California

  • December 19, 2025

    Squires Issues 21 More Patent Review Denials

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has denied 21 requests for America Invents Act patent reviews, while not agreeing to institute any new proceedings.

  • December 19, 2025

    Calif. Appeals Court Upholds Los Angeles' Mansion Tax

    A property transfer tax that adds 4% to 5.5% to the cost of Los Angeles real estate deals of more than $5 million is legal under the U.S. and California constitutions, a state appeals panel ruled, upholding a trial court.

  • December 19, 2025

    The Top Patent Damages Of 2025

    The largest patent verdict of the year was Apple's $634 million loss against Masimo, and juries issued eight other nine-figure verdicts in 2025 — many of which were against Samsung.

  • December 19, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Declines To Save MemoryWeb Digital File Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision striking claims in a patent covering a digital files management system, one of several that MemoryWeb has asserted against big technology companies. 

  • December 19, 2025

    Green Groups Sue Over Interior's Environmental Policy Shift

    Two conservation groups are asking a Northern California federal district court to vacate an interim U.S. Department of the Interior final rule that rescinds decades-old environmental policies concerning the public's right to participate in reviews for logging, drilling and other industrial projects on public lands.

  • December 19, 2025

    Gunderson-Led Tax Firm Andersen Trades Up After Rare IPO

    Tax valuation and advisory firm Andersen Group Inc. has closed a $202 million initial public offering, marking a rare IPO that required legal teams to navigate uncommon structural and governance challenges, according to attorneys who steered the offering.

  • December 19, 2025

    Medical, School Groups Seek Order Halting $100K Visa Fee

    A medical practice in rural North Carolina and other employers asked a federal judge Friday to block enforcement of the Trump administration's $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, arguing the "massive" fee hike will inflict irreparable harm on their communities.

  • December 19, 2025

    Supreme Court's Biggest Criminal Law Opinions Of 2025

    The U.S. Supreme Court in 2025 handed down major criminal law decisions that made it easier for defendants to mount post-conviction challenges, clarified fraud statutes, and settled a circuit split over whether defendants can be convicted of violent crimes in which they did not physically participate.

  • December 19, 2025

    Keesal Young Drops Part Of Stradley Ronon Poaching Suit

    Keesal Young & Logan wants to drop part of its California state court lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP unlawfully recruited 10 of its attorneys.

  • December 19, 2025

    Disbarred Calif. Lawyer Gets 18 Mos. For Advance Fee Fraud

    A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a disbarred California lawyer to 18 months in prison Friday for scheming to reap $4 million in advance fees for bogus letters of credit while holding himself out as chief of compliance for a fake bank.

  • December 19, 2025

    LA Angels, Skaggs Family Reach Deal Amid Jury Deliberations

    The Los Angeles Angels reached a settlement Friday ending a wrongful death suit brought by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs over his overdose death while traveling to an away game in 2019, cutting short jury deliberations in a two-month trial that saw the Angels facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential liability.

  • December 19, 2025

    Live Nation 401(k) Suit Arbitration In Calif. Gets Redo

    A California federal judge agreed to reconsider his order from 2023 requiring arbitration of some claims in a federal benefits suit from Live Nation workers alleging excessive fees in their employee 401(k) plan after the Ninth Circuit had remanded the case in August.

  • December 19, 2025

    Calif. Ex-Customs Broker Sentenced For Tax, Wire Fraud

    A California man was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after being indicted this year on federal fraud charges and one count of tax evasion, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • December 19, 2025

    AbCellera Gets $36M In Cell Research Patent Settlement

    Canadian biotechnology firm AbCellera said it had reached a $36 million settlement with Bruker Corp. to resolve patent infringement claims related to a cell analysis system.

  • December 19, 2025

    9th Circ. Takes Up IPhone Buyers' Class Decertification

    The Ninth Circuit has summarily agreed to let consumers appeal what they had described as the "death knell" district court ruling that decertified their class of iPhone users that was expected to reach 200 million members in an antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies.

  • December 19, 2025

    BioMarin Inks $4.8B Amicus Buy As Patent Litigation Resolved

    BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has agreed to acquire Amicus Therapeutics for $4.8 billion, in a deal bolstered by Amicus' settlement of patent litigation that secures U.S. exclusivity for its Galafold drug until 2037, the companies said Friday.

  • December 19, 2025

    Polsinelli Lands Glaser Weil Tax Pro In Los Angeles

    Polsinelli PC is expanding its business team, bringing in a tax pro from Glaser Weil as a shareholder in its Los Angeles office.

  • December 18, 2025

    ITC Clears Toy Gun Imports, Will Review Smart Rings, Vapes

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has had a busy week in intellectual property, determining a series of toy gun imports don't infringe Spin Master patents licensed to Hasbro, instituting reviews requested by companies including Ouraring, AbbVie and Juul, and receiving several new complaints.

  • December 18, 2025

    Instacart Will Pay $60M Over FTC's Deceptive Delivery Claims

    Instacart has agreed to pay $60 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission claims it deceptively advertised "free delivery" on customers' first orders while charging a service fee and for not clearly disclosing the terms of its subscription membership.

  • December 18, 2025

    Anti-Fluoride Win Merits $9.5M In Fees From EPA, Judge Told

    Anti-fluoridation groups urged a California federal judge in a hearing Thursday to grant them $9.5 million in attorney fees for winning a 2024 decision that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "optimal" fluoride level for drinking water poses an unreasonable risk of lowering children's IQ. 

  • December 18, 2025

    $10B Verdict Hinges On Witness Order, Katyal Tells Panel

    Milbank's Neal Katyal urged a California state appellate panel to grant a new trial to a man who lost an estimated $10 billion verdict when a jury found he violated an oral agreement with his brothers over a real estate empire, saying the witness order violated a civil procedure rule.

  • December 18, 2025

    SF, Oakland Near Settlement In Airport Name Trademark Fight

    The Port of Oakland has cut a tentative deal with the city and county of San Francisco to resolve a trademark infringement suit over Oakland renaming its international airport to include "San Francisco Bay," according to a joint stipulation filed in California federal court Wednesday.

  • December 18, 2025

    AI Energy Co. Stem Inc. Beats SPAC Merger Investor Suit

    Artificial intelligence-driven energy storage company Stem Inc. and its brass no longer face investor claims of making misstatements ahead of a $1.35 billion merger with a blank check company after a judge found their latest complaint revisions didn't fix earlier issues.

  • December 18, 2025

    Pennsylvania Says DOJ Not Authorized To Get Voter Data

    Pennsylvania shouldn't have to give the U.S. Department of Justice its voters' driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers because that data is not necessary for enforcing the federal laws the DOJ cited in its demand, according to a brief seeking dismissal of the DOJ's lawsuit.

  • December 18, 2025

    Top Trade Secrets Decisions Of 2025

    The Ninth Circuit clarified the rules of engagement in trade secrets disputes with guidance on when confidential information must be precisely detailed during litigation, and jurors delivered a $200 million verdict against Walmart over product freshness technology. Here are Law360's picks for the biggest trade secrets decisions of 2025.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Resolve PSLRA Issue For Section 11 Litigants

    Author Photo

    By establishing a uniform judgment reduction credit for all defendants in cases involving Section 11 of the Securities Act, Congress could remove unnecessary statutory ambiguity from the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and enable litigants to price potential settlements with greater certainty, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • FTC's Reseller Suit Highlights Larger Ticket Platform Issues

    Author Photo

    Taken together, the recent Federal Trade Commission lawsuit and Ticketmaster's recent antitrust woes demonstrate that federal enforcers are testing the resilience of antitrust and consumer-protection frameworks in an evolving, tech-driven marketplace, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.

  • Agentic AI Puts A New Twist On Attorney Ethics Obligations

    Author Photo

    As lawyers increasingly use autonomous artificial intelligence agents, disciplinary authorities must decide whether attorney responsibility for an AI-caused legal ethics violation is personal or supervisory, and firms must enact strong policies regarding agentic AI use and supervision, says Grace Wynn at HWG.

  • Health Insurance Kickback Cases Signal Greater Gov't Focus

    Author Photo

    A series of recent indictments by federal prosecutors in California suggests that the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act is gaining momentum as an enforcement tool against illegal inducement of patient referrals in the realm of commercial health insurance, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Cos. Face EU, US Regulatory Tension On Many Fronts

    Author Photo

    When the European Union sets stringent standards, companies seeking to operate in the international marketplace must conform to them, or else concede opportunities — but with the current U.S. administration pushing hard to roll back regulations, global companies face an increasing tension over which standards to follow, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Being A Professional Wrestler Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Pursuing my childhood dream of being a professional wrestler has taught me important legal career lessons about communication, adaptability, oral advocacy and professionalism, says Christopher Freiberg at Midwest Disability.

  • 2 Calif. Cases Could Reshape Future Of Trap-And-Trace Suits

    Author Photo

    A California federal judge's recent dismissal of two California Invasion of Privacy Act cases demonstrates an inherent contradiction in pen register and trap-and-trace claims, teeing up a Ninth Circuit appeal that could either breathe new life into such claims or put an end to them outright, says Matthew Pearson at Womble Bond.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Adapting To The Age Of AI

    Author Photo

    Though law school may not have specifically taught us how to use generative artificial intelligence to help with our daily legal tasks, it did provide us the mental building blocks necessary for adapting to this new technology — and the judgment to discern what shouldn’t be automated, says Pamela Dorian at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Voiding $2M Litigation Funding Sends A Warning

    Author Photo

    A recent Texas bankruptcy court decision that a postconfirmation litigation trust has no obligations to repay a completely drawn down $2 million litigation funding agreement serves as a warning for estate administrators and funders to properly disclose the intended financing, say attorneys at Kleinberg Kaplan.

  • Tesla Verdict May Set New Liability Benchmarks For AV Suits

    Author Photo

    The recent jury verdict in Benavides v. Tesla is notable not only for a massive payout — including $200 million in punitive damages — but because it apportions fault between the company's self-driving technology and the driver, inviting more scrutiny of automated vehicle marketing and technology, says Michael Avanesian at Avian Law Group.

  • Demystifying The Civil Procedure Rules Amendment Process

    Author Photo

    Every year, an advisory committee receives dozens of proposals to amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, most of which are never adopted — but a few pointers can help maximize the likelihood that an amendment will be adopted, says Josh Gardner at DLA Piper.

  • RI Menopause Law Brings New Considerations For Employers

    Author Photo

    Rhode Island becoming the first state to provide express antidiscrimination and accommodation protections for employees' menopause-related conditions may be a bellwether for similar protections in other jurisdictions, so employers should consider that while such benefits may improve recruitment and retention, complications may arise from voluntarily adding them, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • FTC, CoStar Cases Against Zillow May Have Broad Impact

    Author Photo

    Zillow's partnerships with Redfin and Realtor.com have recently triggered dual fronts of legal scrutiny — an antitrust inquiry from the Federal Trade Commission and a mass copyright infringement suit from CoStar — raising complex questions that reach beyond real estate, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University College of Law.

  • State Crypto Regs Diverge As Federal Framework Dawns

    Author Photo

    Following the Genius Act's passage, states like California, New York and Wyoming are racing to set new standards for crypto governance, creating both opportunity and risk for digital asset firms as innovation flourishes in some jurisdictions while costly friction emerges in others, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • How 2nd Circ. Cannabis Ruling Upends NY Licensing

    Author Photo

    A recent Second Circuit decision in Variscite NY Four v. New York, holding that New York's extra-priority cannabis licensing preference for applicants with in-state marijuana convictions violates the dormant commerce clause, underscores that state-legal cannabis markets remain subject to the same constitutional constraints as other economic markets, say attorneys at Harris Beach.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the California archive.