Top Takeaways From Meta's $17B Kid Safety Deal

By Emily Field and Cara Salvatore

A $17.1 billion deal with 29 states and Meta Platforms Inc. that includes reforms to Facebook and Instagram to protect children is seen as a benchmark for other settlements with social media companies as litigation and public pressure mounts over mental health harms to youth.

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Meta Makes $17B Deal With States Over Child Harms

By Matthew Santoni

Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and enact reforms to Facebook and Instagram to resolve sprawling social media addiction claims, in the midst of a high-stakes bellwether trial over whether the company hid or downplayed its platforms' allegedly harmful impact on minors, state enforcers say.

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Meta Judge Quickly OKs $17B Deal Over Social Media Harms

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge overseeing a bellwether trial over claims Meta hid social media's harms to youth on Wednesday approved its $17.1 billion deal with 29 states, after a hearing in which she pressed lawyers on details of the deal and raised concerns about how Meta was handling attorney-client privilege issues.

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9th Circ. Panel Won't Revisit Boeing's $72M Trade Secret Loss

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel has rejected Boeing's bid for a panel rehearing of its August 2025 decision reinstating a $72 million jury verdict for electric jet startup Zunum Aero Inc. in a trade secret dispute, spurning the aerospace giant's fresh argument that the case belongs in the Federal Circuit because of the patent counterclaims involved.

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9th Circ. Backs Google Privacy Deal With No Class Payouts

By Allison Grande

A split Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday affirmed approval of a location data privacy deal that requires Google to pay $62 million to plaintiffs' counsel and third-party organizations but gives no money to individual class members, agreeing the structure was appropriate because direct distribution to all class members would be "infeasible."

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Shoals Wins $96M Patent Infringement Verdict Against Rival

By Hayley Fowler

A federal jury in North Carolina on Wednesday awarded a solar components company $96.38 million in damages after finding a rival supplier infringed its patents for an electrical connection system.

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AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Defeat Asus Patent Case In EDTX

By Theresa Schliep

An Eastern District of Texas jury on Wednesday cleared AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile of claims by Asus Technology Licensing Inc. and other companies that the carriers infringed a group of wireless communications patents.

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X Loses Challenge To NY Social Media Disclosure Law

By Lauren Berg

New York's law requiring social media companies to divulge details of their content-moderation policies does not run afoul of the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, throwing out X Corp.'s challenge seeking to block enforcement of the measure.

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Canva Loses Sanctions Bid Targeting Prolific Patent Lawyer

By Elliot Weld

Website builder Canva US Inc. has been denied a bid to sanction one of the most prolific patent attorneys over the last few years who sued on behalf of HyperQuery LLC as a Texas federal judge ruled that HyperQuery's theory was not "exceptionally meritless."

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DOJ Flags Breach Of Internal Policies In Apple Suit

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice told a New Jersey federal judge Tuesday that its staffers breached internal policies when they shared personally identifiable information with an outside discovery vendor that was hired not by the department, but instead by the DOJ's state attorneys general partners, in the monopolization case against Apple.

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Lawmakers Press Commerce To Curb Exports To Adversaries

By Courtney Bublé

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to block U.S. citizens and businesses from working for foreign civilian intelligence and security agencies in Russia, China and other "countries of concern."

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Sens. Push Probe Of DOT's Failure To Protect Flyers' Privacy

By Gina Kim

U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, asked the U.S. Government Accountabiliy Office Wednesday to investigate the U.S. Department of Transportation's "systemic abdication" and "regulatory neglect" of its consumer privacy enforcement mandates meant to protect air travelers' privacy, warning of "severe international and economic ramifications."

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Squires Institutes 6 Patent Reviews, Rejects 5 Others

By Ryan Davis

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has instituted six patent reviews and denied five other requests in his latest round of decisions.

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FCC Seeking More Spectrum For Space Launches, Reentry

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission is on the hunt for more spectrum that could support space launches and reentry, and is asking stakeholders to weigh in with their own ideas on how to free up the airwaves.

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NTIA Has Given Final OK To All 56 State, Territory BEAD Plans

By Nadia Dreid

Nearly five years after the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act created the BEAD program, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration says it has approved all 56 final proposals from the states and territories.

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Fed. Circ. Brings Back Telecom Patent Challenged By Cisco

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday restored a patent that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board found invalid after Cisco Systems Inc. challenged it, disagreeing with the claim construction the board adopted.

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Libertarian Org. Tells 9th Circ. Not To Let Canadian Sue Google

By Bryan Koenig

The Washington Legal Foundation sought Wednesday to back Google against a British Columbia man's efforts to revive "a thematic copycat" of Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit, telling the Ninth Circuit that a California federal judge rightly deemed Google's Play Store policies too disconnected from prices paid by Canadian Android users.

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Academy Mortgage Reaches $2M Data Breach Settlement

By Katryna Perera

Customers of Academy Mortgage Corp. have urged a Utah federal judge to grant the first OK to a nearly $2 million settlement they reached with the lender to resolve claims tied to a 2023 data breach.

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Lowe's Must Face Calif. Privacy Suit Over Web Trackers

By Gina Kim

Lowe's must face a twice-amended proposed class action alleging the home improvement retailer secretly collected and shared information about its website users with TikTok and Microsoft, contrary to its own privacy policy, a California federal judge said Wednesday, rejecting Lowe's argument that the data collection wasn't highly offensive.

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Boeing Beats Bid For More Depos In Moon Mission IP Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado aerospace company cannot conduct additional depositions in its lawsuit accusing The Boeing Co. of stealing patented technology for a NASA moon exploration program, a Washington federal magistrate judge ruled.

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Detroit Can't Fully Shake Telecom's Fiber Access Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge has allowed a telecommunications carrier to pursue claims that Detroit discriminated against it over access to city-controlled fiber conduit, while dismissing state constitutional, antitrust and mandamus counts. 

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Chancery Lets Investor Defend SpaceX Fund In Florida

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Wednesday granted investor Alessandro Possati a limited default judgment allowing him to act on behalf of an investment partnership in related Florida litigation, while declining to make broader findings that could affect his remaining fiduciary duty claims.

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Apple Seeks Win In Biometric Privacy Case, Citing 7th Circ.

By Celeste Bott

A recent Seventh Circuit decision affirming Samsung's win in a biometric privacy suit means Apple should prevail over similar claims, the tech giant has told an Illinois federal judge, arguing for summary judgment in a class action alleging that Apple's Photos app collects users' faceprints without permission.

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Mother Of Musk's Child Calls XAI Contract Breach Claim Faulty

By Spencer Brewer

The mother of one of Elon Musk's children has told a Texas federal judge that fees xAI racked up in New York litigation cannot form the basis for the company's lawsuit in the Lone Star State, asking the court to dismiss xAI's lawsuit.

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Crypto CEO Says Investors Lack Proof In Refund Fraud Suit

By Sydney Price

The CEO of Power Block Coin LLC, which does business as SmartFi, asked the Pennsylvania federal court for a win in a suit alleging he refused to fulfill their "buyback guarantee" of SmartFi tokens, saying the investors cannot even show they personally bought the tokens.

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Sports Betting Tech Co. Opposes Sportradar's Arbitration Bid

By Matthew Perlman

Altenar told a New Jersey federal court that Sportradar is trying to force a case accusing it of monopolizing the U.S. sports betting data market into arbitration in Switzerland based on a terminated contract that only covered foreign markets.

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Flock Surveillance Cameras Enable Stalking, Class Suit Says

By Kelcey Caulder

Flock's nationwide vehicle surveillance system has repeatedly been used for "personal surveillance and stalking" rather than for proper law enforcement purposes, a driver said in a proposed class action in Georgia federal court.

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Apollo Shareholders Say Their Data Was Exposed To Hackers

By Sydney Price

Shareholders of Apollo Global Management Inc. have launched a pair of proposed class action complaints in New York federal court accusing the asset manager of failing to secure and protect the personal information of customers from a recent data breach.

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Volato Group Inks $500M AI Infrastructure Merger Deal

By Nate Beck

Atlanta, Georgia-based Volato Group plans to shift its business focus from aviation-focused artificial intelligence software to AI infrastructure as part of a merger with Alignment Engine Inc. valuing the Ohio-based company at $500 million.

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Samsung, Apple Warn Against Google Payment Ban

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Samsung and Apple told the D.C. Circuit that they are backing he district court's decision to reject a proposed ban on Google's payments to device distributors, with Samsung saying the ban would deprive it of the revenue it needs to help fund research and development in its mobile business unit and Apple saying it would only benefit Google at the expense of customers and third parties. 

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SEC, AI Startup Settle Action Over $5.3M Offering

By Katryna Perera

An artificial intelligence startup and its founder have agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over $100,000 to resolve claims that they raised more than $5.3 million from investors through misleading statements about the company's revenue, current valuation and customer demand.

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Man Gets 42 Months For Tax Crimes, Fraud, Must Pay $1.2M

By Zak Kostro

An Oregon businessman who withheld employment taxes from employees' pay but did not pay the taxes to the IRS was sentenced to 42 months in prison for tax evasion and other crimes and ordered to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

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Connecticut Sues Kalshi To End 'Free-For-All' Wagering

By Brian Steele

Connecticut on Wednesday became the latest state to sue prediction market Kalshi for allegedly offering illegal sports gambling to its users, asking a court to shut down unlicensed wagers in the state and opening a new front in a legal battle that has previously reached the Second Circuit.

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Brief

Ky. FM Stations Didn't Follow Licensing Rules, FCC Says

By Christopher Cole

The licensee of four Kentucky FM radio stations reached an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission to end a probe into whether it failed to file the stations' license renewals on time and left them off the air without permission.

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Why AI Diligence Is Especially Key In IP Practice

In light of recent federal court sanctions against intellectual property litigators for filing work product generated by artificial intelligence without verification, it's important to consider the unique risks and consequences that can arise from overreliance on AI, which poses less visible risks in IP matters, says Stephen Ball at Husch Blackwell.

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Calif. Bill Curbing PE Role In Litigation Heads To Newsom

By Lauren Berg

A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after passing with bipartisan support from the state Legislature.

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Pillsbury Settles Ex-Recruiting Director's Pregnancy Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has settled a Black former director's suit claiming the law firm fired her weeks after she shared that she was pregnant and would need accommodations, according to a Tennessee federal court filing.

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Prosecutors Say Goldstein Must Stay Behind Bars

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors told the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday to keep convicted Supreme Court attorney Thomas Goldstein behind bars while he appeals his conviction, arguing that he remains a serious flight risk with wealthy overseas connections and "an ongoing danger" whose tax crimes continued "even after conviction."

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Arizona Atty Reprimanded For Series Of AI Errors

By Matt Perez

An Arizona federal judge has formally reprimanded a lawyer who admitted to filing four briefs that contained errors including false quotes and a faulty case summary generated with artificial intelligence amid an employment discrimination suit, noting the lawyer previously faced sanctions on two separate occasions for violating court rules.

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House Committee Wants DOL IG To Widen Info-Sharing Probe

By Benjamin Morse

Top House Education and Workforce Committee Republicans urged the U.S. Department of Labor's watchdog Wednesday to expand its review of information-sharing arrangements with outside groups, asking whether three additional agencies improperly disclosed confidential investigative material during the Biden administration.

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