Analysis

Where Apple And Masimo's Watch Patent Fight Stands Now

By Theresa Schliep

The high-octane fight between Apple and Masimo over smartwatch patents escalated again last week, when a California federal jury hit Apple with a $634 million infringement verdict and the U.S. International Trade Commission agreed to assess whether its redesigned products infringe Masimo's patents.

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Thomson Reuters Balks At AI Co.'s Fair Use Appeal

By Adam Lidgett

Thomson Reuters wants the Third Circuit to back a district court's decision that an artificial intelligence-powered legal search engine's use of Westlaw headnotes did not constitute fair use, saying the AI company "pilfered" copyrightable content to make a competing business.

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Fed. Circ. Shoots Down Bot Patent Claim In Google Challenge

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday reversed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that upheld one of the claims in a Nobots LLC's bot-detecting patent challenged by Google, finding that the PTAB incorrectly interpreted the claim.

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Ramey Ordered To Pay $95K For Sharing Netflix Info

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has ordered patent firm Ramey LLP and its founder to pay Netflix $95,000 in attorney fees for violating a court protective order by sharing confidential documents with a third-party litigation funder.

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New Trial Bid Denied After $57M Coal Emissions IP Verdict

By Adam Lidgett

A Delaware federal magistrate judge won't order a new trial after a jury found in 2024 that companies affiliated with CERT Operations owed Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. more than $57 million for infringing patents on technology for refining coal to reduce mercury in emissions from power plants.

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Turning Point Loses Fee Bid In Trump Campaign Music Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia federal judge refused to grant Turning Point Action's request for attorney fees after it beat copyright claims tied to music played at President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign events, finding the lawsuit wasn't frivolous or filed in bad faith.

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Warner Music, Udio Settle AI Music Copyright Suit

By Elliot Weld

Warner Music Group and artificial intelligence music generator Udio said they settled claims that Udio had used copyrighted music to train its AI models and announced a collaboration to create a licensed AI music service.

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Trump Admin Defends Ending Patent, Weather Unions' Rights

By Theresa Schliep

The Trump administration has implored a D.C. federal judge to reject an effort by unions representing workers at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Weather Service to halt an executive order ending their collective bargaining rights, emphasizing the action is within the president's authority.

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MVP: Latham's Mike Morin

By Adam Lidgett

Mike Morin of Latham & Watkins LLP guided Sarepta Therapeutics to winning a $115 million judgment in a patent dispute with Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd., and led an Abbott Laboratories unit to a victory in a patent suit against Dexcom Inc., earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Intellectual Property MVPs.

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USPTO Decries Instacart's 'Road Mapping' Claim At Fed. Circ.

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is urging the Federal Circuit to turn away Instacart's challenge to the agency's relatively new procedures for discretionarily denying Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions, noting the court recently rejected three similar bids.

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Invisalign-Maker's Sweetened $32M Antitrust Payout OK'd

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge who previously rejected Invisalign-maker Align Technology's $27.5 million antitrust deal with SmileDirectClub buyers because it included a coupon program said Thursday he will approve a revised deal, which provides for an all-cash $31.75 million payout.

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PTAB Upholds Corteva's Patent For Insect-Repellent Corn

By Dani Kass

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has upheld the entirety of a Corteva Agriscience LLC unit's patent directed to an insect-repellent corn plant, following a challenge from Inari Agriculture Inc.

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1st Circ. Tosses Challenge To Maine Lobster Boat Tracking

By Elliot Weld

The First Circuit has declined to revive a case brought by several Maine lobstermen who said their privacy rights were violated by the state's tracking of their vessels, ruling that the tracking devices were part of administrative searches of a closely regulated industry and do not violate the Fourth Amendment.

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Analysis

State Of NIL Play At High Schools

By David Steele

An Ohio state judge's temporary halt of a policy barring name, image and likeness compensation for high school athletes may have the domino effect of wiping out the ban in the handful of states that still have it. Here, Law360 takes a look at the holdout states and the legislative and bylaw changes they are contemplating to lift the ban.

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How Store Brand Evolution May Influence IP Cases

A consumer shift toward private-label grocery products has spurred a recent crop of lawsuits, like Smuckers v. Trader Joe's, and parties must be prepared to carefully analyze consumer confusion in the grocery retailing context, as well as expectations and behavior, say Justin LaTorraca, Elizabeth Milsark and Laura O’Laughlin at Analysis Group.

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IP Ownership Risk Grows In Booming Cancer Drug Market

The ownership of intellectual property has become strategically decisive in deals involving valuable cancer therapeutics known as ADCs, as highlighted by the recent Takeda-Innovent deal, with the commercial value of a license resting on the integrity and defensibility of the underlying technology, say attorneys at Loeb & Loeb.

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8th Circ. Decision Shipwrecks IRS On Shoals Of Loper Bright

The Eighth Circuit’s recent decision invalidating transfer pricing regulations in 3M Co. v. Commissioner may be the most significant tax case implementing Loper Bright's rejection of agency deference as a judicial tool in statutory construction, says Edward Froelich at McDermott.

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Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'

Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.

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Series

My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

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Bonus Spotlight

Texas Boutique Giving Associates Bonuses Of Up To $135K

By Tracey Read

Texas complex commercial litigation boutique Vartabedian Hester & Haynes LLP announced Friday that it will reward associates with additional year-end bonuses of up to $135,000 by Dec. 31, while more firms said they'd match or exceed the prevailing BigLaw scale.

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Atty Had 6 AI Tools Check Each Other, Yet Fakes Still Cited

By Andrea Keckley

A California federal judge has sanctioned a solo practitioner representing the plaintiffs in a proposed wage and hour class action against clothing brand Vuori Inc. after he admitted to using about a half-dozen artificial intelligence tools to prepare a motion.

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Fenwick & West Must Face New Claims In FTX Crypto MDL

By Madison Arnold

A Florida federal judge signed off on a bid to file new claims against Fenwick & West LLP by victims of the infamous FTX Trading Ltd. cryptocurrency scam after they argued that new information had emerged about the firm's alleged role in the trading platform's collapse.

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Google Calls Rumble's Judge Recusal Bid 'Cynical Maneuver'

By Rae Ann Varona

Google argued Friday that a California federal judge need not recuse himself from YouTube rival Rumble's antitrust suit despite his friendship with Google's top in-house litigation chief, saying Rumble's push for the recusal was a "cynical maneuver" for its Ninth Circuit appeal of a summary judgment loss.

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Ex-Gordon Rees Atty Reprimanded For Mistakes Blamed On AI

By Rose Krebs

An Alabama bankruptcy judge won't sanction Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLC for a filing submitted by one of its former lawyers that contained mistakes blamed on artificial intelligence, but has reprimanded the attorney and ordered her to notify her clients about the reprimand.

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Worker Says Morgan & Morgan Fired Her Over Fraud Concern

By Irene Spezzamonte

Injury law firm Morgan & Morgan PA fired a case manager after she voiced a concern about fraudulent client hospital records she said the firm gave to opposing counsel to snag more favorable settlements and failed to pay overtime, according to a suit in California state court.

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Tort Report: Ga. Injury Suits Surge Ahead Of Tort Reform

By Y. Peter Kang

Word of a big surge in Georgia injury lawsuits ahead of tort reform legislation and a $66 million Atlanta nightclub shooting judgment lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Ex-US Trustee Director's Firing Appeal Tossed, For Now

By Clara Geoghegan

The former head of the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog program had her appeal challenging her abrupt firing dismissed, at least for now, while a federal agency mulls questions around executive power in separate cases.

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DOJ Will Speed Some Classified Discovery In Bolton Case

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors agreed Friday to accelerate their classified discovery timeline in the prosecution of John Bolton, as a Maryland federal judge pressed them to move faster.

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Ga. Justices Spell Out How Atty Ads Can Be Misleading

By Emily Johnson

The Georgia Supreme Court has updated the State Bar of Georgia's rule that prohibits attorneys from misleading the public in advertising their services, defining how lawyers' messaging in ads could run afoul of the state's rule and possibly lead to disbarment.

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DC Judge Backs Local Grand Jury's Federal Indictment Power

By Jared Foretek

Following a D.C. federal judge's Thursday ruling that the city's unique legal structure allows prosecutors to bring indictments from local grand juries to federal court, a District of Columbia man on Friday asked the court to stay the ruling for five business days.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Clyde & Co. face a claim from Yorkshire firm GWB Harthills, a property developer previously investigated over suspected bribery and corruption sue the general counsel and solicitor to HM Revenue and Customs, and sportswear giant Gymshark bring an intellectual property claim against its co-founder's rival company, AYBL. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

This week's edition of GC Cheat Sheet explores which top legal officers take home the most money and why. And the general counsel of SolarWinds Corp. can finally leave its data breach regulatory problems behind after the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its unprecedented case against the company and its chief information security officer.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick PLLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a D.C. federal judge rejected a Federal Trade Commission suit accusing Meta Platforms of illegally monopolizing social media through its purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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