused of running "industrial-scale" data scraping mills that extracted information from millions of LinkedIn profiles from accessing the professional networking platform and requires them to destroy any data they've obtained. 

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IBM, J&J Get Incurable Data Breach Suit Tossed For Good

By Bonnie Eslinger

A New York federal judge dismissed a proposed class action alleging IBM and Johnson & Johnson's healthcare arm failed to safeguard sensitive health information of thousands of patients before a 2023 data breach, saying he provided plaintiffs a chance to fix their complaint, and they didn't cure its "deficiencies."

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Tech Co. Settles Suit Over Flawed NC Digital Court System

By Andrea Keckley

A putative class of individuals who alleged they were wrongfully arrested or detained due to glitches in North Carolina's electronic court system has settled its federal lawsuit against Tyler Technologies, the software developer behind the new digital court system, according to a notice filed Wednesday.

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Judge Won't Toss Cannabis Co. Rival Suit, Criticizes AI Misuse

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday denied a medical marijuana company's bid to get a rival's suit dismissed, called the company's motion to dismiss "sloppy lawyering at best and an AI hallucination at worst," and warned the company's in-house counsel against continued chatbot misuse.

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Alteryx Stockholders' 'Cleansing' Vote Dooms $4.4B Sale Suit

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has dismissed a stockholder suit challenging the $4.4 billion sale of analytics software company Alteryx Inc. to private equity firms Insight Venture Management LLC and Clearlake Capital Group LP, finding that an overwhelming stockholder vote approving the deal wiped out the investors' fiduciary duty claims.

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Texas Judge Won't Block Voting Rule For Rick Perry's AI Co.

By Katryna Perera

A Texas business court judge has denied billionaire businessman Toby Neugebauer's bid to block a corporate governance measure at the artificial intelligence infrastructure company co-founded by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, finding, among other things, Neugebauer has not shown he would suffer an injury absent relief.

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Ex-FCC Leaders Call ABC Probe Attack On Free Speech

By Christopher Cole

A bipartisan group of former top officials at the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday urged a D.C. federal court to put a halt to the agency's ongoing probe of ABC's Disney-owned stations, calling it an attack on free speech.

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Local Publishers Say OpenAI, Microsoft Stole Their News

By Craig Clough

More than two dozen regional, local, trade and specialty publishers have sued OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in New York federal court, alleging the companies copied hundreds of thousands of copyrighted articles without permission to train products including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.

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Fla. Tech Co. Says Ex-Execs Stole Web Browser Code

By David Minsky

A technology company has brought a Florida federal lawsuit accusing its former executives of quitting and running off with its trade secrets, alleging they went on to form a business that builds a competing web browser with stolen computer code. 

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Samsung Range Caused Wash. House Fire, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

An insurer said it is entitled to recoup costs paid in connection with a Washington policyholder's house fire because the blaze was caused by a defective electric range manufactured by Samsung, according to a suit removed to federal court.

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AppLovin Hit With Investor Suit Over AI Growth Claims

By Sydney Price

Advertising solutions company AppLovin was hit with a shareholder's proposed class action accusing it of overstating the strength and utility of its artificial intelligence models and failing to disclose delays affecting a promised AI video tool.

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Doximity Hit With Investor's Suit Over Ad Strategy Claims

By Sydney Price

Medical professional networking platform operator Doximity Inc. was hit with a shareholder's proposed class action accusing it of concealing it was losing market share to its competitors and that its website did not rely on the "deep engagement" advertising strategy it had previously touted.

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Ill. Woman Says Apple AirTags Enabled Stalking Abuse

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois woman sued Apple in Illinois federal court Wednesday, alleging the tech giant negligently released AirTags without adequate safeguards despite knowing stalkers could misuse them and saying she has been secretly tracked with an AirTag, physically attacked and forced to relocate multiple times.

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UK's Softcat Buying Dallas-Based GDT In $1.05B IT Deal

By Al Barbarino

British IT infrastructure provider Softcat PLC has agreed to buy Dallas-based IT solutions provider GDT Topco at an enterprise value of $1.05 billion, the companies announced on Thursday. 

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Holtec Nuclear Delays $750M IPO Citing Market Conditions

By Nate Beck

Nuclear power plant equipment company Holtec Nuclear Corp. on Thursday said it has postponed an expected initial public offering advised by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

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Deals Rumor Mill

OpenAI Aims For $1.2T Valuation, More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI is mulling a private funding round that could value the ChatGPT maker at $1.2 trillion; Blackstone is looking to raise $8 billion for its latest Green Infrastructure Credit Fund; and Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings is looking to raise $10 billion by listing American depositary receipts.

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Brief

3 Firms Steer Infineon's $1.1B Memory Unit Sale To Winbond

By Al Barbarino

Infineon Technologies AG has agreed to sell its NOR Flash and F-RAM business to Taiwan-based semiconductor memory solutions provider Winbond Electronics Corp. for $1.12 billion in cash. 

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Judge OKs Omnicare Plan That Will Settle $1B In Fraud Claims

By Emily Lever

A Texas bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved CVS unit Omnicare LLC's Chapter 11 plan, which will spin off the unit from the pharmacy megachain and settle $1 billion in federal fraud claims, after the debtor resolved all objections.

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T-Mobile Can't Challenge Ruling That It Broke Wash. Data Law

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A Washington state judge said he will not reconsider his finding that T-Mobile committed more than 722,000 violations of a state data breach notification law.

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Broker TradeZero Fined Over Data Breach Tied To Chatbot

By Julie Manganis

An unvetted chatbot and lax security policies allowed hackers to access personal and financial information of nearly 15,000 customers of online brokerage TradeZero America, the Massachusetts Securities Division said Thursday in announcing a $750,000 fine against the company.

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Brief

NY AG Seeks Tips From Workers On AI Firms' Unsafe Activity

By Vin Gurrieri

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday urged workers who know about "dangerous" or potentially unlawful conduct by companies in their development of artificial intelligence technology to report their concerns to the state.

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How FTC's $20B Amazon Suit May Shake Up Ad Enforcement

Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye discusses the significance of the Federal Trade Commission's recent suit against Amazon for allegedly overcharging advertising customers more than $20 billion, the company's potential defenses, and the context of rapidly evolving digital advertising technology.

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Meta Deal Highlights Advisory Jury Issues, Litigation Risk

The $17 billion settlement of youth safety claims brought against Meta offers lessons for all consumer-facing companies because the court made the rare move of empaneling an advisory jury and the case was built on what the company learned from its own studies, says Mark Morgan at McCarter & English.

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How GCs Can Assess The Risks Of Emerging AI Laws

Amid a swirl of momentous legislative activity aimed at regulating artificial intelligence, general counsel must return to first principles when determining whether new laws will apply and whether the company’s use could cause regulators to subject it to additional regulation, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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9th Circ. Ruling Marks New Chapter In Risk Factor Tug-Of-War

The Ninth Circuit's recent dismissal of a securities fraud class action against SunPower is the latest in a growing line of cases addressing whether, if ever, a company's risk factor disclosures can give rise to potential liability, an area where the law remains unsettled, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

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How AI Fraud Alerts May Raise Banks' Elder Exploitation Risk

As banks deploy artificial intelligence fraud detection, documented alerts and review decisions may shape elder exploitation claims, discovery disputes and defenses over what institutions knew before releasing suspect payments, say Michael Gilfix and Benjamin Gicqueau at Gilfix & La Poll.

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A Road Map To Modernizing Clinical Lab Regulations

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' recent request for comments on potential changes to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments provides an early indication of where CLIA is headed, and the operational, compliance, reimbursement and enforcement issues those changes will create, says Jose Vela at Clark Hill.

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IRS Notice Helps Bridge Carbon Capture Reporting Gap

Recent guidance that extends a safe harbor for taxpayers claiming Section 45Q carbon capture credits provides a temporary reporting method that may keep viable projects moving while the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Environmental Protection Agency address future reporting standards, says Peter Lowy at Nelson Mullins.

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Senate Confirms Kirkland Partner To Texas Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 49-45 on Thursday to confirm Kasdin Miller Mitchell, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Texas.

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Clancy Atty Denies Malpractice Claim By Man Serving Life

By Julie Manganis

A prominent Massachusetts criminal defense attorney best known for representing Lindsay Clancy has been accused in a separate case of "abandoning" a client who is serving life sentences for second-degree murder and home invasion, allegations the lawyer denies.

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Analysis

For Single-Party FTC, Easier Suits May Come With A Cost

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission has ditched its historical multimember, multiparty ethos for a one-party regime in which fewer dissents might make it easier for Chairman Andrew Ferguson to pursue his agenda, but it also forecloses the potential "moderating influence" that comes with winning broad buy-in from commissioners of two parties.

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Immigration Attorney Wants SEC Sanctioned In EB-5 Case

By Tom Lotshaw

An immigration attorney and her firm asked a New York federal judge to sanction the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to reasonably investigate an allegedly bogus unregistered securities claim it brought against them in an EB-5 immigrant investor case.

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Weaponization Fund Plaintiffs Say Discovery Ruling Was Right

By Jared Foretek

Plaintiffs suing over the Trump administration's once-proposed "anti-weaponization fund" are telling a Virginia federal judge to reject the U.S. Department of Justice's objections to a magistrate judge's discovery order, accusing the administration of stonewalling their requests and urging prompt discovery production.

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