Expert Analysis

• A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

  

  U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.

• Preparing For Disruptions To Life Sciences Supply Chains

  

  Life sciences companies must assess how new and escalating tariffs — combined with other restrictions on cross-border activity singling out pharmaceutical products and medical devices — will affect supply chains, and they should proactively prepare for antitrust and foreign direct investment regulatory review processes, say attorneys at Weil.

• Beware Risks Of Arguing Multiple Constructions In IP Cases

  

  Defendants accused of patent infringement often argue for different, potentially contradictory, claim constructions before district courts and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but the board may be clamping down on this strategy, say attorneys at Dechert.

• Unpacking Liability When AI Makes A Faulty Decision

  

  As artificial intelligence systems become more autonomous and influential in decision-making, concerns about AI-related harms and problematic decisions are growing, raising the pressing question of who bears the liability, says Megha Kumar at CyXcel.

• How To Create A Unique Jury Profile For Every Case

  

  Instead of striking potential jurors based on broad stereotypes or gut feelings, trial attorneys should create case-specific risk profiles that address the political climate, the specific facts of the case and the venue in order to more precisely identify higher-risk jurors, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

• IRS Scrutiny May Underlie Move Away From NIL Collectives

  

  The University of Colorado's January announcement that it was severing its partnership with a name, image and likeness collective is part of universities' recent push to move NIL activities in-house, seemingly motivated by tax implications and increased scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.

• 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

• A Reminder On Avoiding Improper Venues In Patent Cases

  

  A Texas federal court's recent decision in the Symbology and Quantum cases shows that baseless patent venue allegations may be subject to serious Rule 11 sanctions, providing venue-vetting takeaways for plaintiffs and defendants, say attorneys at Bond Schoeneck.

• Opinion

  NCAA Name, Image, Likeness Settlement Is A $2.8B Mistake

  

  While the plaintiffs in House v. NCAA might call the proposed settlement on name, image and likeness payments for college athletes a breakthrough, it's a legally dubious Band-Aid that props up a system favoring a select handful of male athletes at the expense of countless others, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

• Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

  

  If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

• NIH Cuts To Indirect Costs May Stifle IP Generation

  

  Although currently blocked by a preliminary injunction, the National Institutes of Health's new policy to cut down on indirect cost funding creates challenges for university research projects, and may hamper the development of intellectual property — which is considered an indirect cost — for years to come, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

• Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

  

  HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

• Dewberry Ruling Is A Wakeup Call For Trademark Owners

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dewberry v. Dewberry hones in on the question of how a defendant's affiliates' profits should be treated under the Lanham Act, and should remind trademark litigants and practitioners that issues involving monetary relief should be treated seriously, say attorneys at Finnegan.

• Is AI Distillation By DeepSeek IP Theft?

  

  A brewing controversy over whether Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek's distillation of outputs from OpenAI's ChatGPT violates copyright law raises questions about the legality and ethics of such practices, and will set important precedents for the future of AI development and intellectual property law, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

• Pepperdine Case Highlights Shift In Collegiate IP Landscape

  

  A complaint filed by Pepperdine University against Netflix and Warner Bros. two weeks ago alleges that a comedy series unlawfully copies the school's trademarks, and the decision could reshape the portrayal of collegiate athletics on screen and the legal tools schools use to defend their emblems, says Mindy Lewis at Michelman & Robinson.