California

  • September 18, 2026

    AI 'Brainrot' Fight Tests Copyright, TM Reach Of Viral Memes

    A bat-wielding wooden drum named Tung Tung Sahur is raising questions Mickey Mouse, Godzilla and James Bond never posed: Can a "brainrot" character created using artificial intelligence be protected by copyright, and can it later function as a trademark if it went viral before anyone used it as a brand?

  • September 18, 2026

    Lenovo Drops Laptop IP Suit Against Asus After ITC Loss

    Lenovo has voluntarily dismissed its patent infringement suit against Asus, more than a year after the U.S. International Trade Commission held that ASUS' Zenbook laptop imports don't infringe many of the same patents.

  • September 18, 2026

    Disney Plan Must Cover Trans Child's Mental Health Treatment

    Disney's benefits plan must reimburse an employee for her transgender child's medical care at a residential treatment facility for major depressive disorder, suicidal ideations and instances of self-harm, after a California federal judge ruled such care was necessary, "appropriate, and not feasible at a lower level of care."

  • September 18, 2026

    Newsom Convenes AI Safety Panel To Mull 'Kill Switch' Law

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered the prompt creation of an artificial intelligence safety panel to hasten the implementation of various potential AI safety and security laws, including a proposed measure that would require companies to develop a "kill switch" for their AI models.

  • September 18, 2026

    Roblox, Fortnite Not Actually Classroom-Safe, Student Says

    A Florida teenager has sued online gaming platforms Roblox and Fortnite in California federal court, alleging that although the games are marketed as educational and safe for children — even in classrooms — his gaming addiction harmed his academic performance.

  • September 18, 2026

    9th Circ. Asks Wash. Justices About Indirect Employer Claims

    A Ninth Circuit panel has asked the Washington State Supreme Court to clarify whether the state's law permits common law wrongful firing claims against indirect employers and certain individuals, saying the answers are key to assessing a former solar company CFO's claim he was unjustly ousted by a private equity backer.

  • September 18, 2026

    Apple Says Ex-Worker Took 33 Files, Wiped Mac For OpenAI

    Apple has told a California federal judge that a former engineer now at OpenAI downloaded at least 33 confidential files from Apple's Box repository after his departure, wiped an Apple-owned computer before returning it, and later told another former Apple employee who had joined OpenAI to erase her device.

  • September 18, 2026

    US Asks Fed. Circ. To Reverse COVID-Era Tax Deadline Ruling

    The government asked the Federal Circuit to overturn a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision allowing a taxpayer to recover penalties and interest he sought refunds for during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the claims court wrongly interpreted a statutory 60-day extension as having lasted over three and a half years.

  • September 18, 2026

    JPMorgan Likely Can't Void Arbitration Loss Over Food Platter

    A California federal judge has said he is unlikely to vacate an arbitration panel's decision awarding a wealth manager $4.25 million from a JPMorgan Chase & Co. subsidiary, saying that although he finds the panel's award "exceptionally questionable," it doesn't meet the standard for the court to undo the decision.

  • September 18, 2026

    DOI Says No Irreparable Harm In Casino Gaming Status Case

    A lawyer for the U.S. Department of the Interior told a D.C. federal judge on Friday that the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians was warned several times not to rely on a 2025 gaming eligibility determination that the agency was reconsidering, but the band nevertheless went forward with opening a limited casino operation on the property.

  • September 18, 2026

    Transpo Tracker: Amazon Crash Suits, Md. Bridge Claims Trimmed

    In our latest Law360 Transportation Tracker, a deadly runway crash of an Amazon cargo plane has sparked a series of negligence and wrongful death lawsuits, while California scored two injunctions blocking the Trump administration's efforts to wipe out the state's Clean Air Act waivers. 

  • September 18, 2026

    Pickleball Paddle-Maker Settles Most Patent Suits With Rivals

    Pickleball paddle-maker Joola said it had resolved most of the nearly dozen patent infringement lawsuits it filed against its rivals, announcing it had most recently reached a settlement with Friday Labs LLC.

  • September 18, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Missed Removal Notice Violated Due Process

    A split Ninth Circuit ruled Friday that the government violated a Mexican native's due process rights when it ordered his deportation for missing an immigration hearing, saying it was wrong to rely on a residential address relatives provided on a bond form.

  • September 18, 2026

    Cooley-Led Electra Therapeutics Prices Upsized $350M IPO

    Cooley LLP-advised Electra Therapeutics, a venture-backed biotech firm developing antibodies for immune diseases and cancer, began trading Friday after raising $350 million in an upsized IPO.

  • September 18, 2026

    Paramount Gets Foreign Investment Nod For $110B WBD Deal

    The Federal Communications Commission has approved a Paramount Skydance request to permit foreign ownership as part of its $110 billion plan to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. 

  • September 17, 2026

    LinkedIn Secures Ban On Sweeping Data Scraping Operations

    A California federal judge finalized an agreement that permanently bars a pair of software companies accused of running "industrial-scale" data scraping mills that extracted information from millions of LinkedIn profiles from accessing the professional networking platform and requires them to destroy any data they've obtained. 

  • September 17, 2026

    Crowell & Moring Hires Employment Atty From Ballard Spahr

    Crowell & Moring announced Thursday that it has hired a former Ballard Spahr lawyer to join its labor and employment group, bringing years of experience handling wage-and-hour class actions and other complex employment-related issues on behalf of some of the biggest companies in the country.

  • September 17, 2026

    Meta's Slow Content Reviews Not Biggest Concern, Jury Told

    Meta's longtime content policy czar testified Thursday in New Mexico's data privacy trial that leaving up some violating posts for days while they underwent extra review was "less of a concern" than the mistake of pulling down an acceptable post by a high-profile account.

  • September 17, 2026

    $107M Union Carbide Asbestos Verdict Won't Be Revived

    A California appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a lower court's order for a new trial in an asbestos wrongful-death suit that produced a $107 million verdict, holding that substantial evidence supported the jury's findings against Union Carbide Corp. and a subcontractor.

  • September 17, 2026

    Doximity Hit With Investor's Suit Over Ad Strategy Claims

    Medical professional networking platform operator Doximity Inc. was hit with a shareholder's proposed class action accusing it of concealing it was losing market share to its competitors and that its website did not rely on the "deep engagement" advertising strategy it had previously touted.

  • September 17, 2026

    Hyundai Cameras That Watch Drivers A Hazard, Suit Claims

    Hyundai safety features meant to encourage focused driving by monitoring faces and head position often make inaccurate readings, causing distractions such as issuing "loud" alerts, deactivating cruise control and bringing the vehicle to a full stop, drivers have claimed in a new California federal lawsuit.

  • September 17, 2026

    Sue To Stop AI Armageddon? Not So Fast, Attys Say

    As executives at leading artificial intelligence companies increasingly assert that their own technology could one day pose an existential threat to humanity, a natural question follows: If the risk is real, can anyone sue to stop it before disaster strikes?

  • September 17, 2026

    Nonprofit Heads Stole Millions In Homeless Funds, DOJ Says

    Federal law enforcement officials have charged four individuals in corruption and fraud cases involving money meant to help the homeless, including the founder of a Los Angeles County nonprofit who allegedly used more than $7.5 million in public funds to pay for luxury items and a nightclub.

  • September 17, 2026

    Ore. Judge Denies HHS' Attempt To Amend Gender Care Order

    An Oregon federal judge on Thursday rejected the Trump administration's bid to narrow an earlier order that voided a policy declaration central to the government's crackdown on gender-affirming care for minors.

  • September 17, 2026

    Local Publishers Say OpenAI, Microsoft Stole Their News

    More than two dozen regional, local, trade and specialty publishers have sued OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in New York federal court, alleging the companies copied hundreds of thousands of copyrighted articles without permission to train products including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Disgorgement Questions Linger After Justices' SEC Ruling

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sripetch v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission avoided placing new limits on the SEC’s disgorgement powers, it passed over several questions, including whether the commission can seek disgorgement when returning the money to investors isn't possible, says David Slovick at Kopecky Schumacher.

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

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    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Green Card Memo Warps Long-Standing Adjustment Process

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    A recent policy memorandum that treats a nonimmigrant visa holder’s decision to seek adjustment of status in the U.S., rather than at a U.S. consulate, as an adverse factor reinterprets existing discretionary frameworks, compounds risks for applicants required to apply abroad and changes practitioner approaches to application preparation, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Celebs May Need Federal Protection To Fight Voice Deepfakes

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    Deepfakes and digital replicas are increasingly misappropriating celebrities' voices for commercial purposes, but unless federal right of publicity protections are developed, celebrities are left to rely on ill-equipped trademark and state law, say attorneys at Brown Rudnick.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

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    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • State Enviro Agencies Give Cosmetics Regulation A Makeover

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    As state oversight of cosmetics rapidly expands, the new statutes and regulations governing these products are being implemented by environmental agencies rather than consumer product regulators, requiring manufacturers, distributors and retailers to reevaluate their supply chains and procedures, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

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    The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Perfectus Settlement Illuminates DOJ's Tariff Fraud Strategy

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    The Department of Justice's recent False Claims Act settlement with Perfectus Aluminum illustrates the government's continuing interagency focus on customs and tariff enforcement, and the related criminal indictment provides insight into conduct enforcers may associate with tariff evasion schemes, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Product-Or-Content Question Is Pivotal In AI Litigation

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    A growing range of civil cases against OpenAI address the question of whether the output of a generative artificial intelligence system is a product, subject to traditional tort doctrine, or third-party content — and the framing courts adopt will shape software liability well beyond AI, says David Meldofsky at Lawsuit Informer.

  • Citron Founder Verdict Tests Reach Of 'Half-Truth' Fraud

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    A California federal jury's conviction this week of Citron founder Andrew Left may be remembered less as a conventional manipulation prosecution than as a case about how far the "half-truth" doctrine can reach when applied to modern market speech, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

  • Series

    Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

  • Why IPR Slowdown Has Not Led To More Patent Litigation

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    Despite sustained strength in patent application filings and a decline in inter partes review and post-grant review, 2026 has not seen the anticipated surge in patent litigation in district courts and at the U.S. International Trade Commission, potentially due to four reasons, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • Revisiting TransUnion's Underused Standing Rule, 5 Years On

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    The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' recent use of the U.S. Supreme Court’s now five-year-old TransUnion v. Ramirez rule specifying that the "mere risk of future harm" isn't concrete enough to support a damages claim presents an opportunity to revisit this underutilized standing rule, say attorneys at Horvitz & Levy.

  • 5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

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    The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

  • Turning To The Courts When PBM Reform Falls Short

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    The effectiveness of state laws intended to regulate pharmacy benefit managers remains uncertain, but litigation — utilizing tried-and-true theories like breach of contract and fair dealing — offers another mechanism through which stakeholders may seek relief from PBMs, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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