Ex-OpenAI Engineer Charged With Bugging Conference Room

By Dorothy Atkins

Federal prosecutors have arrested and charged a former OpenAI product team engineer in California federal court on allegations he hid a secret recording device inside toilet paper behind a TV in an executive conference room in order to capture confidential communications about the ChatGPT-maker's artificial intelligence technology.

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Apple Urges Judge To Toss 'Shocking' $5.7B Patent Verdict

By Hailey Konnath

Apple Inc. on Tuesday asked a California federal judge to wipe out a jury's $5.7 billion damages award for Taction Technology Inc. or order a new trial in the haptic vibration technology patent dispute, calling the award "shocking" and "untethered to any evidence at all."

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OpenAI Accused Of Mining Kids' ChatGPT Data To Train LLMs

By Hailey Konnath

OpenAI has preyed on children by extracting "vast amounts of highly sensitive and valuable data" from millions of young ChatGPT users without valid consent and then using that information to train its large language models, according to a proposed class action filed Tuesday in California federal court.

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Apple Gets Expedited OpenAI Discovery In Trade Secret Case

By Theresa Schliep

A California federal judge said Tuesday that OpenAI must work on an expedited timeline to furnish some documents in Apple's suit accusing the company of using former employees to access secret information, calling Apple's concerns about the preservation of some evidence "well-taken."

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Character.AI Files Ch. 11 With $20M Sale Bid From Disney

By Rick Archer

Artificial intelligence entertainment platform Character Technologies has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with more than $50 million in debt, saying it was sunk by high operating and legal costs and plans an asset auction with a baseline $20 million bid from Disney.

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Analysis

In AI Race, Trade Secret Suits Become Popular Safeguard

By Theresa Schliep

Fierce competition for artificial intelligence engineers and the relative paucity of intellectual property protections for AI technologies have companies turning to trade secret litigation as a powerful tool they can wield against competitors and former employees, attorneys say.

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DOJ's Revised Powers For LA's Essayli Questioned By Judge

By Craig Clough

A federal judge appeared skeptical Tuesday that the Justice Department's revised delegation of authority to Los Angeles' top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, complies with a recent Ninth Circuit ruling, repeatedly asking whether the changes meaningfully restrict his powers.

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Justices Won't Eye 'Weaponized' Sanctions Of Election Attys

By Jeff Overley

Despite outrage among Ninth Circuit conservatives, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to scrutinize six-figure sanctions of lawyers who challenged Arizona election protocols, leaving intact discipline designed to "send a message."

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Dodgers Owner's Insurers Hid Affiliate Loans, Suits Say

By Lauren Berg

Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and insurers owned by his holding company, Guggenheim Partners, have been hit with multiple proposed class actions alleging they sold annuities based on misrepresentations, with policyholders' premiums being siphoned into loans and financing that benefited Walter-affiliated companies.

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H&R Block Says Liberty Owes $6M For TurboTax Suit Defense

By Gina Kim

H&R Block's subsidiaries told a California federal judge on Friday that Liberty Mutual must pay over $6 million in costs they incurred defending themselves in an underlying suit filed by rival Intuit, which accused H&R Block of making misleading price comparisons between its products and Intuit's TurboTax products. 

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GKN Isn't Covered For Toxic Chemical Emergency, Court Told

By Danielle Ferguson

A Chubb unit told a Texas federal court Tuesday that a pollution exclusion bars coverage to GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems Inc. for underlying lawsuits and a civil investigation stemming from the overheating of a storage tank in California that led to toxic emissions and the evacuation of thousands of residents.  

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High Court Sends Back $28M Roundup Verdict After Durnell

By Emily Field

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday remanded a case involving a $28 million award to a California man who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Monsanto's Roundup weed killer, following its recent ruling that federal law barred failure-to-warn claims over the pesticide.

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High Court Will Not Hear Fiat Chrysler Defect Row

By Emily Field

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to weigh whether an arbitrator or a court should decide the proper venue for a dispute involving a nonsignatory to an arbitration agreement in an appeal brought by Fiat Chrysler in a proposed class action over allegedly defective Jeep and Dodge headrests.

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Mommy's Bliss Melatonin Isn't Safe For Kids, Suit Says

By Gina Kim

Mommy's Bliss is improperly hawking its melatonin supplements as being suitable to treat children with insomnia or sleeplessness, despite numerous studies that say melatonin isn't safe for kids, as ingesting it has resulted in overdoses, hospitalizations and even death, alleges a proposed class action filed Monday in California federal court. 

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Google, UPS Shares Users' Browsing History, Suit Says

By Rae Ann Varona

Google and the United Parcel Service falsely promise that only tracking numbers would be sent to the mail carrier, two consumers have alleged in a proposed class action filed in California federal court, saying that a click of a tracking button instead sends their personal data to undisclosed third parties.

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Google Says Consent Bars Claim Calls Illicitly Recorded For AI

By Bonnie Eslinger

Google urged a California federal judge Tuesday to toss a proposed class action alleging it illegally trains its artificial intelligence tools through the customer service software it provides Uber and other companies, saying the customers' consent to record the calls through the businesses' terms and policies overrides any allegedly improper use.

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Chicagoans Sue Over Delivery Robots' Biometric Scans

By Celeste Bott

Two California-based robot delivery companies have been hit with biometric privacy suits in Illinois state court alleging that the robots they deploy in Chicago unlawfully scan identifying information from people in their range and stream that data in real time to human operators, using it to train both their own and third parties' artificial intelligence models.

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Qualcomm Secures $2 In License Breach, Interference Trial

By Dani Kass

Arm Holdings should pay Qualcomm $2 for breaching a licensing agreement and interfering in Qualcomm's economic relationship with Meta, a Delaware federal jury found Tuesday.

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Nvidia Faces Suit Over AI Training Music Data

By Adam Lidgett

An independent music licensing company has brought a lawsuit accusing Nvidia of infringing its copyrights to train its artificial intelligence models, days after dropping a nearly identical suit in the same court.

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Fed. Circ. Backs L'Oreal's Alice Win On Face Analysis Patent

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday issued a one-word order affirming a California federal court's invalidation of a facial measurement and analysis patent that had been asserted against the cosmetic giant L'Oreal USA Inc.

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Dolby Loses Bid To Ax InterDigital Patent From Disney Case

By Ryan Davis

A California federal judge has denied Dolby's motion seeking to invalidate an InterDigital video patent that is at issue in a related infringement suit against Disney over its streaming services, ruling that Dolby failed to show that the patent covers only an abstract idea.

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Groups Ask Justices To Hear Apple's ITC Industry Rule Fight

By Jack McLoone

The Federal Circuit wrongly continued the degradation of the U.S. International Trade Commission's domestic industry requirement in patent disputes by sustaining a decision that Apple Watches infringe Masimo Corp.'s patents, groups supporting Apple's petition told the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.

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Interscope Sues Summer Walker For $50M Over Record Deal

By Craig Clough

Interscope Records sued R&B star Summer Walker in Los Angeles state court, seeking at least $50 million and alleging she failed to deliver two albums and an EP before invoking California law to exit her recording agreement on the grounds that it was no longer enforceable.

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Brief

X, Musk Reach Fresh Deal In Twitter Severance Class Action

By Dorothy Atkins

Elon Musk, X Corp. and its affiliate holding companies have reached a new deal to resolve a proposed class action by former Twitter Inc. workers over severance benefits related to Musk's take-private acquisition of the social media giant.

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Rivian Failed To Pay Workers For Required Training, Suit Says

By Ben Adlin

A former Rivian LLC service technician brought a proposed class action against the automaker in Washington state court, claiming the company pressured workers to forgo their legally protected meal and rest periods, and failed to pay them for mandatory training sessions completed at home and off the clock.

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SEC Says Investment Co. Execs Faked Pre-IPO Scarcity

By Sydney Price

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused two executives of a now-bankrupt investment company of deceiving investors about the value and availability of shares of privately held companies ahead of their initial public offerings and evading registration requirements.

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FTC Wants Shkreli Sanctioned Over Pharma Industry Ban

By Sarah Jarvis

The Federal Trade Commission and seven states asked a New York federal judge Tuesday to hold Martin Shkreli in contempt for violating a court order banning him from the pharmaceutical industry by trading in industry stocks and broadcasting opinions about the business since he was released from prison in 2022.

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Corcept Looks To End Teva's Mifepristone Antitrust Case

By Matthew Perlman

Corcept Therapeutics told a California federal court there's no evidence that it blocked generic competition for its cortisol disorder treatment Korlym, urging the court to toss an antitrust case from Teva Pharmaceuticals ahead of trial.

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Landlord Discovery Greenlit In Yardi Rental Rate Software Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge said Tuesday that renters can pursue discovery from landlords in a proposed antitrust class action targeting Yardi's rent-setting software for multifamily property managers, while largely denying the tech firm's summary judgment bid — a ruling that would allow for more factfinding before definitively resolving the arguments.  

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Feds' Mich. SNAP Records Fight Paused Pending Calif. Ruling

By Rae Ann Varona

A Michigan federal judge Tuesday paused the Trump administration's lawsuit that seeks to force Michigan into handing over certain Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applicant records, saying a California federal court overseeing the same "core legal issue" in a lawsuit filed by Michigan and other states should rule first.

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Justices Won't Review 9th Circ. Revival Of Trafficking Case

By Y. Peter Kang

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review the full Ninth Circuit's February ruling that Congress' 2023 bill clarifying civil liability for companies that "attempt to benefit" from human trafficking of Cambodian workers can apply retroactively.

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Haynes Boone Launches In San Diego For 4th Calif. Location

By Emily Johnson

Haynes Boone has opened its first San Diego office to deepen its life sciences, healthcare and technology capabilities and has selected a co-chair of its biotechnology practice to lead its fourth workplace in California.

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What To Know As State 'Neural Data' Privacy Laws Emerge

Attorneys at Goodwin discuss new state laws aimed at regulating consumer data generated from nervous system activity, explain why neurotechnology is attracting state and federal legislators’ attention, and highlight the compliance obligations that industry players should address now.

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Nelson Mullins Sued In SC Over October Data Breach

By Jake Maher

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP has been hit with a proposed class action in South Carolina federal court over a data breach that took place in early October.

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Reddit Fights Proskauer's 'Hot Potato' AI Client Bid In IP Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

Reddit Inc. has urged a New York federal judge to block its former law firm Proskauer Rose from defending Perplexity AI in Reddit's suit over alleged data scraping used to train artificial intelligence models, arguing the firm can't represent Perplexity after dropping Reddit as a client like ‌a "hot potato."

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Pa. Firm Can't Toss Uber's RICO Claims Over Insurer Payouts

By Linda Chiem

A Pennsylvania federal judge allowed Uber to pursue Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act claims alleging a Philadelphia personal injury firm schemed with healthcare providers to fabricate medical records and inflate accident claims involving Uber and FedEx drivers, saying Uber doesn't lose standing just because its insurer paid its legal fees in underlying litigation.

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DOJ Cites Privacy Concerns In Rejecting NM Epstein Files Bid

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice has rebuffed the state of New Mexico's request for the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files for its investigation into possible crimes at Epstein's Zorro Ranch, saying it would hinder law enforcement operations.

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Case Dropped Against Judge Accused Of Endorsing Violence

By Madison Arnold

Ethics charges against a Florida state court judge in Jacksonville alleging he made comments appearing to endorse violence, convey bias and demean individuals during several proceedings last year have been dropped.

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What The Justices Won't Hear: A Roundup Of Cert Denials

By Taylor Bowie

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant a writ of certiorari to another batch of applications Tuesday, including cases involving six-figure sanctions, wine shipment laws and overtime claims. 

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week saw stockholders challenge Nvidia Corp.'s roughly $20 billion deal with artificial intelligence chipmaker Groq Inc., Hertz Global Holdings Inc.'s electric vehicle strategy and more than $1.5 billion in Humana Inc. stock buybacks.

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