'Anticompetitive Friction': Google Must Fix App Store Search

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Thursday ordered Google LLC to streamline the steps for Android users to find rival app stores as part of his court-ordered remedies in antitrust litigation won by Epic Games Inc. against Google, saying the current user process includes "anti-competitive friction" to discourage competition.

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Supreme Court's Apple App Store Pause Lifted After 24 Hours

By Bryan Koenig

Following the expiration of a roughly 24-hour pause on the App Store dispute between Apple and Epic Games, Apple put a 15% commission on the table Thursday to try to comply with a mandate forcing it to dramatically cut what it charges for App Store sales.

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9th Circ. Revives $140M Robo-Surgery Antitrust Case

By Jared Foretek

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a surgical instrument repair company's antitrust suit accusing the makers of the da Vinci surgical robot of illegally blocking third parties from repairing its machines, ruling that a district judge erred in applying the U.S. Supreme Court's Kodak factors to the dispute.

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Customers Can't Depose Google, Apple CEOs, 9th Circ. Says

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit has denied a group of consumers' petition for writ of mandamus challenging a lower court's order rejecting their repeated requests to depose Google's and Apple's CEOs and several other executives in antitrust litigation alleging the search engine giant shut out competitors.

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DOJ's HPE Merger Settlement Approved Over State Objections

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal judge approved a controversial settlement struck by the U.S. Department of Justice to end a case challenging Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, despite concerns from state enforcers about political influence in the settlement process.

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Equifax Agrees To $100M Deal To End Credit Score Error Suit

By MJ Koo

Equifax agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class action in Georgia federal court brought by consumers whose credit scores were inaccurately reported to lenders due to a three-week coding error in 2022.

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Netlist Targets Micron, HPE After Huge Samsung IP Deal

By Dani Kass

Netlist Inc. has filed a new U.S. International Trade Commission complaint accusing Micron and three other companies of infringing multiple memory patents with their imports, less than two weeks after the patent owner announced a nearly $1 billion licensing deal with Samsung over the same technology.

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Large Cos., Foreign Filers Winning At USPTO, Report Finds

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been leaving independent inventors behind with patent grants, instead favoring large corporations based in the U.S. and abroad, according to a new report from Labrynth.

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White House Aims Customs AI Tool At Chinese Tariff Evasion

By Dylan Moroses

The White House identified Thursday over 40 countries from which imports carry a heightened risk of transshipment, an illegal practice of misrepresenting goods entering the U.S. that originate elsewhere such as China, and government officials are working on a new artificial intelligence enforcement tool to address those concerns.

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Wireless Cos. Want FCC Protection In Upper Microwave Bands

By Christopher Cole

Top wireless carriers are seeking assurance from the Federal Communications Commission that it will not craft new rules in the upper microwave spectrum bands that could lead to interference with their licensed use of the airwaves.

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FCC Told Foreign Drone Ban Could Hinder Public Safety Work

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A nonprofit that donates drones to public safety agencies and science programs has urged the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider a potential ban on foreign-made military-grade drones.

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'Jump Must Litigate': 7th Circ. Clarifies Arb. Enforcement Rule

By Dorothy Atkins

The Seventh Circuit rejected trading firm Jump Trading LLC's bid to arbitrate a putative securities class action Thursday, finding that courts, not arbitrators, must decide whether disputes belong in arbitration when the parties haven't signed an arbitration agreement, furthering a circuit split and holding that "Jump must litigate."

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DirecTV Says Tegna Board Issue Proves Injunction Is Needed

By Nadia Dreid

DirecTV is pointing the Ninth Circuit toward a recent court order clarifying that when a federal judge told Nexstar and Tegna to remain separate while a challenge to their $6.2 billion merger plays out, that also meant they weren't allowed to put Nexstar execs on Tegna's board of directors.

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DOJ Backs X Corp.'s 5th Circ. Advertiser Boycott Appeal

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Justice Department backed X Corp. on Wednesday by arguing in a Fifth Circuit amicus brief that a Texas federal judge botched the antitrust injury analysis when tossing a lawsuit accusing Mars, CVS, Nestle, Lego, Tyson Foods and other advertisers of agreeing to boycott the social media platform after Elon Musk's purchase.

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XAI Can't Send Grok User's Privacy Suit To Texas, Judge Says

By Gina Kim

Elon Musk's xAI lost its bid to have a Grok user's proposed privacy class action sent to Texas, after a California federal judge ruled Thursday that Grok's platform, including its sign-up and chat screens, doesn't give reasonably conspicuous notice of its terms containing a mandatory forum selection clause. 

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Wolfspeed Escapes Investor Suit Over 'Optimistic' Projections

By Jessica Corso

A North Carolina federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action lawsuit accusing chipmaker Wolfspeed Inc. of deceiving investors about demand for its products, saying that the claims in the suit amount to "fraud by hindsight."

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Israeli Company Must Face $30M Quinn Emanuel Fee Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

An Israeli company and its CEO must face Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's suit seeking to collect payment of more than $30 million for legal work the firm performed to force the company to acquire the law firm's former client, a Massachusetts state court judge ruled.

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Selena Gomez Sued For Fraud By Mental Health Co. Investors

By Gina Kim

Pop star Selena Gomez and her mother were sued for securities fraud Thursday in Delaware federal court by investors in their mental health startup, Wondermind, who pointed to the former Disney star's "abject dereliction of her duties" to build the company until an investigation published last year detailed its "state of utter disarray."

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NC Biz Court Bulletin: Judges Retire, HCA Suit Heads To Trial

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court dropped a host of heavy-hitting opinions in July ahead of two judicial retirements and a new chief judge rising in the ranks.

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3 Firms Guide Defense Tech Co. Aevex's $650M BlackSea Buy

By Madeline Lyskawa

U.S. defense technology company Aevex Corp. said it has agreed to purchase BlackSea Technologies in a deal valued at about $650 million, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Crowell & Moring LLP advising Aevex and Cooley LLP representing BlackSea.

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Deals Rumor Mill

Bezos Backs Liverpool Deal, GameStop May Pivot, And More

By Al Barbarino

Jeff Bezos could be nearing his first foray into sports team ownership with a stake in Liverpool FC, GameStop may be rethinking its $55.5 billion pursuit of eBay, and Anthropic is talking with investors about launching the largest initial public offering ever. 

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Sierra Nevada Gets FCC OK For High Frequency Flight Sensor

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission gave the green light to Sierra Nevada Co. LLC's request to operate enhanced flight vision systems in the 92-95.5 gigahertz spectrum band.

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8th Circ. Says Mid-Interview Deletions Allowed Phone Seizure

By Brandon Lowrey

An Eighth Circuit panel ruled that police did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they seized a phone from a South Dakota man accused of trying to trade vape pens to a 16-year-old for sex, saying they did not need a warrant because they saw him trying to delete evidence during an interview.

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6th Circ. Jails Minnesota Activist Over Anti-ICE Threats

By Parker Quinlan

A self-described "antifa" member from Minneapolis must return to jail on federal charges of cyberstalking and making threats against supporters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with a divided Sixth Circuit panel determining he still poses a threat to the public.

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Series

Going To Hardcore Shows Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While government contracts law and the hardcore scene may seem entirely unrelated, in my experience, both are about community, focus, being prepared for the unexpected and managing chaos, says Isaac Natter at Fluet.

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Anti-DEI Group Asks FTC To Probe Law Fellowship Program

By Dorothy Atkins

An advocacy organization against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives filed an antitrust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday, accusing Sponsors for Educational Opportunity of engaging in anticompetitive practices by allegedly colluding on DEI metrics and falsely advertising its program.

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Baker Botts Atty Cleared Of Defamation In Inventor's Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Thursday tossed a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP patent attorney after agreeing with a magistrate judge's conclusion that an inventor had not shown that the lawyer's comments to a reporter were defamatory.

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NYC Bar Committee Calls For Nationwide AI Rules Framework

By Andrea Keckley

A New York City Bar Association committee concluded in a policy paper published Wednesday that artificial intelligence tools "may assist legal work but cannot substitute for professional legal judgment," calling for a national framework to be built into the Model Rules of Professional Conduct governing its use.

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Trump Picks Ex-Arkansas SG, Walmart Lawyer For 8th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced that he's looking to elevate Judge Lee Rudofsky of the Eastern District of Arkansas to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

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State Farm Attys Admit Filing Motions Full Of AI Hallucinations

By Jonathan Capriel

A law firm representing State Farm has admitted that its pretrial motions contained citations to nonexistent cases and legal quotes, errors that were seemingly "hallucinations" generated by AI software designed for lawyers and caught by the plaintiff's attorneys as they prepared for trial in a California state court case about fire damage coverage.

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Brief

DOJ Fraud Division To Reach 500 Staffers This Month

By Courtney Bublé

By the end of the month, there will be about 500 attorneys and staff in the U.S. Department of Justice's new fraud division, with more to come as time goes on.

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JP Ward Attorney Exodus Delays Pa. Labor Trafficking Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A "staffing disruption" at the Pittsburgh law firm J.P. Ward & Associates led the firm to request a stay of a labor-trafficking case against hotels in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, after the firm was reduced to one attorney and two staff members, according to court filings.

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