Expert Analysis

• Exploring The Legal Gray Area Around AI Voices In Music

  

  The growing prevalence of AI music on online platforms highlights unique legal questions and ambiguities surrounding the usage of artificial intelligence to create accurate voice clones of existing singers, says Michael Maicher at Volpe Koenig.

• 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

  

  The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for general counsel to make several implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

• Framing AI Risk Management In The Art World

  

  With gallery professionals indicating a widening gap between operational adoption of artificial intelligence and cultural acceptance of AI as an art medium, certain intellectual property, privacy and governance considerations are becoming critical for art industry stakeholders, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

• Series

  Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

• AG Watch: Reconciling 2 Maryland Data Privacy Statutes

  

  In-house counsel should map the interplay between the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act's strictly necessary standard to deliver a requested service, and the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act's exemption of consent-based pricing within loyalty programs, before the state attorney general begins enforcement on the latter in October, says Erek Barron at Mintz.

• New Cuba Sanctions Raise Risks For Foreign Banks, Cos.

  

  President Donald Trump's bold move leveling secondary sanctions against Cuba expands enforcement risk for foreign banks and companies with no U.S. nexus, signaling that non-U.S. businesses should reassess related transactions, counterparties and exposure as regulators test this broader authority, say attorneys at Troutman.

• Nexstar Offers A Cautionary Tale On State-Level Deal Scrutiny

  

  State-enforcement challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger remind legal practitioners that federal approval isn't always sufficient to deliver certainty on closing, integration and timetable assumptions, says Brett Story at Britehorn Securities.

• How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

  

  Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

• Series

  The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

  

  Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

• Key Tronic Case Shows SEC Isn't Ignoring Controls Violations

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's first nonfraud enforcement action against a public company during Chairman Paul Atkins' tenure reflects the commission’s willingness to bring enforcement actions that charge books and records and internal controls violations, despite deviating from policing technical violations, say attorneys at Cooley.

• Data Center Insurance Boom May Obscure Claims' Difficulty

  

  The rush of carrier capital into the data center space should not obscure a distinct and evolving set of policyholder risks that existing insurance products were not designed to address, along with the further complexity of layered claims for the extremely valuable properties, says Carlton Wilde at Bracewell.

• Opinion

  USPTO Must Address The Right Question In Sanofi Case

  

  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Appeals Review Panel's questions in Ex parte Baurin indicate recognition of broader doctrinal issues, but rather than approaching from separate angles, the panel should concentrate on a single fundamental question about obviousness-type double patenting, says Jeremy Lowe at Spencer Fane.

• DOJ's FCA Data-Miner Focus Raises Compliance Stakes

  

  A new U.S. Department of Justice initiative aims to help its Civil Division better vet False Claims Act suits brought by data-mining whistleblowers, signaling that data-driven qui tam enforcement is a priority and making it increasingly important for attorneys and companies to bolster compliance, documentation and internal data monitoring, say attorneys at Wiley.

• Mass. Draft Regs Signal Nationwide Scrutiny Of Junk Fees

  

  Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's new draft regulations for assisted living facilities is only her latest move in the war on junk fees — and part of a national reordering of consumer protection enforcement in which states are aggressively and creatively asserting authority, says Steve Provazza at Arnall Golden.

• Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

  

  In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.