Media & Entertainment

  • December 19, 2025

    In Reggaeton Case, Judge Asks If Beats Are Commonplace

    A California federal judge questioned Friday whether music created by a pair of Jamaican artists is the foundation of thousands of reggaeton songs, asking one of their attorneys to address defense arguments that they are trying to own commonplace musical elements.

  • December 19, 2025

    Rakoff Asks If Man Seeking 'Top Gun' Credit Had Copyright

    U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Friday asked an attorney for a man who claims that he wasn't credited for writing significant portions of the 2022 film "Top Gun: Maverick" why he shouldn't think the man knew he'd be infringing Paramount's copyrights given that he didn't have a contract to work on the movie.

  • December 19, 2025

    App Makers Tell 9th Circ. It Got Google Maps Facts Wrong

    App makers asked the Ninth Circuit to rethink their proposed antitrust class action accusing Google of locking out rival maps products, arguing a panel refused to revive the case only because it did "not address and ignored" their allegations.

  • December 19, 2025

    X Can Still Sue Media Matters In Ireland, 9th Circ. Rules

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday vacated a California federal judge's injunction that blocked X Corp.'s ongoing lawsuit against left-leaning watchdog Media Matters in Ireland over an allegedly defamatory article, saying Media Matters waited too long before seeking to bring the case to the Golden State and thus prejudiced X.

  • December 19, 2025

    Nicklaus Cos. Want Creditor Liens Nixed In Ch. 11 Before Sale

    Sporting gear and golf course design firm Nicklaus Cos. has asked the Delaware bankruptcy court to invalidate the liens of its largest creditor and to provide clarity on its claim status ahead of a proposed asset sale in February.

  • December 19, 2025

    Gambling Tech Co. Loses Sanction Bid In NJ Defamation Case

    A New Jersey state judge rejected a gambling technology company's bid for sanctions in its defamation suit against investigative firm Black Cube and law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP, ruling that Black Cube did not willfully disobey a court discovery order.

  • December 19, 2025

    Top State & Local Tax Cases Of 2025

    From a Colorado appellate court upholding a tax on Netflix subscriptions to Pennsylvania's high court finding the Pittsburgh fee on nonresident pro athletes unconstitutional, 2025 was a busy year for state and local tax cases. Here, Law360 looks at the most influential cases of 2025 and their impact going into the new year.

  • 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

    Taxation With Representation: Baker Botts, Morgan Lewis

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Trump Media and Technology Group merges with fusion power company TAE Technologies, pharmaceutical company Cencora boosts its stake in cancer care company OneOncology, and Phoenix Financial partners with private equity giant Blackstone to plug billions into various credit strategies.

  • December 19, 2025

    3 Firms Advise As Sony Nabs Majority Stake In Peanuts Brand

    WildBrain has agreed to sell its 41% stake in Peanuts Holdings LLC to Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. for C$630 million in cash, or roughly $457 million, in a deal steered by three law firms. 

  • 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

    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

    The 6 Biggest Rulings By Massachusetts' Top Court In 2025

    Massachusetts' top court rejected a novel double jeopardy claim in a headline-grabbing murder case, revived claims against Harvard over a "ghoulish" scheme, and said a Snapchat Bitmoji could show police bias, among other significant rulings this year.

  • December 19, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen the designer of an 88-facet diamond bring a copyright claim against a luxury watch retailer, collapsed firm Axiom Ince bring legal action against the solicitors' watchdog, and the Post Office hit with compensation claims from two former branch managers over their wrongful convictions during the Horizon information technology scandal.

  • December 18, 2025

    The Biggest Rulings From A Busy Year At The 1st Circ.

    The nation's smallest federal appellate panel punched above its weight in 2025, grappling with numerous suits against the Trump administration, high-profile criminal appeals, a $34 million legal fee bid and a hotly contested kickback law.

  • 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

    Musicians Say AI Music Platform Copies Copyrighted Works

    A group of independent musicians has filed a proposed class action claiming the artificial intelligence music platform Mureka illegally and systematically copies and stores their copyrighted works as part of a product that directly competes with their livelihoods.

  • December 18, 2025

    Hisense Blocked From Collecting Texan TV Viewers' Data

    A Texas state court temporarily blocked Chinese television maker Hisense from collecting viewers' personal data as the Lone Star State's attorney general sues the manufacturer and four other companies for allegedly "spying" on what consumers are watching, the attorney general has announced.

  • December 18, 2025

    Energy Transfer Wants Action On $345M Greenpeace Verdict

    Energy Transfer begged a North Dakota state judge Thursday to enter final judgment on a $345 million defamation and property damage verdict over the Dakota Access pipeline protests, saying the case is "off the procedural map," and it heard from the judge an acknowledgment that it's taken over his professional life.

  • December 18, 2025

    Arkansas Social Media Safety Law Temporarily Blocked

    Arkansas cannot enforce a state law that bans social media platforms from using algorithms that could cause a user to kill themselves, buy drugs, become addicted to social media or develop an eating disorder, a federal district judge has ruled.

  • December 18, 2025

    Eminem's Publisher, Spotify Sort Out Copyright Dispute

    Spotify and Eminem's music publisher, which accused the digital music platform of streaming the rapper's hit "Lose Yourself" without a license, have ended the copyright infringement lawsuit, informing both a Tennessee federal court and the Sixth Circuit that they are dropping their dispute.

  • December 18, 2025

    Judge Wants Live Nation Antitrust Trial Limited To 5 Weeks

    A New York federal judge nudged the Justice Department and Live Nation during a hearing Thursday to limit next year's antitrust jury trial against the live entertainment giant to no more than five weeks, not the eight the government wants, although he left open the possibility for more time.

  • 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.

  • December 18, 2025

    Theta, CEO Accused Of Crypto Fraud In Whistleblower Suits

    Two whistleblower complaints have been filed against Sliver VR Technologies, its blockchain subsidiary Theta Labs Inc. and their CEO, alleging they ran pump-and-dump and other fraud schemes to artificially inflate the company's token prices.

  • December 18, 2025

    2nd Circ. Bars Email Service In Chinese 'Baby Shark' Case

    The Second Circuit on Thursday backed a finding that the owner of "Baby Shark" trademarks, which won a default judgment against dozens of Chinese companies, didn't properly serve two of those businesses, saying an email didn't pass muster under the rules of the Hague Service Convention.

Expert Analysis

  • Breaking Down Part 3 Of The Copyright Office's AI Report

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    On May 9, the U.S. Copyright Office published a prepublication version of the third and final part of its three-part report on artificial intelligence, offering key insights on the unauthorized use of copyrighted material by AI systems, says Courtney Sarnow at CM Law.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Shifts In Parallel Proceedings Strategy

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    Dynamics are changing between the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts, with two recent discretionary denials and one Federal Circuit decision offering takeaways for both patent owners and challengers navigating parallel proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • What Businesses Need To Know To Avoid VPPA Class Actions

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    Divergent rulings by the Second, Sixth and Seventh Circuits about the scope of the Video Privacy Protection Act have highlighted the difficulty of applying a statute conceived to regulate the now-obsolete brick-and-mortar video store sector in today's internet economy, say attorneys at DTO Law.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Fed. Circ. In May: Evaluating Opportunistic Trademark Filings

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    The Federal Circuit's decision last month in the "US Space Force" trademark case gives the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board additional clarity when working through opportunistic trademark filings, particularly when the mark's value is primarily due to the potential value of a false connection, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

  • The CFTC Is Shaking Up Sports Betting's Legal Future

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    The sports betting industry faces a potential sea change amid recent state and federal actions across the regulatory landscape that have expanded access to sporting event contracts against the backdrop of waning Commodity Futures Trading Commission opposition, says Nick Covek at Foley & Lardner.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Rejecting Biz Dev Myths

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    Law schools don’t spend sufficient time dispelling certain myths that prevent young lawyers from exploring new business opportunities, but by dismissing these misguided beliefs, even an introverted first-year associate with a small network of contacts can find long-term success, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Speech Protection Questions In AI Case Raise Liability Risk

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    A Florida federal court's recent landmark ruling in Garcia v. Character Technologies, rejecting artificial intelligence developers' efforts to shield themselves from product liability and wrongful death claims under the First Amendment, challenges the assumption that chatbot outputs qualify as speech, and may redefine AI regulation and litigation nationally, says Peter Gregory at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Move Beyond Surface-Level Edits To Master Legal Writing

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    Recent instances in which attorneys filed briefs containing artificial intelligence hallucinations offer a stark reminder that effective revision isn’t just about superficial details like grammar — it requires attorneys to critically engage with their writing and analyze their rhetorical choices, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • NCAA Settlement Kicks Off New Era For Student-Athlete NIL

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    A landmark settlement stemming from 15 years of litigation between schools and the NCAA reflects a major development in college athletics by securing compensation for usage of student-athletes' names, images and likenesses, and schools hoping to take advantage of new opportunities should take proactive steps to comply with new rules, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Lessons From Recent Creative Clashes In Entertainment IP

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    Three recent controversies highlight when creative expression might cross over into infringing another party's rights, and how these potentially conflicting interests can be balanced, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 9th Circ. Has Muddied Waters Of Article III Pleading Standard

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    District courts in the Ninth Circuit continue to apply a defunct and especially forgiving pleading standard to questions of Article III standing, and the circuit court itself has only perpetuated this confusion — making it an attractive forum for disputes that have no rightful place in federal court, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    Competing In Modern Pentathlon Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Opening myself up to new experiences through competing in modern Olympic pentathlon has shrunk the appearance of my daily work annoyances and helps me improve my patience, manage crises better and remember that acquiring new skills requires working through your early mistakes, says attorney Mary Zoldak.

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