Telecommunications

  • July 11, 2025

    Census Didn't Change Rural Carrier Definition, FCC Says

    The Federal Communications Commission hasn't changed its definition of a "rural competitive local exchange carrier," the agency assured companies after the U.S. Census Bureau's shift in terminology for urban areas threw the definition into doubt.

  • July 11, 2025

    Google Won't Have To Turn Over EU Ad Tech Settlement Docs

    A Virginia federal judge refused a request from the U.S. Department of Justice Friday to force Google to hand over submissions it made to European enforcers when trying to settle their investigation as the sides ready for a remedies trial in the ad tech monopolization case.

  • July 11, 2025

    FCC Approves T-Mobile's $4.4B UScellular Deal

    Federal Communications Commission staff late Friday approved the license transfers needed for T-Mobile to complete its $4.4 billion acquisition of UScellular wireless operations.

  • July 11, 2025

    FCC Cuts 'Utility-Style' Internet Regs After Net Neutrality's Fall

    The Federal Communications Commission on Friday slashed 41 "utility-style" regulations on broadband service and network interconnection, following a Sixth Circuit ruling in January that sank Biden-era net neutrality rules.

  • July 11, 2025

    Sales Org. Hits Texas Payment Co. With Contract Suit

    A Texas-based provider of prepaid mobile recharge and payment solutions was sued in Georgia federal court by Boom Commerce, an independent sales organization, over alleged violations of a merchant processing application and agreement for payment processing services.

  • July 11, 2025

    AT&T Can't Escape Suit Over Pension Plan's Mortality Data

    AT&T must face a proposed class action claiming it miscalculated married couples' pension benefits, a California federal judge ruled, saying workers leading the suit provided evidence that the telecommunications company's use of decades-old mortality data and interest rates was unreasonable.

  • July 11, 2025

    Suppressing Rival Views Can Break Antitrust Laws, DOJ Says

    The anti-vaccine group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got a boost Friday in its D.C. federal court suit alleging that the Associated Press, The Washington Post, Reuters and the BBC colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals, drawing a Justice Department brief assailing news organization assertions that viewpoint competition can't be illegally suppressed.

  • July 11, 2025

    Conservative Groups Bash Idea Of Next-Gen TV Mandate

    The growing battle over potential federal rules to move the U.S. toward next-generation TV continued this week as several right-leaning groups came out swinging against government mandates forcing the switchover.

  • July 11, 2025

    Ramey IP Atty Sanctioned But Beats Netflix's Contempt Bid

    A California federal judge sanctioned a prolific patent plaintiff's former counsel William Ramey and the Ramey LLP law firm for sharing Netflix's confidential information with a third party while pursuing patent infringement claims against Netflix, but he declined to review whether Ramey should be held in civil contempt.

  • July 11, 2025

    Charter's Cox Acquisition Vote Should Be Blocked, Suit Says

    A Charter Communications Inc. shareholder has asked a Connecticut state court judge to block a July 31 vote on the Stamford-based company's proposed $37.9 billion acquisition of Cox Communications Inc., claiming the deal will enrich executives and their financial advisers but provide few benefits to shareholders.

  • July 11, 2025

    Phones4u Can't Revive Collusion Case Against UK Networks

    The Court of Appeal dismissed Phones 4u's claims Friday that the U.K.'s biggest phone operators colluded to drive the retailer out of business, upholding findings that there was no evidence of anticompetitive behavior between the networks.

  • July 10, 2025

    $33M Sonos Appeal Has Fed. Circ. Asking: What's Up, Alsup?

    A Federal Circuit panel struggled Thursday to piece together the different interpretations of what U.S. District Judge William Alsup decided before upending Sonos Inc.'s $32.5 million jury verdict against Google LLC, with one judge claiming disbelief that there could be such a "fundamental disconnect" between the companies' understandings.

  • July 10, 2025

    Apple Tees Up Bid To End App Store Antitrust Class Action

    Apple is preparing to file a summary judgment motion in California federal court seeking to end claims from a class of more than 185 million users in a long-running case accusing it of monopolizing the distribution of apps on its devices.

  • July 10, 2025

    'Admonition' But No More Amazon Penalty For Hidden Docs

    A federal judge in Washington state took Amazon.com to task Thursday for "bad faith" material review that labeled tens of thousands of documents as covered by attorney-client privilege despite involving no legal advice, but the judge, who is presiding over the Federal Trade Commission's Prime subscriptions case against the company, opted against further punishment.

  • July 10, 2025

    Tegna To Pay $222K To Resolve FCC Probe Into Obscene Video

    Broadcast giant Tegna has agreed to pay more than $222,000 to put an end to an inquiry that began almost four years ago when an unknown party played a 13-second pornographic video clip during an evening weather report on a Spokane, Washington, news station.

  • July 10, 2025

    AT&T's $181M Patent Loss Gets Tough Look At Fed. Circ.

    A Federal Circuit panel had hard questions for an attorney looking to safeguard Finesse Wireless' $181 million verdict against AT&T and Nokia for infringing a pair of radio interference patents, with one judge in particular seemingly taking issue Thursday with the infringement findings. 

  • July 10, 2025

    House Dem Says FCC Must Follow Law On DEI Probes

    A House Democrat who helps oversee the Federal Communications Commission says agency chief Brendan Carr must avoid any hint of targeting companies' diversity initiatives for political reasons rather than legal rationale against discrimination.

  • July 10, 2025

    Mass. Man Agrees To $10K Fine For Pirate Radio Stations

    The Federal Communications Commission slapped a $10,000 fine on a Massachusetts man in a consent decree for operating pirate radio stations from three locations, though it was a reduction from the nearly $598,000 fine the FCC initially proposed.

  • July 10, 2025

    $4.4B T-Mobile, UScellular Deal Gets DOJ OK, With A Warning

    The U.S. Department of Justice gave its all-clear Thursday to T-Mobile's plan to take over most of UScellular's wireless operations, finding that T-Mobile's commitments to bolster the flagging company outweigh, at least for now, worries over the disappearance of UScellular's underdog offerings.

  • July 10, 2025

    11th Circ. Tosses Satellite Co.'s $829K Finder's Fee Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit said Wednesday that a $829,000 award in favor of a satellite technology company should be tossed, writing that a Florida federal court didn't have jurisdiction over the case.

  • July 10, 2025

    FCC Says Yes To T-Mobile's $5B Metronet Buy After Nixing DEI

    T-Mobile has received the Federal Communications Commission's blessing to go ahead with its $4.9 billion joint venture to acquire fiber company Metronet, one day after telling the agency it would end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in furtherance of the FCC chair's goals.

  • July 10, 2025

    Broadcast Groups Want Status Quo On AM Band Licenses

    AM broadcasters urged the Federal Communications Commission to allow them to continue dual operations in both the expanded and standard AM bands, telling the commission in a new filing that it should go ahead and shut down two AM-related dockets if it means that the status quo is maintained.

  • July 10, 2025

    Navigation Co. Says Study 'Validates' GPS Backup Plan

    Geolocation company NextNav Inc. told the Federal Communications Commission in a letter Wednesday that detractors of its proposal to use the lower 900 MHz spectrum to deploy an Earth-based backstop for the Global Positioning System have raised unfounded concerns and mischaracterized an engineering study supporting its proposal.

  • July 09, 2025

    OpenAI Must Give Musk Info On Altman Firing In Fraud Suit

    A California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in Elon Musk's lawsuit challenging OpenAI's now-abandoned transition to a for-profit enterprise ordered the artificial intelligence company to hand over documents related to CEO Sam Altman's brief firing by OpenAI's board, agreeing the information is "relevant" to Musk's charitable trust and fraud claims.

  • July 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Axes Conviction Over False Text-To-Vote Memes

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday overturned the conspiracy conviction of a onetime Twitter influencer who worked to convince Democrats in November 2016 they could cast votes for president by text message, saying there was scant proof he coordinated with others.

Expert Analysis

  • How McKesson Ruling Will Inform Interpretations Of The TCPA

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    Amid the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, we can expect to see both plaintiffs and defendants utilizing the decision to revisit the Federal Communications Commission's past Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretations and decisions they did not like, says Jason McElroy at Saul Ewing.

  • Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

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    Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

  • Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

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    One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Evading DOJ Crosshairs As Data Security Open Season Starts

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice begins enforcing its new data security program — aimed at preventing foreign adversaries from accessing government-related and personal sensitive data — U.S. companies will need to understand the program’s contours and potential pitfalls to avoid potential civil liability or criminal scrutiny, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

  • How High Court Ruling Can Aid Judgment Enforcement In US

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    In CC/Devas (Mauritius) v. Antrix, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that only two steps are required to keep a foreign sovereign in federal court, making it a little easier for investors to successfully bring foreign states and sovereign-owned and -controlled entities into U.S. courts, says Kristie Blase at Felicello Law.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 4 Consumer Class Action Trends To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

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    The first half of 2025 has seen a surge of consumer class action trends related to online tools, websites and marketing messages, creating a new legal risk landscape for companies of all sizes, says Scott Shaffer at Olshan Frome.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Shifts In Parallel Proceedings Strategy

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    Dynamics are changing between the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts, with two recent discretionary denials and one Federal Circuit decision offering takeaways for both patent owners and challengers navigating parallel proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

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