'Cheap' Judge OKs $19.5M Snap Deal Fees But 'No Bentleys'

By Craig Clough

After warning counsel who negotiated a $65 million securities settlement with Snap that he is "notoriously cheap," and in a tentative order gave a "haircut" to their $19.5 million fee request, a California federal judge talked himself out of the trim at a hearing Thursday but quipped, "No Bentleys."

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Analysis

Judge Albright Changed The Landscape Of Patent Litigation

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas became infamous in 2019 when he drew repeated chastising from the Federal Circuit for hoarding patent cases, but in the wake of his plans to step down, attorneys say the judge's biggest legacy has become his efficient, common sense approach to litigation.

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Robinhood Investors Warn Of Nvidia Redux Before High Court

By Jessica Corso

Robinhood Markets Inc. investors urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday not to hear a dispute revolving around the trading platform's $2.1 billion initial public offering, arguing that the case the company presents is "in the same mold" as those that the justices threw out against Meta and Nvidia two years ago.

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Fed. Circ. Sides With Keysight On Centripetal Network Patents

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Thursday backed a U.S. International Trade Commission's decision relieving Keysight Technologies Inc. from Centripetal Networks LLC's case accusing it of infringing cybersecurity patents, and separately said many claims in one of the patents were invalid.

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Amazon Urges 9th Circ. To Uphold Block On Perplexity AI Bot

By Hailey Konnath

Amazon on Wednesday pressed the Ninth Circuit to leave in place an injunction blocking a startup's artificial intelligence tool, Comet, from purchasing items on Amazon.com, calling the tool "a textbook violation" of federal and state law and arguing that the injunction is backed by a robust record.

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Mobile Game Co. Hit With $420M Verdict In False Ad Trial

By Elliot Weld

Papaya Gaming Ltd. on Thursday was hit with a jury verdict in New York telling it to pay $420 million in damages in a trial over its alleged misrepresentations about its mobile games being based on skill and not using bots.

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OpenAI Barred From Using 'IO' As TM In Dispute With IYO

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge on Thursday prohibited OpenAI from using "IO" as a trademark for AI hardware, finding that the branding is likely to be confused with startup IYO Inc. 

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Huawei's Long-Awaited NY RICO Trial Moved To Fall

By Stewart Bishop

A Brooklyn federal judge on Thursday said the racketeering trial of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. will be delayed from June until September, after prosecutors filed streamlined charges over the weekend in one of two seven-year-old criminal cases the Chinese telecom company faces in the U.S.

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Latest Squires Order Grants 5 IPRs, Denies 4 On The Merits

By Theresa Schliep

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires granted five America Invents Act patent challenges and denied four others in his latest bulk order making institution decisions with little commentary.

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NTSB's LaGuardia Crash Probe Flags Lack Of Runway Alerts

By Linda Chiem

Fire truck crew members didn't know that air traffic controllers' instructions to stop were directed at them before they collided with an Air Canada passenger jet landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport last month, and the lack of a transponder on the truck prevented a runway collision warning system from sending out alerts, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

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FCC Rejects SpaceX, Iridium Bids To Change 'Big LEO' Rules

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission's staff has turned down requests from SpaceX and Iridium Communications Inc. to revamp spectrum sharing rules in the "Big LEO" bands that sought to let the companies expand mobile satellite services.

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Cos. Say Permit Delays Could Drag Out 'Rip And Replace'

By Christopher Cole

The government's multibillion-dollar effort to pull Chinese-made gear from U.S. telecom networks is almost done, but a carriers' group told the agency this week it was concerned that permit delays could set project timelines back.

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Brief

Amazon Gets OK To Sell Leo Routers Despite Covered List

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission continues to make exceptions for certain foreign-made routers after issuing a blanket ban on their being sold in the United States earlier this year by placing them on the so-called covered list.

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Fed. Circ. Backs Wins For Pokemon Go Maker In Patent Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A startup founded by biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong lost its bid Thursday to revive claims in a pair of patents it alleged were infringed by smartphone games Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite as the Federal Circuit upheld findings that the claims were invalid.

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Fed. Circ. Partly Reboots Patent Suit Over YouTube Content ID

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit ruled Thursday that a New York federal court needs to take another look at a patent licensing company's claim that Google and YouTube's Content ID system infringes one of its patents, but backed a finding that claims in two other patents were invalid.

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2nd Circ. Revives Copyright Fight Over Michael Jordan Video

By Ivan Moreno

The Second Circuit on Thursday revived parts of a videographer's copyright lawsuit against an online news publisher, ruling in a precedential decision that a lower court wrongly dismissed infringement claims over a video showing basketball legend Michael Jordan breaking up a fight and screenshots used with headlines.

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2nd Circ. Backs NBCUniversal In Suit Over Video Data Sharing

By Allison Grande

The Second Circuit on Thursday refused to revive a proposed class action accusing NBCUniversal of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act, finding that the dispute was "materially indistinguishable" from a separate precedential panel ruling that set the standard for what qualifies as personally identifiable information under the federal law.

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Meta Defends Toss Of Consumer Antitrust Case At 9th Circ.

By Matthew Perlman

Meta told the Ninth Circuit a lower court was right to find no support for an expert's theory that Facebook would have paid users $5 a month for using the service if it didn't misrepresent its privacy and data practices.

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Headwater Can't Enforce IP After Waiting 6 Years, Judge Says

By Adam Lidgett

A Texas federal judge has ruled that Headwater Research LLC can't enforce a pair of patents against Verizon, less than a year after a jury hit the telecommunications giant with a $175 million infringement verdict.

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Enovix Investors Denied Class Cert. Under Goldman Standard

By Emilie Ruscoe

A proposed class of investors in lithium battery manufacturer Enovix Corp. can't be certified, a California federal judge has determined, finding the suit doesn't show how declines in trading price cited in the complaint were caused by the sole remaining alleged misrepresentation in the matter.

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Bitcoin Depot Data Breach Suit Can't Proceed, Judge Rules

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia federal judge freed Bitcoin Depot on Thursday from a proposed class action over a 2024 data breach that affected tens of thousands of customers after ruling that the speculative risk of identity theft on its own could not support the suit.

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NJ Judicial Privacy Law Beats Political Group's Challenge

By Jake Maher

A federal judge ruled this week that the New Jersey judicial privacy measure Daniel's Law does not violate the First Amendment rights of a Democratic campaign finance and fundraising company, finding the law serves a compelling purpose in protecting judges and others from violence.

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Judge Orders Media Matters To Give X Its Employee Lists

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Thursday ordered left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America to hand over employee lists and editorial process information to X Corp. as part of a business disparagement suit, ending a lengthy battle between the parties over the documents.

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Wildfire App Can't Get Competitor's Launch Blocked

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has declined to issue a preliminary injunction at the behest of a competitor to block the launch of an app that gives out information about wildfires, saying this competitor had not adequately explained the delay between when it learned of the planned app's launch and when it filed suit.

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As Game Cos. Fight Over Docs, Judge Trims Requests

By Jarek Rutz

Mobile game companies Skillz Inc. and Tether Studios LLC clashed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court over the scope of discovery in a contract and trade secrets dispute, with each accusing the other of withholding critical information, while Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn largely trimmed back what she said were overbroad requests.

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Expert Must Speak To Ruined Phone Claims In Antitrust Case

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge said Wednesday that a digital forensics expert who was hired by a former Pilgrim's Pride employee facing bid-rigging allegations must testify in long-running civil antitrust litigation accusing poultry producers of price-fixing, finding the expert may be able to speak to claims that the worker destroyed evidence.

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Meta, 4 Food Banks Have Upper Hand In Privacy Suit, For Now

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated on Thursday she will dismiss a proposed class action against Meta Platforms Inc. and four California food banks alleging the tech giant collected personal information about visitors to food assistance websites, but said she would let the plaintiffs amend the suit and try again.

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BofA, EY Strike $2.5M Deal To Settle MOVEit Breach Claims

By Sydney Price

Bank of America and EY have agreed to pay $2.5 million to nearly 200,000 people to settle claims in multidistrict litigation over the May 2023 breach of file transfer application MOVEit, according to a motion for settlement.

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Stride Says Glitchy Tech Rollout Undercuts Investor Suit

By Emilie Ruscoe

Education technology company Stride Inc. seeks to shed proposed investor class action accusations it inflated its rolls with "ghost students" to secure funding, arguing it didn't defraud anyone after it saw enrollment numbers fall following tech upgrade issues.

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Sikorsky Says UK Co. Owes $9.8M More In Chopper Feud

By Brian Steele

A British company that is already on the hook for more than $26.3 million must pay Sikorsky International Operations Inc. an additional $9.77 million in offer-of-compromise interest after losing a lawsuit over the scrapped purchase of two helicopters, the Lockheed Martin-owned manufacturer told a Connecticut federal judge.

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Viamedia Fights Comcast's In-House Doc Access Proposal

By Lauraann Wood

Viamedia is pushing back on Comcast's proposal for loosening confidentiality protections so the cable giant's in-house litigation counsel can access highly confidential documents as the parties' antitrust trial looms, saying that it agrees a change is necessary but that Comcast's "disingenuous and self-serving" idea is not the way to do it.

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Trulieve Says Infringement Suit Doesn't Actually State A Claim

By Mike Curley

Cannabis company Trulieve Inc. has said a rival company's complaint against it lacks any factual basis to support the allegation Trulieve infringed the rival's patents, urging a Florida federal court to throw out the suit.

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Robinhood Hit With Class Action Over Illegal Sports Betting

By Tom Lotshaw

A proposed class action California, Michigan, New Jersey and New York residents filed against Robinhood Markets Inc. accuses the company of deceptively running an unlicensed sports gambling operation and seeks to recover billions of dollars in lost wagers and damages.

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Brief

Full Fed. Circ. Won't Rehear $500M Patent Case Against Sony

By Elliot Weld

The full Federal Circuit on Thursday declined to consider a decision that found Sony's PlayStation controllers don't infringe a computer input device patent in a suit where the patent owner was seeking almost $500 million in damages.

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Brief

Chinese Company Settles Suit Over Defective Dehumidifier

By Celeste Bott

A group of property owners and their insurer agreed Thursday to end their lawsuit over allegedly defective dehumidifiers manufactured by Chinese company Gree Electric Appliances Inc. ahead of a planned jury trial in August.

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Defense Parts Maker Elmet Group Prices Upsized $120M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity-backed defense parts manufacturer The Elmet Group Co. began trading publicly on Thursday after raising $120 million in its upsized initial public offering, steered by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP and Thompson Coburn LLP.

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Burtech's 2nd SPAC Eyes $100M IPO To Launch Deal Hunt

By Nate Beck

A blank-check company targeting industries such as hospitality, technology and real estate to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering advised by Loeb & Loeb LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP and Ogier.

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Cable Imports Won't Face Retroactive Duties, CIT Says

By Dylan Moroses

U.S. Customs and Border Protection correctly argued to reclassify a power supply company's imported cables from China, but retroactive duties cannot be placed on those goods as the period for reliquidation has passed, according to an opinion published Thursday by the U.S. Court of International Trade.

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Brief

UK Collected £944M From Digital Services Tax In Past Year

By Kevin Pinner

The United Kingdom collected £944 million ($1.27 billion) from its digital services tax during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, about 0.001% of the country's total tax take, HM Revenue & Customs said Thursday.

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Belgian Lawmakers Push Gov't For 3% Digital Services Tax

By Kevin Pinner

Belgian lawmakers have introduced a bill to create a 3% digital services tax on revenue that large multinational corporations derive from the country, pushing the governing coalition to follow through on a pledge to adopt the unilateral measure if international negotiations on an alternative fail.

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Jones Day Adds Labor Attorney From McDermott In SF

By Katherine Smith

Jones Day has added a former McDermott Will & Schulte partner who advises leading companies on a wide range of labor and employment matters as a partner in its labor and employment practice in its San Francisco office, the firm has announced.

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Womble Bond Hires Privacy And AI Governance Atty In D.C.

By Joyce Hanson

Womble Bond Dickinson has added a lawyer with more than two decades of experience advising technology companies and enterprises to its corporate and securities practice group in Washington, D.C., saying she will help clients navigate changes in data privacy, cybersecurity and consumer protection.

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New FCC Router Rule Signals Shifting Supply Chain Approach

The Federal Communications Commission's recent addition of consumer-grade routers newly produced outside of the U.S. to its covered list marks another notable expansion of the Trump administration's supply chain risk regulation and national security policy, directly affecting manufacturers, carriers and service providers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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GHG Endangerment Finding Repeal Brings New Legal Risks

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare anchored a matrix of regulation across multiple sectors — and the recent repeal of that finding has fundamentally destabilized the legal landscape governing industrial emissions, corporate liability and climate-related risk management, says Tanya Nesbitt at Thompson Hine.

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OFAC Signals Sanctions Diligence Can't Stop At 50% Rule

Recent guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, along with several enforcement actions looking beyond the 50% formal ownership requirement, sends a clear message that sanctions due diligence must consider a variety of factors, including degree of control, practice of actual dealings and the involvement of proxies, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

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Series

Officiating Football Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Though they may seem to have little in common, officiating football has sharpened many of the same skills that define effective lawyering in management-side labor and employment: preparation, judgment, composure, credibility and ability to make difficult decisions in real time, says Josh Nadreau at Fisher Phillips.

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DLA Piper Clears Vote To End Verein, Unify Leadership

By Tracey Read

DLA Piper announced Friday that firm partners on both sides of the Atlantic have "overwhelmingly approved" a plan to dissolve its Swiss verein structure effective May 1.

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Exclusive

Judge Albright Reflects On 8 Years Shaping Patent Law

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright will be walking away from the Western District of Texas at the end of the summer, ready to head back into patent litigation work. He talked with Law360 on Friday about the rockier elements of his judgeship and lessons he'll take into private practice.

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Commerce Department's General Counsel Departs

By Christine DeRosa

The U.S. Department of Commerce's general counsel has left the agency after just over a year, the agency confirmed on Friday.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

In what may be a first, a federal judge has ordered BJ's Wholesale Club to put an investor's climate-related proxy proposal up for a vote of the shareholders at the company's annual meeting. And a new study shows that more in-house counsel are staying in place despite pay increases slowing amid less competition for talent.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, Butler Prather LLP, Bowen Painter LLC and Cannella Snyder LLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Fluor Corp. can be held liable for a veteran's state-based injury claims stemming from a 2016 suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen a Hong Kong company sue the government and a COVID-19 PPE company linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone, an oligarch bring a fresh claim against a rival in a long-running feud, a rugby league club sue over a canceled mass dance event, and Visa and Mastercard hit with legal action from H&M, Eurostar, and Bang & Olufsen. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Oregon Lawyer Ordered To Pay Attorney Fees For Use Of AI

By Matt Perez

An Oregon attorney was sanctioned by a state appellate court for filing a brief containing a fabricated list of authorities because she used generative artificial intelligence, marking the first case in the jurisdiction to present the option of awarding attorney fees as a sanction as opposed to fines payable to the court.

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Akin Can't 'Recast' Appeal As Good-Faith Effort, 9th Circ. Told

By Lauren Berg

A European winemaker slammed attempts by a U.S. importer and its Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to "recast a frivolous appeal as a good-faith effort," saying they should have to pay monetary sanctions for pursuing what the Ninth Circuit called a "self-indulgent" appeal of a valid arbitration award.

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Atty, Brother Say Father's Last Will Altered In Secret

By Emily Sawicki

A Blank Rome LLP attorney and his brother have sued the attorney who executed their father's will in New Jersey federal court, alleging the lawyer preyed on their ailing father toward the end of his life to alter his beneficiaries through undue influence, forgery and fraud.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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