Calif. Justices Revive 'Unreadable' Arbitration Agreement Suit

By Hailey Konnath

In a 6-1 decision, the California Supreme Court clarified on Monday that courts must "closely scrutinize the terms of difficult-to-read contracts for unfairness or one-sidedness," but the "illegibility" — font size, placement, prominence, etc. — of agreements do not themselves indicate that it is unconscionable.

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Ex-UCLA Gynecologist Secures Sex Abuse Retrial On Appeal

By Lauren Berg

A California appellate court Monday tossed sexual assault convictions against a University of California, Los Angeles, gynecologist and ordered a new trial, saying the trial court judge failed to tell defense counsel about a jury note detailing concerns that one of their peers didn't understand English well enough to deliberate.

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Judge Clears Apple Of Some Haptic Patent Claims

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has allowed Apple to escape some patent claims brought by a company that accused the tech giant of infringing the business's vibration technology patents, letting Apple escape literal infringement allegations related to its "monolithic products."

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Netflix Slams HBO Max User's Challenge To Warner Bros. Deal

By Gina Kim

Netflix argued that an HBO Max subscriber lacks standing to challenge its plan to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, telling a California federal judge Friday that the subscriber doesn't show how the merger would injure her, as she's never subscribed to Netflix and doesn't say she plans to.

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Tracy Anderson Workouts Are Copyrightable, 9th Circ. Told

By Dorothy Atkins

Celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to reverse a ruling that invalidated copyrights to her "Tracy Anderson Method" workout routines, arguing that her routines are expressive protectable works distinct from yoga poses at issue in the Ninth Circuit's Bikram ruling.

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Nvidia Faces New Class Action Over AI YouTube Scraping

By Elliot Weld

Chipmaker and artificial intelligence company Nvidia has been hit with more claims of improperly scraping data from YouTube for training material for its AI model Cosmos.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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Amazon Shoppers' Counsel Admit To AI Errors In Motion

By Emily Sawicki

Lawyers representing Amazon customers in a proposed class action over supplement labeling have apologized to a Seattle federal judge for artificial intelligence hallucinations included in a recent filing, acknowledging "certain miscitations and misquotations" resulted from a Just Food Law PLLC attorney's use of the nascent technology and a failure by Boies Schiller Flexner LLP co-counsel to catch the errors.

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Zipcar Can't Be Liable For Renting To Drunk Driver, Panel Says

By Y. Peter Kang

A California appeals court has tossed claims against Zipcar in a suit accusing the online car rental platform of causing a passenger's catastrophic injuries by renting out a vehicle to a drunk customer, saying certain duties of care owed by traditional rental agencies don't apply to car-sharing companies.

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Lead Counsel For Parents Appointed In Roblox MDL

By Emily Field

The California federal judge overseeing the growing multidistrict litigation over allegations that children were groomed and exploited by sexual predators on Roblox's popular gaming platform has appointed plaintiffs attorneys to leadership positions on Friday.

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Judge Skeptical Of XAI's Claims In OpenAI Trade Secrets Suit

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge has said she's inclined to grant OpenAI's motion to dismiss a trade secrets complaint from Elon Musk's xAI "in full," saying the plaintiffs have not provided enough facts to support claims that OpenAI poached employees and stole source code.

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PTAB Sinks Samsung Challenge To Ouraring Patent

By Adam Lidgett

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has shot down Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s challenge to an Ouraring Inc. smart ring patent amid an ongoing legal dispute that has spanned the board, federal district court and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

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Pandora Settles IP Suits By Robin Williams, Other Comedians

By Gina Kim

Pandora Media has resolved yearslong copyright infringement litigation by Robin Williams' estate, Lewis Black and other comedians, who alleged the streaming service owes millions for wrongfully profiting off their performances and works without licensing agreements, following a settlement conference in California federal court Friday.

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Songwriter Says He Was Never Paid For Song In 'Smurfs' Film

By Elliot Weld

A musician has sued Paramount Pictures, claiming he was never compensated for a song he wrote that was recorded by singer Rihanna and was used in the "Smurfs" movie and that the studio tried to blame the singer when confronted.

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Bausch, Lannett To Pay $17.9M In Drug Price-Fixing Deal

By Abigail Harrison

Lannett Company Inc., Bausch Health US LLC and Bausch Health America Inc. will pay $17.85 million to settle allegations by 48 states and territories that they conspired to fix prices for generic drugs, according to a motion filed Monday seeking preliminary approval of the deal.

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'Doesn't Make Sense': DOJ Irks Judge In Merger Fight With AGs

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge said Monday that the U.S. Department of Justice must hand over certain discovery materials to Democratic attorneys general challenging the DOJ's controversial settlement greenlighting the $14 billion merger of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, telling the DOJ that its argument that discussions of alternative remedies are shielded from discovery "doesn't make sense."

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Urgent Care Co. Carbon Health Hits Ch. 11 With $100M+ Debt

By Ben Zigterman

Carbon Health Technologies Inc., an urgent care provider based in California, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief Monday in Texas, listing more than $100 million in liabilities.

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Calif. Cities Challenge DOJ Rules For Child Exploitation Funds

By Hailey Konnath

San Diego and San Jose have sued the U.S. Department of Justice over new requirements for Internet Crimes Against Children program grant recipients, claiming that the federal government is unconstitutionally trying to force its immigration and diversity agendas on local governments and other grant recipients.

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Trump Admin's Bid To End Haitian Protections Paused

By Rae Ann Varona

A D.C. federal judge on Monday postponed the Trump administration's termination of temporary protected status for Haitians, saying five Haitian nationals who sued the administration are likely to succeed in showing that the termination is unlawful.

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Calif. Lawmakers OK Tax Break For Tribal Land Conservation

By Michael Nunes

Native American tribes in California would be eligible for a property tax exemption for land conservation efforts under a bill approved by lawmakers and headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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DLA Piper Adds Ex-Cooley Atty To Lead N. Calif. Practice

By Rose Krebs

DLA Piper announced Monday that it has added the former global chair of Cooley LLP's digital health group to lead its Northern California corporate and securities practice and bolster its capacity to advise life sciences and technology companies on transactions and other matters.

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Manatt Appellate Star Leaves To Join Duane Morris In LA

By Gina Kim

Benjamin G. Shatz has joined Duane Morris LLP as a partner at the firm's appellate division of the trial practice group in Los Angeles, after spending more than two decades at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, according to an announcement issued Monday.

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How 2 Tech Statutes Are Being Applied To Agentic AI

The application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act to agentic artificial intelligence is still developing, but recent case law, like Amazon's lawsuit against Perplexity in California federal court, provides some initial guidance for companies developing or deploying these technologies, say attorneys at Weil.

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Defense Strategy Takeaways From Recent TCPA Class Actions

Although recent Telephone Consumer Protection Act decisions do not establish any bright-line tests for defeating predominance based on an argument that class members provided consent for the calls, certain trends have emerged that should inform defense strategies at class certification, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

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FTC Focus: Testing Joint Enforcement Over Loyalty Programs

The Federal Trade Commission's case against Syngenta can be understood both as a canary for further scrutiny over loyalty-discount practices and a signal of the durability of joint federal-state antitrust enforcement, with key takeaways for practitioners and those subject to regulatory antitrust scrutiny alike, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

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NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

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Paul Weiss Chair's Emails To Epstein Include Apollo Info

By Aebra Coe

Files released by the Department of Justice over the weekend belonging to the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein show a yearslong relationship between Epstein and Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp, which included dinners, phone calls and meetings, as well as communication related to Paul Weiss client Apollo Global Management.

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Ex-Goldstein Employee Claims Accountants Made Mistakes

By Jared Foretek

Defense attorneys for SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein presented evidence Monday that his firm's tax accountants made serious mistakes in tax filings for Goldstein's wife, Amy Howe, in 2021.

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6th Circ. Clears Judge Boasberg In DOJ Ethics Complaint

By Courtney Bublé

The complaint the U.S. Department of Justice filed against Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia has been dismissed.

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Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

By Jeff Overley

What happened to a GOP donor's $250,000 Swiss watch? Can cigarette warnings show jarring medical images? Will a circuit split of "far-reaching importance" for arbitration get even wider? That's a taste of the oral argument menu we'll help you digest in this preview of February's top appellate action.

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Fenwick Reaches Deal In FTX Crypto Scam Suit

By Madison Arnold

Fenwick & West LLP and victims of the infamous FTX Trading Ltd. cryptocurrency scam are working toward a settlement in a case over the firm's alleged role in the trading platform's collapse.

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Watchdog Renews Halligan Bar Complaint After Court Rulings

By Emily Sawicki

The nonprofit Campaign for Accountability on Monday once again launched a bar complaint against former interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan in Virginia, after the Virginia State Bar declined to pursue an ethics investigation against the attorney last year, calling it a matter for the courts to determine.

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Brief

Judiciary Open As Usual Until Thursday Despite Shutdown

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary has enough funding to sustain normal operations until Thursday, following the partial government shutdown that started at midnight on Saturday.

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DOJ Defends NJ US Atty Office Funding Amid Scrutiny

By Matthew Santoni

Defending the three-person leadership structure of New Jersey's federal prosecution operations since the departure of Alina Habba, an administrator told a federal court that two of the attorneys running the office are paid through the office's budget and the third is funded through the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

U.S. enforcers reached three new merger settlements, while the Federal Trade Commission successfully blocked a $945 million heart valve deal and lodged an appeal for its case targeting Meta's past acquisitions.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

A pair of new high-dollar suits in Delaware's Court of Chancery showed last week that post-deal stock appraisal suits still have legs, despite some efforts to reduce potential from deal-price gains challenges. The week ended with Delaware's justices nipping $100 million from the attorney fees owed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk from $176.2 million to roughly $70.9 million, rejecting part of a Court of Chancery fee calculation.

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The Top In-House Hires Of January

By Sue Reisinger

Legal department hires over the first month of 2026 included high-profile appointments at SiriusXM, at a host of West Coast tech companies including Microsoft and Meta, and at Black & Decker. Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from January.

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