Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • May 20, 2024

    USPTO Says Patent Applicants' Data Was Mistakenly Leaked

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has said it accidentally released certain patent information that shouldn't have been made public during a more than monthlong period, marking another time the office has incorrectly released information.

  • May 20, 2024

    Auto Accessory Co. Secures Partial Coverage For BIPA Row

    An insurer must defend an automotive accessory company in a proposed class action alleging violations of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, the Seventh Circuit ruled, finding that unlike the company's primary and excess commercial general liability policies, an umbrella policy "lacks an exclusion pertaining to nonpublic information."

  • May 20, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware was full of drama last week, as proposed changes to the state's corporate law statutes raised eyebrows and a professor's friend-of-the-court brief sparked a very unfriendly public exchange. Delaware's court of equity banged the gavel on pipeline and social media disputes, and shareholders filed new suits alleging insider trading, vote bungling, unfair stock buybacks and merger shenanigans. In case you missed any of it, here's the recap of all the top news last week from Delaware's Chancery Court.

  • May 20, 2024

    Latham-Led CyberArk Buying PE-Backed Venafi In $1.54B Deal

    Latham & Watkins LLP is guiding Newton, Massachusetts-based CyberArk on a new deal to buy fellow cybersecurity company Venafi from Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo, represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, at an enterprise value of $1.54 billion, CyberArk said Monday. 

  • May 20, 2024

    Assange Gets Final Appeal In Fight Against US Extradition

    Julian Assange won a lifeline in his long-running fight against extradition to the U.S. on Monday as an English court granted him permission to challenge assurances from American authorities that the WikiLeaks founder would not face discrimination at trial.

  • May 17, 2024

    TikTok, Feds Ask DC Circ. To Fast-Track Potential Ban Row

    TikTok, a group of its creators and the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday all asked the D.C. Circuit to fast-track challenges to a new federal law that would exclude the popular app from the U.S. market unless it cuts ties with its Chinese parent company.

  • May 17, 2024

    Feds Say Duo Ran $73M 'Pig Butchering' Laundering Scheme

    Two Chinese citizens have been arrested on charges of being kingpins in a money laundering operation that processed more than $73 million of funds that were stolen in so-called pig butchering cryptocurrency schemes.

  • May 17, 2024

    Meet The Attys Fighting Efforts To Ban TikTok

    Facing a potential federal ban, TikTok and creators on the platform have tapped a bevy of BigLaw heavyweights, including attorneys who have successfully led challenges to prior moves to shut down the popular social media platform and limit children's online activities, as well as a pair of litigators who've argued dozens of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

  • May 17, 2024

    Scammer Cops To SIM Scheme Including $400M Crypto Theft

    A Colorado woman on Thursday pled guilty in D.C. federal court for her part in a SIM swapping scheme that appears to encompass more than $400 million stolen from the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

  • May 17, 2024

    Furniture Co. Says Insurer Wrongly Denied Hacking Coverage

    A Pittsburgh furniture company accused its insurer of bad faith and breach of contract for failing to cover more than $530,000 in losses due to monthslong hacking that began in 2021.

  • May 17, 2024

    Koch-Tied Group Says Transparency Law Offends Federalism

    The Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional because it does not regulate interstate commerce yet mandates that state-registered entities disclose personal information, a conservative group affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday.

  • May 17, 2024

    Utilities Need More Airwaves To Drive Growth, FCC Hears

    Utilities need more spectrum to keep their networks running smoothly as they move toward digitizing the electric grid, which is already under significant strain, a wireless service provider has told the Federal Communications Commission.

  • May 17, 2024

    Ga. OB-GYN Office Says Data Breach Class Action Falls Flat

    An Atlanta OB-GYN practice has urged a Georgia federal judge to dismiss a proposed class suit over a data breach that allegedly impacted the personal and protected health information of tens of thousands of patients, arguing the lead plaintiff has failed to meet the requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act.

  • May 16, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Let Alexa Users Revive Voice Data Privacy Row

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday refused to reinstate a proposed class action alleging Amazon's Alexa software illegally collects voice data to target users with advertisements, agreeing with the lower court that the e-commerce giant had clearly disclosed the practice and the plaintiffs hadn't shown they were harmed.

  • May 16, 2024

    Hunter Biden's Suit May Turn On If A Hard Drive Is A Computer

    A California federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden's lawsuit against a former Trump White House aide for accessing data allegedly taken from a copy of Biden's laptop said Thursday that case may hinge on if a hard drive copy qualifies as a "computer" under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

  • May 16, 2024

    Jolie May Have To Turn Over Her NDAs In Pitt's Winery Suit

    Angelina Jolie may have to disclose many of the nondisclosure agreements she's signed to Brad Pitt's legal team in the former couple's dispute over a multimillion-dollar French winery, a Los Angeles judge said Thursday in a tentative ruling.

  • May 16, 2024

    Clean Energy CEO Gets 6 Years For Forgeries Netting $1.1M

    The CEO of a Pennsylvania clean energy company was sentenced to six years in federal prison for defrauding investors out of $1.1 million and falsifying documents to cover his tracks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

  • May 16, 2024

    Prosecutors Say Fake Fortune 500 Workers Funded N. Korea

    The Biden administration alleged that North Korea may have raised $6.8 million to develop nuclear weapons by installing remote information technology workers at Fortune 500 businesses, announcing charges Thursday against two individuals accused of helping agents pose as U.S. employees.

  • May 16, 2024

    SEC Adopts Rules For Uncovering, Reporting Data Breaches

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the adoption of cybersecurity rules Thursday that will require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place for detecting data breaches and for notifying customers when their personal information may have been compromised.

  • May 16, 2024

    AI Study Tool Student Creator Sues Emory Over Suspension

    A student who received a $10,000 prize last year from Emory University for helping to create an artificially intelligent study tool is now suing the university for suspending him on the basis that using the tool could be a violation of the academic honor code.

  • May 16, 2024

    Fired MSU Coach Freed From Suit Over Abuse Accuser's Texts

    A Michigan judge on Thursday tossed a privacy lawsuit against former Michigan State University football coach Mel Tucker over the sharing of text messages from an anti-sexual violence activist who has accused him of sexual harassment.

  • May 16, 2024

    Burger King Franchisee Seeks BIPA Coverage Quick Win

    A Burger King franchisee asked an Illinois federal court to rule that due to precedent and policy ambiguities, its umbrella insurer must defend it in a class action claiming it violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act by nonconsensually collecting fingerprint data.

  • May 16, 2024

    DC Judge Mulls Dominion's DQ Bid For Pro-Trump Mich. Atty

    Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems pursuing defamation claims against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne fought Thursday to disqualify the Michigan attorney representing him, insisting to a D.C. federal judge that disqualification is the most appropriate remedy for the lawyer's leak of Dominion's confidential discovery documents.

  • May 16, 2024

    Meta Hit With EU Probe Over Child Safety Concerns

    Meta was hit on Thursday with an investigation by the European Commission over concerns its Facebook and Instagram services could promote addictions in children.

  • May 16, 2024

    US Must Produce Emails Between IRS Managers, Docs Leaker

    The government must produce emails between Internal Revenue Service managers and a former contractor who leaked thousands of wealthy people's tax returns, a Florida federal judge has ordered, saying the materials are relevant to a billionaire's case accusing the agency of responsibility for the leak.

Expert Analysis

  • Legal Issues When Training AI On Previously Collected Data

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    Following the Federal Trade Commission's recent guidance about the use of customer data to train artificial intelligence models, companies should carefully think through their terms of service and privacy policies and be cautious when changing them to permit new uses of previously collected data, says James Gatto at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Compliance Steps After ABA White Collar Crime Conference

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    Senior law enforcement officials’ statements this month at the American Bar Association's white collar crime conference suggest government enforcement efforts this year will increasingly focus on whistleblower incentives, artificial intelligence and data protection, and companies will need to update their compliance programs accordingly, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

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    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Cos. Seeking Cyber Coverage Can Look To Key Policy Terms

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    As cyberattacks increasingly threaten business operations, including one last month that partially paralyzed UnitedHealth's services, expanded interpretations of several key policy terms may allow affected companies to recover under cyber business interruption policies or other coverage, even if their business hasn't completely shut down, say attorneys at Kasowitz.

  • How AI May Be Used In Fintech Fraud — And Fraud Detection

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    Recent enforcement actions in the fintech and finance industries show that the government is increasingly pursuing fraud enabled by artificial intelligence — at the same time it’s using AI innovations to enforce regulations and investigate fraud, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Takeaways From Groundbreaking Data Transfer Order

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    A recent first-of-its-kind executive order and related proposed rulemaking lay the groundwork for important outbound U.S. data protections, but they may have unintended consequences related to the types of data and the subjects within their scope, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Innodata Suit Highlights 'AI Washing' Liability Risk For Cos.

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    A class action against software company Innodata over so-called AI washing, one of the first of its kind, underscores the litigation and enforcement risks that can arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel theory about misleading artificial intelligence capabilities, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel

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    Although a recent survey showed most in-house counsel think that their outside counsel should be using generative artificial intelligence "in some way" in class action work, the technology is more a target for class actions than it is a tool to be used in practice at present, says Matthew Allen at Carlton Fields.

  • Steps To Reduce CIPA Litigation Risks For Companies

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    As class action claims brought under the California Invasion of Privacy Act continue to advance new theories under an old law to target companies for commonplace website and app activities, there are steps that organizations can take to reduce exposure and strengthen their defenses against such lawsuits, say attorneys at Hintze Law.

  • Banks Should Continue To Prep For CFPB Data Rule Rollout

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    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-supervised banks should not expect industry pressure to delay the rollout of proposed Section 1033 open banking rules, which regulate how consumer financial information flows between financial institutions, and prepare their required data access portals and compliance procedures now, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Tips For Orgs Facing AI Data Privacy Compliance Challenges

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    Regulators around the world are actively seeking to enforce data privacy and consumer protection laws against companies providing artificial intelligence-related services, raising complex compliance questions in areas like transparency, data minimization, lawfulness of processing, data subject rights and higher risk activities, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • BIPA's Statutory Exemptions Post-Healthcare Ruling

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    The Illinois Supreme Court's November opinion in Mosby v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which held that the Biometric Information Privacy Act's healthcare exemption also applies when information is collected from healthcare workers, is a major win for healthcare defendants that resolves an important question of statutory interpretation, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

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