Telecommunications

  • May 02, 2024

    Google Judge Ponders Search Engine's Might At Trial Closings

    The quality of Google's search engine, and what it would take to actually challenge the company's grip on default placements on Apple browsers and Android phones, were top of mind Thursday for the D.C. federal judge weighing U.S. Department of Justice monopolization allegations.

  • May 02, 2024

    NFL Throws Flag On Harvard Prof's Sunday Ticket Testimony

    An attorney for the NFL urged a California federal judge Thursday to limit testimony from a Harvard law professor set to appear for the plaintiffs in an upcoming antitrust lawsuit over the Sunday Ticket television package, saying his expert report veers into impermissible legal opinions that will confuse the jury.

  • May 02, 2024

    Congress Wants More Data On Broadband Program's Value

    The Affordable Connectivity Program — which is rapidly running out of money — was on everyone's tongues at a Senate subcommittee hearing on broadband affordability Thursday morning, with Democrats and Republicans agreeing on little more than the need for more data on how many Americans rely on the subsidy to stay online.

  • May 02, 2024

    Huawei Can't Get VoIP-Pal Patents Axed Under Alice

    A Northern District of Texas judge has shot down Huawei's motion that two VoIP-Pal.com patents on initiating mobile phone calls are invalid under the Alice standard for claiming only abstract ideas.

  • May 02, 2024

    Attys Due For Spam Suit Sanction, But Not $750K, Judges Say

    Class counsel's misconduct in helping instigate a spam text suit against stock-trading app Robinhood Financial LLC warranted sanctions, a Washington state appeals court panel ruled Thursday, but the judges said the $750,000 penalty went over the top in deterring the bad behavior.

  • May 02, 2024

    Microsoft, Activision Seek Del. Court Patch For $68.7B Sale

    Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard petitioned Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday for an order validating Activision's already closed but officially "defective" $68.7 billion sale agreement, arguing that the court pointed the two companies to a "solution for missteps in Delaware's General Corporation Law.

  • May 02, 2024

    New EU, Japan Initiative Looks To Boost Global Supply Chains

    Japan and the European Union on Thursday announced a new initiative aimed at alleviating the economic dependence countries may have on others for certain goods by boosting global supply chains through transparency and coordination with like-minded countries.

  • May 02, 2024

    Stabenow's Farm Bill Includes ReConnect Program

    Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, released her framework of the Farm Bill on Wednesday, which includes a rural broadband program that advocates have been wanting to become permanent.

  • May 02, 2024

    Gilstrap Ships Altice IP Row To NY After $339M Google Verdict

    A Texas federal judge has granted a bid from cable company Altice to transfer a case accusing it of infringing a Touchstream patent on mobile app streaming to New York federal court.

  • May 02, 2024

    Broadcast Cos. Demand Oversight Of Sports TV Joint Venture

    Broadcasters and competition advocates on Thursday pressed lawmakers to hold hearings on the pay-television industry, warning that a planned sports streaming venture between Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery threatens to "dominate" the market.

  • May 01, 2024

    T-Mobile Gets Tax Reimbursement Suit Tossed For Good

    T-Mobile has convinced a New Jersey federal court to toss for good a suit brought by a middleman seeking to collect tax reimbursements the mobile behemoth had supposedly promised a landlord after it didn't fix the deficiencies in its suit the third go round.

  • May 01, 2024

    FCC Leaders Look To Boost Wireless Supply Chain Security

    Federal Communications Commission members Wednesday unveiled a bipartisan plan to beef up wireless supply chain security by more tightly scrutinizing whether equipment labs are tied to foreign powers.

  • May 01, 2024

    Apple Users Defend Web Apps Antitrust Case

    Consumers urged a California federal court not to toss their case accusing Apple of violating antitrust law by preventing iPhones from running web-based apps that don't need to be downloaded, saying Apple used deals with Google and others to protect its dominance.

  • May 01, 2024

    Meta's Privacy Fight With FTC Paused For High Court Ruling

    The D.C. Circuit has pressed pause on Meta's bid to block the Federal Trade Commission from pursuing modifications to the parties' $5 billion privacy settlement to await the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a case challenging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house courts.

  • May 01, 2024

    Top Groups Lobbying The FCC

    The Federal Communications Commission heard from advocates well over 200 times in April as they sought to sway the FCC on net neutrality rules, junk calls and texts, bulk billing deals for broadband service in apartment buildings, and many other issues.

  • May 01, 2024

    Dish Agrees To Class Cert. In 401(k) Mismanagement Suit

    Dish Network and a group of former workers told a Colorado federal judge they've agreed that class treatment is the best fit for a lawsuit claiming the company failed to trim an underperforming Fidelity Freedom Fund target date suite from its retirement plan that cost workers millions in savings.

  • April 30, 2024

    5th Circ. Nixes Software Co.'s $1.6B Win In IBM Contract Row

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday reversed a Texas federal court's $1.6 billion ruling against IBM, finding that Houston-based software company BMC lost out to IBM "fair and square" when IBM fulfilled a request by their mutual client AT&T to replace BMC's software in AT&T's mainframe with IBM's.

  • April 30, 2024

    TracFone Must Pay Wash. City's Utility Tax

    Prepaid phone businesses are utilities and can be taxed as such under Washington state law, according to a state appeals court that had been posed such a question as part of a dispute between TracFone and a Seattle suburb.

  • April 30, 2024

    OpenAI Tries To Throw Out Another Copyright Case

    OpenAI is seeking to dismiss a suit in New York federal court from two alternative news websites asserting copyright infringement allegations against the Microsoft Corp.-backed artificial intelligence developer, saying they haven't shown they've been harmed.

  • April 30, 2024

    Samsung Gets PTAB To Sink Patent Tied To $142M Verdict

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has ruled in favor of Samsung Electronics Co. LTD in the company's challenge to LTE technology owned by G+ Communications LLC, invalidating one of the patents involved in a Texas case where G+ won a $142 million verdict against the tech giant.

  • April 30, 2024

    FTC To Help FCC Enforce 'Net Neutrality' Rules

    The Federal Communications Commission has called on a sister agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to cooperate on enforcing the FCC's restored "net neutrality" rules to require the free flow of network traffic.

  • April 30, 2024

    House Panel Touts Legislation To Preserve AM Radio In Cars

    Lawmakers pushed for legislation mandating that new vehicles come with AM radio capability Tuesday, even as auto industry representatives said the idea would stifle innovation and represent government overreach in the free market.

  • April 30, 2024

    State Telecom Roundup: Tech Companies As Public Utilities

    It's long-settled law that common carriers and public utilities can't discriminate or deny service without good reason, which is perhaps why there is a push in at least three different states to have the definition of a common carrier expanded to cover tech titans like Google and Facebook.

  • April 29, 2024

    Meta Seeks Pause On Privacy Appeal For High Court Ruling

    Meta urged the D.C. Circuit on Monday to pause the company's appellate efforts to block the Federal Trade Commission from pursuing changes to a $5 billion privacy settlement, asking the appeals court to wait for an impending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a similar case involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • April 29, 2024

    TikTok Law Likely To Withstand Appeal, FCC Member Says

    A federal law banning TikTok unless it's divested from its Chinese parent company is likely to survive upcoming judicial challenges because it differs in key ways from a recently blocked Montana law affecting TikTok, a member of the Federal Communications Commission said.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Issues High Court Is Weighing In Gov't Social Media Cases

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    Two U.S. Supreme Court cases aim to resolve a circuit split on whether public officials who block commenters from their personally created accounts are acting "under color of" state law, and the justices are grappling with determining how canonical legal principles will fit into a shifting landscape driven by advances in technology, says Alyssa Howard at Zuckerman Spaeder.

  • How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly enable clients to monitor and evaluate their counsel’s activities, so attorneys must clearly define the terms of engagement and likewise take advantage of the efficiencies offered by AI, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • What Banks Should Know About TCPA Exam Policy Updates

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    As banking organizations consider revisions to their automated communications policies in light of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent updates to its Telephone Consumer Protection Act examination procedures, they should also consider conducting a full review of their TCPA compliance practices, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • EU GDPR Ruling Reiterates Relative Nature Of 'Personal Data'

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    The Court of Justice of the European Union recently confirmed in Gesamtverband v. Scania that vehicle identification number data can be processed under the General Data Protection Regulation, illustrating that the same dataset may be considered "personal data" for one party, but not another, which suggests a less expansive definition of the term, say lawyers at Van Bael.

  • 7 Enforcement Predictions For US Export Controls, Sanctions

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    Federal agencies' assertions of coming increases in export-control and sanctions-violations enforcement are not new, but recent improvements in resources and inter-agency cooperation allow for certain predictions about how the administration’s latest approach to enforcement may be applied going forward, say attorneys at Akin.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Singapore

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    Singapore is keen to establish itself as a leading international financial center and a key player in the sustainable finance ecosystem, and key initiatives led by its government and other regulatory bodies have helped the Asian nation progress from its initially guarded attitude toward ESG investment and reporting, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape

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    The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.

  • Series

    Performing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The discipline of performing live music has directly and positively influenced my effectiveness as a litigator — serving as a reminder that practice, intuition and team building are all important elements of a successful law practice, says Jeff Wakolbinger at Bryan Cave.

  • Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.

  • 7 Critical Copyright And AI Questions Courts Need To Address

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    U.S. courts have yet to rule on many copyright issues regarding generative artificial intelligence technologies, so developers and users should consider several questions when evaluating risks, developing risk mitigation plans and making decisions about particular use cases, say John Delaney and Sean West at Perkins Coie.

  • Opinion

    Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave

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    To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.

  • FCC Notice Of Inquiry Highlights AI Robocall Concerns

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    The Federal Communications Commission recently released a notice of inquiry seeking comment on the implications of emerging artificial intelligence technologies on robocalls and robotexts, raising questions around its authority to address AI under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, say Aaron Weiss and Samantha Goldstein at Carlton Fields.

  • How FinCEN's Proposed Rule Stirs The Pot On Crypto Mixing

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    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s recently issued proposal aims to impose additional reporting requirements to mitigate the risks posed by convertible virtual currency mixing transactions, meaning financial institutions may need new monitoring techniques to detect CVC mixing beyond just exposure, say Jared Johnson and Jordan Yeagley at Buchanan Ingersoll.

  • Series

    Writing Thriller Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Authoring several thriller novels has enriched my work by providing a fresh perspective on my privacy practice, expanding my knowledge, and keeping me alert to the next wave of issues in an increasingly complex space — a reminder to all lawyers that extracurricular activities can help sharpen professional instincts, says Reece Hirsch at Morgan Lewis.

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