Elon Musk locked horns with an OpenAI attorney during a combative, and at times comical, cross-examination in a California federal jury trial Wednesday over Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion, repeatedly accusing defense counsel of asking "false" and misleading questions, which Musk claimed were crafted to "trick" him and jurors.
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THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Musk Accuses OpenAI Atty Of Tricking Jury In Fiery Cross

By Dorothy Atkins

Elon Musk locked horns with an OpenAI attorney during a combative, and at times comical, cross-examination in a California federal jury trial Wednesday over Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion, repeatedly accusing defense counsel of asking "false" and misleading questions, which Musk claimed were crafted to "trick" him and jurors.

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Analysis

3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In May

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit's May argument slate includes appeals of invalidity decisions and sanctions tied to VLSI Technology's multibillion-dollar chip patent dispute with Intel, as well as Amazon's challenge to a cloud storage patent verdict against it for over half a billion dollars.

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Uber's Latest Bellwether Loss Could Portend Trouble For Co.

By Linda Chiem and Y. Peter Kang

Uber was recently hit with another unfavorable verdict in the second bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation over driver sex assaults, and another determination that the ride-hailing company can be liable for its drivers' negligence does not bode well for the company, experts said.

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Fed. Circ. Revives FedEx Patents But Limits RPI Appeals

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Wednesday to reconsider invalidating FedEx Corp. shipment monitoring patents challenged by Qualcomm Inc., while also making clear when real party in interest decisions can't be appealed.

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9th Circ. Reverses Stay In App Store Commissions Case

By Craig Clough

The Ninth Circuit has reversed its own order that stayed a ruling on an injunction barring Apple from charging developers high commissions on in-app purchases until a district court judge sets up narrower guardrails, saying Epic Games had persuaded it that Apple was unlikely to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal.

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Judge Won't Rethink Axing Amazon Screening Time Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A New York federal judge won't rethink her decision to toss wage claims brought by Amazon warehouse workers who said they weren't paid for time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings, finding they failed to meet the standards for reconsideration.

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Tech Groups Urge Court To Find AI Training Is Fair Use

By Elliot Weld

Five technology industry groups have urged a California federal judge overseeing a suit accusing Anthropic of infringing copyrighted music to train the artificial intelligence model Claude to find that such activity falls under the umbrella of fair use. 

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OpenAI Sued Over ChatGPT Role In Canada School Shooting

By Emily Field

Seven families of the victims of one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history on Wednesday hit OpenAI with suits in California federal court alleging that ChatGPT's design is inherently dangerous and that the artificial intelligence company decided not to warn law enforcement about the shooter's violent interactions with ChatGPT.

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Bipartisan Bill Would Give Parents Control Over Kids' AI Use

By Lauren Berg

A group of Democratic and Republican senators introduced legislation that would allow parents to keep a better eye on their children's use of chatbots by requiring artificial intelligence companies to establish safeguards the lawmakers say will help protect kids' mental health and social development.

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Squires Snubs 10 IPRs While 4 Pass Muster In Latest Order

By Theresa Schliep

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires rejected 10 petitions for America Invents Act patent reviews and granted four challenges in an order marking the roughly half-year mark since he took over the duty of making institution decisions.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Sunsetting FCC High-Cost Programs Could Undergo 'Refresh'

By Christopher Cole

Federal Communications Commission leaders during their meeting next month will weigh reforms to longstanding programs that help fund broadband deployment to rural and other "high cost" areas.

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FCC Looks To Update How It Collects Broadband Map Data

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has its eye on the National Broadband Map, with plans to vote next month on launching a proceeding to explore how to cut red tape from the data collection process while also increasing the accuracy of the data being collected.

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FCC Pushed To Scale Back Radio Ownership Regs

By Christopher Cole

A broadcast company that helped persuade the Eighth Circuit to toss federal limits on local media ownership last year is now urging the Federal Communications Commission to pare back radio station limits.

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LITIGATION

Cisco Keeps Win In Cybersecurity Patent Fight At Fed. Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday said it won't revive Centripetal Networks' case alleging Cisco infringed a trio of its cybersecurity patents, backing a Virginia federal judge's finding that Cisco's products didn't meet all the elements of the patent claims.

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Fed. Circ. Upholds Alice Ax Of Vehicle Monitoring Patent

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday refused to revive a lawsuit accusing a Texas gas chemical supplier of infringing a patent on monitoring vehicles for unauthorized use, agreeing with a lower court's finding that the patent was invalid under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice standard.

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Shoals, Investors Strike $70M Deal To Settle Wire Defect Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Shoals Technologies Group Inc. and investors who accused the solar energy equipment-maker of having downplayed defects in its wire harnesses used in aggregating electricity have reached a settlement that, if approved, would pay roughly $70 million to a settlement class, they have told a Tennessee federal judge.

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WordPress Judge Calls Deleted Message Claims 'Concerning'

By Bonnie Eslinger

A federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in an antitrust lawsuit against WordPress parent Automattic Inc. and its CEO Matthew Mullenweg said plaintiff WPEngine Inc. "plausibly contends" Mullenweg "deleted relevant documents or allowed such documents to be deleted after an obligation to preserve was triggered."

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Deloitte Can't Duck Bulk Of Vax Software Theft Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Deloitte must face an inventor's trade secrets misappropriation claims accusing the consulting giant of ripping off her firm's proprietary vaccination management system and securing a multimillion-dollar government contract to track the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

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Music Cos. Must Share Social Media Deals With DSW

By Elliot Weld

Several music companies within Warner Music Group that are suing DSW over alleged improper use of their music in social media videos must turn over licensing agreements they have with social media companies, an Ohio federal judge has ordered.

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Squires Says Samsung's ITC Stipulation Can't Save Its IPRs

By Adam Lidgett

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires said he denied Samsung's challenges to a Netlist memory module patent in light of a similar legal fight at the U.S. International Trade Commission and the timing of final decisions in both forums.

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Del. Supreme Court Says Bylaw Suits Came Too Soon

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of stockholder lawsuits challenging advance notice bylaws adopted by The AES Corp. and Owens Corning, ruling that the claims were premature because no actual dispute over the bylaws had yet materialized.

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Feds Say Lack Of Injury Dooms Gold Card Program Challenge

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration said a suit challenging the gold card visa program's legality must be thrown out because the immigrants and academic professionals union that filed it can't show the program hurts their chances at getting visas.

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Subcontractor Says Lockheed Must Pay Up After Contract Ax

By Madeline Lyskawa

An engineering firm urged a Colorado federal judge to reject Lockheed Martin's attempt to evade claims the company failed to pay for work already performed under an engineering subcontract, saying the judge already rejected the same arguments in another case.

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Intel Slams Investors' 'Deeply Misguided' AI Ad Tech Claims

By Celeste Bott

Intel is urging an Illinois state court to toss more than 200 investors' "deeply misguided" claims that the tech giant and one of its executives duped them into buying artificially intelligent targeted-advertising technology, saying their allegations fall "far short" of what is required to pursue a valid fraud claim.

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Tech Group Aims To Halt Minn. Social Media Warning Mandate

By Allison Grande

A Minnesota law that requires social media platforms to prominently display mental health warning labels to all users has become the target of the latest First Amendment challenge being pressed by tech trade group NetChoice, which argued in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the state is using public health concerns to create an unlawful "backdoor" to regulate protected speech. 

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Blue Owl Adviser Sued Over Alleged Fee Inflation

By Jessica Corso

A Blue Owl Capital Corp. investor is suing the lender's wholly owned investment adviser in New York federal court over allegations that the adviser inflated Blue Owl's assets in order to "extract windfall fees" from the firm.

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Brief

Ohio Tech Services Co. Settles Fired IT Chief's FMLA Suit

By MJ Koo

A business technology company and its former information technology director have agreed on the material terms of a settlement to resolve allegations that the company fired him after he requested leave to care for his wife following surgery, an Ohio federal magistrate judge said.

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DEALS

3 Firms Advise Cognizant's $600M AI Infrastructure Co. Buy

By Nate Beck

Artificial intelligence builder and technology services company Cognizant said it will expand its AI infrastructure capabilities with the acquisition of San Jose, California-based Astreya for about $600 million, a deal guided by Mayer Brown LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

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ENFORCEMENT

FTC's BOTS Suit Survives Because Law Not Just About Bots

By Bryan Koenig

A Maryland federal judge has refused to dismiss one of the Federal Trade Commission's first-ever online ticketing cases, rejecting ticket reseller arguments that their use of thousands of Ticketmaster accounts to buy concert tickets is immune because they don't use bots.

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Rambus Being Probed By DOJ Antitrust Unit

By Matthew Perlman

Rambus has received a grand jury subpoena in connection to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, according to an investor filing from the chipmaker and technology company.

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EU Finds Meta Failing To Protect Children On Social Media

By Sophia Dourou

The European Union's enforcement arm said on Wednesday that Meta breached the bloc's digital safety rules by failing to prevent children under 13 from using Facebook and Instagram.

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PEOPLE

Fenwick Adds 5-Atty IP Team From Winston & Strawn

By Andrea Keckley

Fenwick & West LLP announced Wednesday it has welcomed a team of five attorneys from Winston & Strawn LLP, saying their additions "[deepen] Fenwick's patent litigation work across telecommunications, hardware, software, and semiconductors."

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Analysis

Comey Indictment Built On Bad Legal Foundation, Experts Say

By Phillip Bantz

The criminal indictment of former FBI Director James B. Comey over an alleged threat against President Donald Trump by way of a social media post of seashells appears to be based on either an outdated or flawed understanding of the legal standard required to prove the charges in the case, which could sink the prosecution, according to experts.

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GrayRobinson Faces More Suits Over 2025 Data Breach

By Adrian Cruz

After being hit with a proposed class action accusing GrayRobinson PA of negligence following the revelation of a March 2025 data breach, the Florida-based firm is now facing two further suits regarding the same incident.

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Justices Limit Voting Rights Act Suits While Voiding La. Map

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's congressional map containing two majority-Black voting districts Wednesday and further limited the Voting Rights Act's use in challenging racial discrimination in legislative redistricting — a decision the dissent claims completes the conservative majority's "demolition" of the seminal civil rights law.

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Fla. Judge Pick Denies Conflict In Trump Defamation Case

By Courtney Bublé

A judicial nominee for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday denied there was any overlap between when he presided over a case involving President Donald Trump and when the White House let him know Trump was considering him for the federal judgeship.

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Judiciary Advisers Back Looser Limits On Defense Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

A campaign by white collar defense lawyers against long-standing limits on subpoena powers cleared a key hurdle Wednesday when federal judiciary advisers endorsed earlier and easier access to potentially favorable evidence despite staunch resistance from crime victims' advocates.

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Former AG Bondi To Appear Before House Committee May 29

By Courtney Bublé

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will appear before the House oversight committee on May 29, committee Republicans said Wednesday.

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Nadine Menendez Denied Bail During Bribery Conviction Appeal

By George Woolston

A New York federal judge on Wednesday denied a bid from Nadine Menendez for bail while she appeals her conviction on a bribery scheme carried out with her ex-senator husband, ruling that her motion doesn't raise a substantial question of law.

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Promo that reads Law360 Pulse 2026 AI Survey

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

3Cloud

AIM ImmunoTech Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Association of University Professors

American Bar Association

American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana

Anthropic PBC

Apple Inc.

Association of American Publishers

AstraZeneca PLC

Automattic Inc.

Belcan Corp.

Blue Owl Capital Inc.

Chamber of Progress

Cisco Systems Inc.

Compass Minerals International, Inc.

Computer & Communications Industry Association

Concord Music Group Inc.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

Designer Brands Inc.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Epic Games Inc.

FedEx Corp.

Google LLC

Guardant Health Inc.

Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Instagram Inc.

Intel Corp.

Johnson Controls International PLC

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Lockheed Martin Corp.

Lyft Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Micron Technology Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund Inc.

NBCUniversal Media LLC

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Netlist Inc.

Network-1 Technologies Inc.

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Owens Corning Corp.

Pfizer Inc.

Practising Law Institute Inc.

Public Citizen Inc.

QUALCOMM Inc.

Rambus Inc.

Recording Industry Association of America Inc.

SK Hynix Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

ServiceNow Inc.

SkyWater Technology Inc.

Super Micro Computer Inc.

Tempus AI

The AES Corp.

The Florida Bar

TikTok Inc.

Uber Technologies Inc.

WPEngine Inc.

Warner Music Group Corp.

Washington & Lee University

YouTube Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Advisors LLC

Anapol Weiss

Baker Botts

Barnes & Thornburg

Barrett Johnston

Benson & Sesser

Bernstein Litowitz

Brown Rudnick

Bryant Legal LLC

Clement & Murphy

Coblentz Patch

Cohen Milstein

Colombo & Hurd

Cowan Liebowitz

Cozen O'Connor

Cravath Swaine

Dechert LLP

Dorsey & Whitney

Duane Morris

Edelson PC

Faegre Drinker

Fenwick & West

Finnegan

Gibson Dunn

Goodreid & Grant

Grant & Eisenhofer

Graves Garrett

GrayRobinson

Greenwich Legal Associates

Hahn Loeser

Jones Day

Kelley Drye

Kirkland & Ellis

Klausner Kaufman

Latham & Watkins

Lehotsky Keller

Leon Greenberg PC

Manatt Phelps

Mayer Brown

Milberg PLLC

Mitchell Silberberg

MoloLamken

Motley Rice

Norton Rose

Olshan Frome

Oppenheim & Zebrak

Paul Weiss

Quinn Emanuel

Richards Layton

Robbins Geller

Sanford Heisler

Scharf Banks

Schertler Onorato

Shamis & Gentile

Skadden Arps

Sterne Kessler

Stinson LLP

The Emanuelson Firm

Thrasher Dinsmore

Toberoff & Associates

Vedder Price

Wachtell Lipton

Weil Gotshal

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

Woolery & Co. PLLC

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Cook County Circuit Court

Delaware Court of Chancery

European Commission

European Union

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

Illinois Supreme Court

International Trade Commission

Judicial Conference of the United States

National Science Foundation

New York State Department of Labor

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Navy

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Secret Service

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio