Expert Analysis

• 8th Circ. Decision Shipwrecks IRS On Shoals Of Loper Bright

  

  The Eighth Circuit’s recent decision invalidating transfer pricing regulations in 3M Co. v. Commissioner may be the most significant tax case implementing Loper Bright's rejection of agency deference as a judicial tool in statutory construction, says Edward Froelich at McDermott.

• Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'

  

  Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.

• IP Ownership Risk Grows In Booming Cancer Drug Market

  

  The ownership of intellectual property has become strategically decisive in deals involving valuable cancer therapeutics known as ADCs, as highlighted by the recent Takeda-Innovent deal, with the commercial value of a license resting on the integrity and defensibility of the underlying technology, say attorneys at Loeb & Loeb.

• Series

  My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

• The Future Of Gen AI Training Amid Reddit Data Scraping Suit

  

  Reddit's lawsuit against Perplexity AI is not framed as a classic copyright infringement fight, demonstrating that even when companies avoid fair use claims, the path by which training data is obtained is legally consequential, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

• Evaluating Nasdaq Tokenization Rule's Potential Impact

  

  Nasdaq's recently proposed rule would enable settlement of tokenized equity securities and exchange-traded products using blockchain technology, which could lead to dramatic improvements in market efficiency, settlement speed and market access, but prudent skepticism about timelines and implementation capabilities is warranted, says James Brady at Katten.

• Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

  

  A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

• SEC's Dual Share Class Approval Signals New Era For ETFs

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent approval of the dual share class structure marks a landmark moment for the U.S. fund industry, opening the door for asset managers to benefit from combining mutual fund and exchange-traded fund share classes under a single portfolio, say Ilan Guedj at Bates White and Brian Henderson at George Washington University.

• Power Market Reforms Push Data Center Lease Rates Higher

  

  Rising demand, constrained supply and ongoing reforms, amid a rush for reliable, near-term computing capacity, are putting pressure on data center leasing renewal rates in large markets such as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and PJM Interconnection Inc., say attorneys at Weil.

• UK Tribunal's Clearview Decision Expands GDPR Application

  

  The Upper Tribunal’s recent decision in Information Commissioner v. Clearview AI is an important ruling on the extraterritorial reach of the European Union and U.K. General Data Protection Regulations, broadening behavioral monitoring to include not only activity by the company, but also its client, says Edward Machin at Ropes & Gray.

• E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Dynamic Databases

  

  Several recent federal court decisions illustrate how parties continue to grapple with the discovery of data in dynamic databases, so counsel involved in these disputes must consider how structured data should be produced consistent with the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Stadium Security Takeaways Amid Gaps In Drone Regulation

  

  As the risk of drones to sports stadium security grows, legal practitioners in the industry should focus on the need for rapid deployment of emergency services, crowd control, communications, strong organizational structure, and engagement across local, state and federal authorities, says Jennifer Daskal at Venable.

• The Legal Issues With AI Agents In Consumer Transactions

  

  Enabling artificial intelligence agents to handle not just research and recommendations, but the execution of purchases themselves, fundamentally alters commercial relationships and introduces new practical and legal questions for card issuers, merchants, acquirers and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

• Questions To Ask Inventors Before Drafting AI Patents

  

  Practitioners should use interview questions tailored to help inventors articulate the patentable aspects of their artificial intelligence and machine learning innovations, as this can elicit information needed for a patent application to forestall indefiniteness, abstract-idea and enablement challenges, say attorneys at Marshall Gerstein.

• ITC Ruling Highlights Conflicts Hurdles For Law Firms

  

  As supply chains become more interconnected, a recent U.S. International Trade Commission order — disqualifying a complainant's law firm for concurrently representing a third-party supplier relevant to the case — underscores the reality that conflicts may increasingly lurk within the building blocks of devices, says Matt Rizzolo at Ropes & Gray.