California

  • March 25, 2024

    Berkshire Hathaway Unit's Patent Must Undergo 3 PGRs

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has instituted three post-grant reviews challenging a single Columbia Insurance Co. fire wall hanger patent, following petitions from Simpson Strong-Tie Company Inc.

  • March 25, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Dissent Raises Alarm Over IP Safe Harbor Use

    A California federal judge rightly dismissed Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s infringement suit against Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., the Federal Circuit held Monday, with a dissent arguing such a holding would "create future mischief."

  • March 25, 2024

    EV Maker Fisker Says It's Considering Restructuring

    Electric vehicle company Fisker told federal regulators it is considering restructuring after the collapse of partnership talks with a "large automaker" endangered its attempts to secure $150 million in new financing.

  • March 25, 2024

    Waiting For Car Security Checks Is Work, Calif. Justices Say

    Time spent by workers undergoing an employer's security check that includes an inspection of the worker's personal vehicle is compensable as hours worked, but time spent driving between the security gate and the parking lot is not, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday, answering a Ninth Circuit panel's queries.

  • March 25, 2024

    Geico Beats COVID-19 Auto Rebate Class Action On 2nd Try

    A California federal judge has granted Geico's bid for victory in a certified class action alleging the insurance company owed additional refunds to drivers who overpaid their auto insurance premiums during COVID-19 shutdowns, saying the company's rebate program was adequate and did not violate the state's insurance code.

  • March 25, 2024

    MLB's Ohtani Denies Betting Ties, Alleges Theft By Interpreter

    Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani on Monday squarely accused his former interpreter of stealing from him to fund a sports betting habit, denying any direct involvement or knowledge of illegal wagering.

  • March 25, 2024

    Del. Justices Undo Toss Of Brookfield-TerraForm Merger Suit

    Delaware's Supreme Court on Monday reversed the dismissal of a suit from former shareholders of TerraForm Power Inc. who challenged a squeeze-out merger by Brookfield Asset Management Inc., concluding a proxy statement failed to fully disclose alleged conflicts of interest involving special advisers Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

  • March 25, 2024

    Sunday Ticket Plaintiffs Rip NFL For 'Privileged' Name Games

    The plaintiffs in the antitrust class action against the NFL over its Sunday Ticket broadcast package have accused the league of hiding behind a front-office executive, with an inaccurate job title, to claim that vital documents were privileged and did not need to be disclosed.

  • March 25, 2024

    OSU, WSU Finalize $65M Deal With Departing Pac-12 Schools

    Oregon State University and Washington State University finalized the terms of their settlement with the departing members of the Pac-12 conference Monday, splitting $65 million in fees and securing additional protections for their slimmed-down partnership.

  • March 25, 2024

    Bloomberg Asks To Toss Ex-Gov. Huckabee's AI Class Action

    Media company Bloomberg has asked a Manhattan federal judge to dismiss it from a proposed class action led by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, arguing that the plaintiffs' complaint lacks specifics detailing how their e-books' copyrights were allegedly infringed to train Bloomberg's large language model.

  • March 25, 2024

    No Coverage for Pa. ATV Accident, Insurer Says

    Truck Insurance Exchange has told a Pennsylvania state court it should owe no coverage to a policyholder facing a personal injury suit over an all-terrain vehicle accident, saying the policyholder's insurance agent "intentionally" failed to disclose the accident before Truck issued the policy.

  • March 25, 2024

    LA Firm Can't Beat Damages For Leaving Criminal Case

    A California appeals court on Friday ruled that a Los Angeles law firm cannot escape breach-of-contract damages for withdrawing from an attempted murder case, but also said its former client isn't entitled to a larger award.

  • March 25, 2024

    DOJ Calls Probe Of Alleged SpaceX Hiring Bias Constitutional

    The U.S. Department of Justice has defended its investigation into allegations that SpaceX refused to hire asylum-seekers and refugees, telling a Texas federal judge that its authority stems from a constitutionally sound provision of federal immigration law barring workplace discrimination based on citizenship status.

  • March 25, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, litigants battled as Truth Social went public, Carl Icahn and Tripadvisor hit a roadblock, and more shareholders wailed about "invasive" bylaws. Oil drilling and pharmaceutical mergers sparked new lawsuits, and a sewing machine trademark owner sued to end a contract.

  • March 25, 2024

    Trian, Blackwells Double Down On Disney Activist Campaigns

    As The Walt Disney Company's annual shareholder meeting approaches, two activist investors are ramping up their campaigns against the storied entertainment company and imploring fellow shareholders to vote for their separate slate of director candidates at the April 3 gathering.

  • March 25, 2024

    Justices Nix Lenient Drug Sentence After 'Safety Valve' Ruling

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a 100-month sentence given to a woman who pled guilty to drug offenses and remanded the case to the Fourth Circuit after the justices recently clarified which defendants qualify for "safety valve" relief under a 2018 federal law.

  • March 25, 2024

    Justices Preserve Obama-Era Forest Monument Expansion

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review two appellate court rulings upholding former President Barack Obama's expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument on the Oregon-California border.

  • March 22, 2024

    Golfers Demand City Of LA End Tee Time Black Market

    Los Angeles golfers have sued the city claiming it's failing to stop black-market brokers from snatching up affordable tee times on municipal courses and reselling them for a profit.

  • March 22, 2024

    Feds Urge Justices To Reject Idaho's Abortion Ban Revival Bid

    The federal government said Idaho is pushing inconsistent positions on healthcare law as it tries to reinstate its abortion prohibition, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that the state still hasn't clearly articulated when it thinks abortions are federally required to save a person's life.

  • March 22, 2024

    Expert's Sanctions Off Limits In SEC's 'Shadow Trading' Trial

    A California federal judge overseeing a "shadow trading" trial starting Monday against a pharmaceutical executive ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can't introduce banking sanctions evidence against the defendant's mergers and acquisitions expert as long as he doesn't give opinions on securities law.

  • March 22, 2024

    Up Next At High Court: Abortion, Jury Trials And Estate Tax

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision expanding access to popular abortion pill mifepristone as well as whether juries should determine a defendants' eligibility for repeat offender enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act and how long federal employees have to appeal adverse employment decisions.

  • March 22, 2024

    Ford Ditches Suit Over Vendor's Access To Website Chat Data

    A California federal judge has tossed a putative class action accusing Ford Motor Co. of allowing a third-party software provider to eavesdrop on consumers who use the chat feature on the automaker's website, finding that the plaintiff hadn't shown that Ford had aided and abetted its vendor's allegedly unlawful interception and monetization of chat data. 

  • March 22, 2024

    Prostitutes, Wiretaps, Payoffs: Key LA RICO Witness Tells All

    A witness in former Los Angeles deputy mayor Ray Chan's racketeering trial testified Friday about trying to boost his high-end cabinetry business by procuring prostitutes for a city council member, paying more than $150,000 in bribes and attempting to give a city official $10,000 at Chan's behest.

  • March 22, 2024

    Disney Can't Slip Patent Claims In Suit Over Thanos VFX Tech

    A California federal judge has kept alive a visual effects company's patent infringement claims alleging The Walt Disney Co. unlawfully used its technology to create iconic Marvel film characters, such as Thanos and the Hulk, but once again tossed its claims of copyright infringement.

  • March 22, 2024

    Intel Seeks Delay Of VLSI Damages Retrial Due To Patent Ax

    Intel has asked Western District of Texas Judge Alan Albright to hold off on a damages retrial in a case where the Federal Circuit vacated a $1.5 billion chip patent verdict won by VLSI, saying the case should be held while VLSI appeals a decision invalidating the patent.

Expert Analysis

  • Trending At The PTAB: Administrative Procedure

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    A pair of recent Federal Circuit rulings on Patent Trial and Appeal Board inter partes review shed light on applications of the Administrative Procedure Act, adding to an ever-growing body of case law showing the board's final written decision must be based on arguments clearly put forth by the parties, say Robert High and Benjamin Saidman at Finnegan.

  • Retailers: Beware Legislator And Regulator Junk Fee Focus

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    In light of the Biden administration’s recent focus on restricting so-called junk fee surcharges across industries, attorneys at Benesch discuss what retailers should know about several evolving developments, including a new California law, a proposed Federal Trade Commission rule, an expanding litigation landscape, and more.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • First-Of-Its-Kind Artist AI Ruling Offers Liability Guidance

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    A California judge recently became the first federal judge in Andersen v. Stability AI to rule at the pleading stage on a challenge to claims that training artificial intelligence models involves mass-scale copyright infringement, providing insight into the potential legal exposure of AI-enabled products, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • A Look At DOJ's New Nationwide Investment Fraud Approach

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    Investment fraud charges are increasingly being brought in unlikely venues across the country, and the rationale behind the U.S. Department of Justice's approach could well be the heightened legal standards in connection with prosecuting investment fraud, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • AI Use May Trigger False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar

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    The likely use of publicly available artificial intelligence tools to detect government fraud by combing through large data sets will raise complex questions about a False Claims Act provision that prohibits the filing of claims based on previously disclosed information, say Nick Peterson and Spencer Brooks at Wiley Rein.

  • How Cos. Can Protect Privacy In The Age Of AI

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    The rapidly developing landscape of generative AI and the related legal and regulatory concerns means that what is compliant today may not be tomorrow, and companies must take a pragmatic approach to compliance that anticipates future legal changes, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • What To Expect From California's Digital Assets Regime

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    California’s recent passage of two new laws that create a broad licensing, oversight and enforcement framework for the virtual currency arena will likely affect most digital asset companies doing business in the U.S. when it goes into effect in January 2025, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Employers Should Review Training Repayment Tactics

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    State and federal examination of employee training repayment agreements has intensified, and with the potential for this tool to soon be severely limited, employers should review their options, including pivoting to other retention strategies, says Aaron Vance at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • AI's Baked-In Bias: What To Watch Out For

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    The federal AI executive order is a direct acknowledgment of the perils of inherent bias in artificial intelligence systems, and highlights the need for legal professionals to thoroughly vet AI systems, including data and sources, algorithms and AI training methods, and more, say Jonathan Hummel and Jonathan Talcott at Ballard Spahr.

  • Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability

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    In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.

  • How Biden's AI Order Stacks Up Against Calif. And G7 Activity

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    Evaluating the federal AI executive order alongside the California AI executive order and the G7's Hiroshima AI Code of Conduct can offer a more robust picture of key risks and concerns companies should proactively work to mitigate as they build or integrate artificial intelligence tools into their products and services, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Safe-Harbor Period Change Could Hinder TCPA Compliance

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    A proposed rule change under consideration by the Federal Communications Commission would require businesses to honor do-not-call requests within 24 hours of receipt for calls and texts that are subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and companies have already called it unreasonable, say Aaron Weiss and Danny Enjamio at Carlton Fields.

  • ITC Ban On Apple Watch Could Still Be Reversed

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's recent final decision that the Apple Watch infringed two patents owned by Masimo Corp. was a rare instance of a popular consumer product being hit with an absolute importation ban, but it's possible that President Joe Biden could assert his power to reverse the ITC decision, says Benjamin Horton at Marshall Gerstein.

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