Fed. Circ. Backs Google PTAB Losses In VR Fight

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday upheld Patent Trial and Appeal Board rulings that Google LLC failed to show that some claims in a trio of virtual reality patents it was accused of infringing in California were invalid.

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Analysis

New Tech, Diluted Noncompetes Drive Up Trade Secret Cases

By Elliot Weld

Artificial intelligence tools are making it easier for employees to take off with valuable trade secrets when they switch employers, while noncompete agreements are becoming more difficult to enforce, a combination that is spurring an increase in trade secret cases, experts told Law360.

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FTC Claims Amazon Inflated Ad Auction Prices By 250%

By Dorothy Atkins

The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have revealed new allegations against Amazon in their sprawling antitrust fight in Washington federal court over online search advertising auctions, including new details alleging Amazon secretly raised advertising prices by as much as 250% to increase its revenue by $87 million worldwide.

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Live Nation Cites 2nd Circ. Eyewear Ruling In Fighting Verdict

By Dorothy Atkins

Live Nation has told a New York federal judge that the Second Circuit's recent EssilorLuxottica ruling "bears on the market-definition issues" raised in Live Nation's post-trial motions challenging its antitrust trial loss, while enforcing states argued that the Ninth Circuit's recent NFL Sunday Ticket ruling reversal backs their trial win.

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ChatGPT Murder Plot: OpenAI Sued Over Safeguard Shortfall

By Lauren Berg

ChatGPT fueled a North Carolina woman's delusions that her husband was abusive and planned to leave her with nothing if they divorced, before crafting a "personalized plan" to help her murder her husband and get away with the crime, according to a lawsuit that alleges OpenAI prioritizes engagement over safety.

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Meta, TikTok, Google Say Calif. Teen Feed Ban Is Censorship

By Emily Field

Meta, TikTok and Google have sued California to block a new law that bans social media platforms from allowing children under 16 certain features like personalized feeds, saying in separate complaints that the law violates the First Amendment and is barred by Section 230.

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Analysis

Binance Mega-Hack Confirms Cyberinsurance Industry Fears

By Abraham Gross

The theft of $6.3 billion in crypto assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance brought to life long-standing fears in the cyberinsurance industry that the scale of some state-backed cyberattacks may be uninsurable.

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Top Groups Lobbying The FCC

By Christopher Cole

Lobbying activity at the Federal Communications Commission stayed about even in October versus the month before as groups looked to influence FCC policies on issues like prison cellphone jamming, the upcoming auction of C-band airwaves, satellite coverage for smartphones and more.

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Tower Asks For Waiver, Clarification Related To EchoStar Fund

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A commercial tower landlord has asked the Federal Communications Commission for clarification or a waiver of agency rules governing a trust that EchoStar must use to repay companies related to its bankruptcy case.

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Brief

FCC To Consult With Tribes On NHPA Rules Covering Telecom

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission will soon be talking with tribal government leaders about potential changes to the FCC's approach to rules under the National Historic Preservation Act.

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9th Circ. Says Lending Co. Can't Arbitrate In Snowflake MDL

By Sydney Price

The Ninth Circuit ruled that online consumer lending platform LendingTree and an insurance comparison subsidiary cannot compel arbitration of a cybersecurity suit within multidistrict litigation over a breach of data held by cloud storage company Snowflake since the websites' design elements prevented "mutual assent" to their terms.

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Del. Judge Backs Cloudflare Appeal Over Founder Control

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has cleared the way for Cloudflare Inc. to seek immediate review of an order blocking a recapitalization meant to preserve its founders' voting control, saying the state's highest court should consider whether a longstanding test for director good faith remains valid under Delaware's revised corporate law.

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Chancery Won't Allow Redo Of Fight Over Fund's $9M In Cash

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday declined to revise rulings in a yearslong dispute over a distressed credit fund's records and more than $9 million of withheld cash, disagreeing with arguments that the fund's former managers and controllers had been improperly swept into the orders.

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Google Looks To Nix Foreign Developers' Play Store Claims

By Matthew Perlman

Google told a California federal court that foreign developers cannot bring antitrust claims targeting allegedly inflated Play Store fees because any harm felt would be in their home countries, not in the U.S.

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Apple Says ICloud User Years Too Late For Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Apple asked a California federal judge to scrap a proposed consumer class action accusing it of monopolizing cloud storage for its mobile devices, arguing the challenged limits on data backup functionality trace back to the birth of the iPhone, meaning the lawsuit is over a decade too late.

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Research Firm Sues To Enforce Ex-Analyst's Noncompete

By Julie Manganis

Advisory firm Forrester Research says a former principal analyst violated a decade's worth of noncompete and other provisions in employment and stock award agreements to jump to a vice president role at a direct competitor, then tried to hide his new position for months.

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4 Firms Build Defense Tech Co. Shield's $5.3B Echodyne Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Defense technology company Shield on Thursday announced plans to buy radar company Echodyne Corp. in a $5.3 billion deal that was built by four law firms.

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Deals Rumor Mill

Oracle Scraps $7B China Chip Deal Under Pressure, And More

By Al Barbarino

Oracle has called off a $7 billion microchip leasing deal with China's Tencent, a tungsten mining company affiliated with President Donald Trump's sons is planning to go public at a $2 billion valuation, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice is exploring the purchase of the $40 billion payments processor Global Payments. 

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FedEx Seeks $57M It Says It Overpaid USPS Due To Tech Error

By Madeline Lyskawa

FedEx sued the federal government at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims seeking more than $57 million that the company allegedly overpaid the U.S. Postal Service after FedEx's internal systems wrongly identified parcels as having been handled by the USPS.

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Invitae Privacy Suit Must Get OK From NJ Bankruptcy Judge

By Rick Archer

A New Jersey bankruptcy judge said Thursday he will need to see more evidence to resolve an "ambiguity" over whether class action privacy claims against genetic testing company Invitae Corp. belong in his court.

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Analysis

Racing Against Whistleblowers Could Cost Companies

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud threatens to ramp up the pressure on companies to hurry internal investigations and quickly report suspected misconduct to the government before whistleblowers do, which could backfire in some cases, according to experts.

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DOJ Says Willow Bridge's RealPage Deal Needs No Tweaks

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice responded to commenters pushing for changes to the rent price-fixing settlement it reached with Willow Bridge Property Co. LLC, arguing there's no need to add a distinction in the deal between rent renewals and first-time leases.

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How Cos. Should Prepare For Democratic Oversight

Companies should begin preparing now for a new, Democratic-majority Congress — understanding how the oversight landscape has changed in recent years and monitoring leadership elections, new rules and potential select committees, say attorneys at Wiley.

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FCRA Ruling Previews Future Business Transaction Litigation

The Ninth Circuit's overturning of a class verdict against CenturyLink is a win for businesses facing Fair Credit Reporting Act willfulness claims, but the question of when a consumer initiates a transaction remains unanswered, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

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Justices' Intel Ruling Could Aid 401(k) Alternative Asset Push

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent oral arguments in Anderson v. Intel, a decision favoring Intel over a prudence claim against fiduciaries based on underperformance by comparing two funds that aren't meaningfully similar would undercut the most common litigation theory against including alternative investments in 401(k) plans, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

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Are You Happy With Your In-House Role? Take Our Survey

Is your company giving you everything you need to succeed? What are some misconceptions about working in-house? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Satisfaction Survey.

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Alston & Bird Hires 2 Ex-Goodwin Procter Real Estate Pros

By Kevin Penton

Alston & Bird LLP has added two real estate attorneys previously with Goodwin Procter LLP as partners in Los Angeles, the firm announced Friday.

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US Charges 3 Over $129M AI Scam Using Fake UK Lawyers

By Laura Stewart Liberty

U.S. prosecutors said Thursday they have charged three men, including one facing extradition from London, for allegedly defrauding companies of $129 million through a scheme that used AI to impersonate executives and U.K. lawyers.

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Defeated Texas Justice Being Considered For Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

With the clock ticking on Republicans' control of the Senate, President Donald Trump is considering putting a Texas Supreme Court justice who just lost reelection on the federal bench.

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Ice Miller Sued Over $729K Award After Losing Federal Forum

By Andrea Keckley

A couple who hired Ice Miller LLP to defend their organization against a breach of contract suit have accused the firm in Indiana federal court of exposing them to additional litigation with a settlement that failed to preserve federal jurisdiction over future disputes.

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Japan's Anderson Mori Plans 2-Office Spring Launch In Texas

By Lynn LaRowe

Japan's Anderson Mori & Tomotsune is planning to enter the U.S. market next year with offices in Dallas and Houston, citing the Lone Star State's status as a business hub and client demand from global and Japanese businesses as factors driving the expansion.

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WilmerHale Rehires Treasury Official, Former Counsel In DC

By Jack Rodgers

A former Treasury Department official who worked as the agency's undersecretary for domestic finance has rejoined WilmerHale's financial institutions group as a partner, the firm announced Friday.

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Brief

Goldberg Segalla Adds Retail And Hospitality Partner In NJ

By Matt Perez

Goldberg Segalla LLP announced it has hired a former Reilly McDevitt & Henrich PC attorney to be a partner in its retail and hospitality practice group.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Susman Godfrey LLP, Langer Grogan & Diver PC, Hausfeld LLP and MoloLamken LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit ruled that a former federal judge erred by scrapping a $4.7 billion jury verdict against the National Football League in a class action over the price of its Sunday Ticket broadcast package.

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Law Firm Sues Sierra Leone Over $361K Legal Bill

By Jared Foretek

Law firm Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC claims in a complaint filed in D.C. federal court that Sierra Leone's government stiffed it on more than $300,000 in legal fees and costs after the firm defended it against earlier claims of unpaid fees by Jenner & Block.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud could backfire in some cases, experts say. Elsewhere, attorneys are weighing new strategies in the wake of Texas' historic blue shift during the midterm elections. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Brief

US Legal Sector Jobs Reached Record High In October

By Tracey Read

The legal industry's hot streak continued last month, adding 2,400 more jobs in October to reach a record high, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Mich. Supreme Court Chief Next To Lead Chief Justice Group

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court's chief justice has been named president-elect of the Conference of Chief Justices, a national organization representing the highest-ranking state judicial officers, and she plans to focus on expanding access to legal services, reforming attorney licensing and strengthening courthouse security.

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3rd Circ. Preview: UPenn Staff Rifts, FTC $3M Fee Fight

By George Woolston

The Third Circuit began its November session by examining Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers' appeal of his death sentence and is set to hear a number of other matters ranging from a state's bid to restore millions of dollars in food aid, to the federal government fighting a $3 million counsel fee award, to reviewing the third-party harassment test.

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Blank Rome Partner, Hotel Founder Disputes $15.6M Tax Bill

By Zak Kostro

A Blank Rome LLP partner who founded a luxury boutique hotel in Italy told the U.S. Tax Court the IRS improperly determined he owes roughly $15.6 million in taxes and penalties, disputing the agency's assertion that his hotel operations didn't qualify as a business for purposes of claiming expenses.

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Squire Patton, Baker McKenzie Hit With Data Breach Suits

By Rae Ann Varona

Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Baker McKenzie failed to protect private personal information stored in the law firms' systems from separate cyberattacks and delayed notifying affected individuals for roughly two months, two proposed class actions filed in Ohio and Illinois federal courts have alleged.

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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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Judge Kewalramani Warns Against Taking Sanctions Lightly

By Dani Kass

Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Shashi Kewalramani on Friday cautioned patent attorneys to be extremely discerning when filing sanctions motions, comparing it to crying "fire" in a crowded room.

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