Alibaba Cos. Ink $600M Nonprosecution Deal Over Drug Sales

By Sarah Jarvis

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its U.S.-based payment processor AUS Merchant Services Inc. will avoid prosecution and pay $600 million to end the U.S. Department of Justice's allegations that they allowed merchants to sell and import illegal pharmaceuticals and controlled substances into the U.S., the DOJ announced Wednesday.

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Analysis

3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In July

By Ryan Davis

A patent owner's effort to undo a Texas jury verdict clearing Samsung of infringing a wireless patent and an appeal of a ruling that Dartmouth College and a supplement maker owe $9 million for filing an "unreasonable" vitamin patent suit are among the cases the Federal Circuit will hear this month.

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7th Circ. Questions Contempt On Hytera Radio Redesign

By Lauraann Wood

A Seventh Circuit panel seemed unsure Wednesday that a district court correctly found Motorola Solutions Inc. entitled to a cut of Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd.'s sales of redesigned mobile radios under a 2022 royalty order entered after a jury found Hytera liable for trade secret theft.

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Yelp Gets To Lock In Part Of DOJ's Search Win Over Google

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Wednesday partially granted Yelp Inc.'s request to lock in liability findings from the U.S. Department of Justice's landmark antitrust win over Google LLC for its own case against the company, thereby precluding Google from arguing it didn't monopolize the market for general search services.

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TikTok Nears Deal Ahead Of 2nd Social Media Addiction Trial

By Craig Clough

A plaintiff who alleges he became harmfully addicted to major social media platforms as a child and whose case is set to be the second bellwether trial later this month out of thousands of similar cases pending in Los Angeles court has reached a settlement in principle with TikTok, his counsel told Law360 on Wednesday.

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Microsoft Brass Face Investor Suit Over AI Business Hype

By Katryna Perera

A Microsoft Corp. shareholder has launched a derivative suit against the company's top brass, claiming they misled shareholders about the company's artificial intelligence business strategy and products, and caused it to violate copyright and intellectual property laws by "training its AI software on copyrighted works for which it did not possess lawful licenses."

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Calif. Man Says ChatGPT Fueled Bipolar Delusion, Self-Harm

By Lauren Berg

When a California man with bipolar disorder shared his intense delusions with ChatGPT, a lack of safeguards caused OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot to drive him deeper into those delusions and encourage him to attempt to take his own life, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Francisco.

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FTC Says Distorting AI Outputs To Follow State Laws Won't Fly

By Allison Grande

Companies that "alter or steer" the outputs of artificial intelligence models to comply with legislation in Colorado and other states that aim to regulate the use of the emerging technology risk deceiving consumers and facing federal enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission warned in a proposed policy statement released Wednesday.

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Analysis

USMCA Nonrenewal Brings New Caution For Business

By Dylan Moroses

The joint review process for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement formally kicked off Wednesday as the U.S. announced its intent not to renew the agreement without changes, leaving practitioners with questions about the outcomes of negotiations and expectations of continued business uncertainty.

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FCC Wants To Extend Covered List's Reach To Components

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission Wednesday announced new plans to expand the so-called covered list of telecommunications equipment — equipment deemed to be a national security risk — even further so that it bans not only a completed item but all the parts that make it up.

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AI Scams Drive Need For More Action To ID Callers, FCC Told

By Christopher Cole

With data showing robocall scams even more rampant than reported and artificial intelligence making fraud easier, the Federal Communications Commission needs to take action to better identify the sources of calls, a consumer advocacy group said.

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3 NJ Bills On Data Center Regulation Sent To Governor

By Isaac Monterose

The New Jersey Senate and the state's General Assembly recently passed three data center regulation bills that will be considered by Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

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Wash. AI Task Force Forgoes Data Center, Labor Safeguards

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state task force made a series of recommendations to lawmakers Wednesday for promoting responsible use of artificial intelligence while declining to endorse proposed guardrails on data center development and the use of generative AI by state agencies, according to a final report.

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Brief

FCC To Vote On Revamping Space, Earth Station Licensing

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday released the order it wants to vote on later this month to overhaul the licensing process for satellite and earth stations by creating an "assembly line" process that the agency says will slash red tape.

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Chen Says Herridge Must Name Source Even Under Her Test

By Jared Foretek

A woman claiming that an FBI agent smeared her by leaking confidential records to then-Fox News journalist Catherine Herridge told the U.S. Supreme Court not to halt Herridge's contempt finding and $800-per-day fine any longer, saying that even under Herridge's preferred test, she would still have to identify her source.

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Zillow Loses Bid To Exit IBM Sign-On Tech Patent Suit

By Adam Lidgett

A Washington federal judge has refused to let Zillow out of IBM's lawsuit accusing the online real estate marketplace company of infringing a user sign-on patent, rejecting Zillow's argument that the company's processes weren't covered by what the patent requires.

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Ukrainian Civilian Suit Against Semiconductor Cos. Dismissed

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday dismissed claims that semiconductor manufacturers negligently sold products the Russian government used to build missiles that killed Ukrainian civilians, but gave the Ukrainian civilians who brought the suit another shot at pleading their claims.

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TD Bank Can't Escape Customer's Meta Pixel Tracking Suit

By Sydney Price

TD Bank must face a proposed class action alleging it wrongfully shared customers' personal information with Meta Platforms Inc. for marketing purposes, with a New Jersey federal judge ruling the latest version of the suit plausibly alleges the bank's tracking tool caused actual harm to the plaintiff.

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Resale Ticket Buyers Must Arbitrate Live Nation Claims

By Matthew Perlman

A New York federal court has sent antitrust claims from concertgoers who purchased Ticketmaster tickets on the secondary market to arbitration, after finding an arbitration clause in Live Nation's terms of service is enforceable.

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Chancery Court Sends SpaceX-Linked Dispute To Arbitration

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Court of Chancery has refused to halt a New York arbitration between software company Trellis and investment firm ClearList, ruling instead that the parties had delegated threshold questions of arbitrability to an arbitrator through their services agreement and requiring the dispute to proceed outside Delaware.

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Pa. Court's Verizon Tower Approval Comes With New Test

By Matthew Santoni

A Pennsylvania appellate court Wednesday set new standards for wireless providers like Verizon to seek local zoning variances, upholding approval of a Lehigh County cell tower while throwing out old Federal Communications Commission guidance on interpreting the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

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4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In June

By Julie Manganis

An advisory firm's failure to register as a broker before diving into work on a $2.1 billion take-private deal last year has cost it, while emails and text messages took center stage in several other disputes pending in Massachusetts state court in June.

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Bojangles Can't Duck Workers' Data Breach Class Action

By Hayley Fowler

Bojangles cannot free itself from a proposed data breach class action alleging the fried chicken fast food chain left employees' personal information vulnerable to Russian hackers, a North Carolina Business Court judge ruled in largely denying the company's bid for an early exit.

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Farm Says $99M Deere Right-To-Repair Deal Is Unfair

By Mike Curley

One of the farms suing Deere & Co. in federal right to repair litigation is objecting to a $99 million settlement that received preliminary approval in May, saying the deal provides minimal relief compared to what the class could have gotten at trial, especially since more than half of it may go to class counsel.

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Bankrupt EV Co.'s Execs Reach $20M Investor Deal

By Sydney Price

Executives of bankrupt electric vehicle startup Canoo Inc. have reached a $20 million deal with the company's shareholders to end claims that they misled investors about its go-to-market strategy ahead of its merger with a special purpose acquisition company in 2021.

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LinkedIn Says Users Agreed To Browser Extension Scans

By Taylor Bowie

LinkedIn told a California federal judge that two proposed class actions alleging the website unlawfully accesses users' browser extensions are part of an "international retaliation campaign" over routine security methods that users agreed to.

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EV Battery Workers Say Ford Is Joint Employer

By MJ Koo

Battery plant workers have told a Michigan federal court that Ford Motor Co. is their joint employer and bears responsibility for unpaid wage claims at an electric vehicle battery plant, pushing back against the automaker's bid to escape the lawsuit.

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Fubo Faces Adeia Streaming Patent Suit In Del.

By Adam Lidgett

Adeia Media Holdings on Wednesday sued FuboTV in Delaware federal court alleging the sports streaming venture infringed four of its patents, months after the patent owner announced a deal to end infringement litigation against Fubo's controlling company Disney.

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Microsoft Data Center Upends Neighborhood Peace, Suit Says

By Hailey Konnath

A data center operated by Microsoft Corp. in southeastern Wisconsin emits "unreasonable and excessive noise," disrupting the lives of nearby residents, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court Wednesday.

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Match.com Omits That Best Matches Cost Extra, Suit Says

By Rae Ann Varona

Match.com advertises the ability to connect people with their "most compatible" matches to entice them into subscribing to its online dating platform, but fails to first disclose that the feature requires an additional payment, one user has alleged in a proposed class action filed in New York federal court.

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Walmart Hit With Ill. Biometric Privacy Suit For Recorded Calls

By Celeste Bott

Walmart has been hit in Illinois state court with a proposed class action claiming that customers' voiceprints were recorded and captured for fraud prevention purposes when they called the retail giant's customer service line, without the required consent and disclosures under Illinois' biometric privacy law.

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Brief

IT Firm Seeks To Enforce Noncompete Against Ex-Sales Chief

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts IT management company Coretelligent has asked a state judge to block its former chief revenue officer from starting a new, nearly identical job with a rival firm, saying the move violates a noncompete.

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Analysis

Megadeals Driving Record M&A Values In Uneven 2026 Market

By Al Barbarino

Massive strategic transactions and technology deals pushed global M&A values in the first half of 2026 above the half-year peaks seen in the 2021 dealmaking boom, but experts say the market remains uneven and second-half expectations hinge on the absence of further geopolitical shocks.  

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Latham-Led Bending Spoons Leads Trio Of IPOs Topping $2B

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Italian mobile app developer Bending Spoons hit the public markets after raising $1.7 billion in its initial public offering, marking the largest of three IPOs to begin trading on Wednesday, exceeding $2.1 billion in total deal volume.

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Judge To Approve $40M Sale Of Texas A&M Data Center

By Yun Park

A Texas bankruptcy judge said Wednesday that he would approve a sale of a data and research center affiliated with Texas A&M University, RELLIS Campus Data and Research Center LLC, to AI software company ThisWay Global Inc. for $40 million.

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Amazon To Pay $2.25M To Settle FCRA Violation Claims

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Amazon has been ordered to pay $2.25 million in civil penalties to settle allegations that it knowingly violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by refusing to provide customers with transaction records after their personal information was used by identity thieves to commit fraud.

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NJ Cops Can Accept Warrantless Location Info From Feds

By Nadia Dreid

A New Jersey appeals court has said it won't overturn the gun trafficking conviction of a man who was arrested in part due to cellphone location data that was acquired by federal law enforcement in Ohio, which didn't require a warrant to get the information.

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Anthropic Says Export Controls Are Lifted For Latest Models

By Ganesh Setty

Anthropic has announced that export controls ordered by the Trump administration regarding its new Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 models have been lifted, saying it would make the frontier models available starting Wednesday.

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Brief

Calif. Man Gets 21 Months For Sports Memorabilia Fraud

By Ganesh Setty

A California resident has been sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty in December to one count of wire fraud for knowingly selling counterfeit baseball memorabilia he claimed was from MLB Hall of Famer Willie Mays.

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The Case For Using Final-Offer Damages Forms In IP Suits

Recent Federal Circuit decisions, such as Ollnova v. Ecobee, that scrutinize verdict forms in patent infringement disputes potentially render the final-offer damages selection procedure more attractive, though it should not be seen as a replacement for patent damages doctrine, says Brandon Theiss at Addy Hart.

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GM Privacy Penalty Signals A Change In Calif. Enforcement

General Motors' $12.75 million settlement with the California attorney general over its sale of driving behavior and geolocation data to brokers shows that disclosures and user choice may no longer be enough to define permissible data use, says Sonja Arndt-Johnson at Buchalter.

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Agentic AI And Securities Law: Evolving Risk Disclosures

The U.S. disclosure regime is built on the premise that management can describe the material facts and risks facing its business, but, with the advent of agentic artificial intelligence, the question is whether the regime can accommodate decision-making systems whose behavior is not fully predictable, says Joseph A. Hall at Davis Polk.

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Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

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Goldstein Calls Gov't's Attack On Text Messages 'Hypocrisy'

By Jared Foretek

Lawyers for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein have rejected prosecutors' claims that the famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer may have deleted messages between himself and his poker backers, calling the government "hypocritical" after it had previously argued that Goldstein could authenticate the messages if he took the stand at trial.

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Judiciary Dems Seek DOJ Replies Before Blanche Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Ahead of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing for the permanent position, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding he provide answers to their outstanding oversight inquiries.

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Brief

Texas Federal Judge Requires Confirmation Of AI Checks

By Emily Sawicki

Attorneys and self-represented parties appearing before U.S. District Judge Ernest Gonzalez of the Western District of Texas are now required to certify that they have independently verified the contents of any filings created or edited using artificial intelligence.

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'Do Your Part,' Mass. Judge Chides Read Case Attys Post-Leak

By Cara Salvatore

A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday lectured counsel in the high-profile civil case against Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman acquitted of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend, to honor their ethical obligations after sensitive information leaked on social media.

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U Of Ky. Appoints Controversial Dean Pick For Law School

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky will retire from the bench later this month to become dean of the University of Kentucky's J. David Rosenberg College of Law, a move that sparked controversy in the state.

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Wash. Atty Loses Bid For Jury In Dispute Over Bar Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington lawyer sanctioned and disciplined for bringing a "frivolous" election suit in 2021 against then-Gov. Jay Inslee has lost her bid to have her ethics charges heard by a jury, with a state appeals panel finding no error in a trial court's ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to take on the disciplinary matter.

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Analysis

High Court's Guardrails Won't Ease Fight Over Trans Athletes

By Alex Lawson

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision permitting states to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports was written in simple terms, but attorneys tracking the issue see the ruling as a flashpoint for further litigation.

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Analysis

Plea Deals Get Scrutiny In 'Hunter,' But Justices Stay Cautious

By Brandon Lowrey

The shock for Mary Fan came almost immediately after she began her career as a federal prosecutor in Southern California in the mid-2000s.

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5 NYC Legal Service Provider Union Contracts Have Expired

By Andrea Keckley

The collective bargaining agreements for five New York City-based indigent defense and civil legal aid providers expired at the end of the day Tuesday as multiple unions reported outstanding points of contention in their negotiations.

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Watchdog Says DOL Needs Better Info Sharing Controls

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's lack of controls over information sharing between subagencies and nongovernmental entities, including law firms and legal advocacy organizations, may have unfairly advantaged those parties with privileged investigative information, an agency watchdog reported, though use of the practice has dropped off. 

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of June

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Bayer, Harley-Davidson and PBS. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from June.

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