Disney Cuts $1B OpenAI Licensing Deal Amid Google IP Clash

By Dorothy Atkins

The Walt Disney Co. has cut a $1 billion investment deal with OpenAI to become OpenAI's first major content licensing partner on its generative AI video-platform Sora, the companies announced Thursday, a day after Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter accusing Google's AI tools of "massive infringement."

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EDTX Jury Finds TV Ad Tech Patent Invalid In Win For Taiv

By Adam Lidgett

A Texas federal jury on Thursday cleared Canadian smart TV box company Taiv Inc. of infringement allegations by MyChoice LLC over a television advertising technology patent, and also found the patent was invalid.

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DC Circ. Oversees FDA Fight Over Generic IBS Drug

By Nadia Dreid

Norwich Pharmaceuticals faced off against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before the D.C. Circuit twice Thursday morning, both battles part of the drugmaker's five-year effort to bring a generic version of a prescription antibiotic used to treat irritable bowel syndrome to market.

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Duolingo, CoStar Prevail In Font Patent Fight At Fed. Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday refused to revive a pair of computer font patents challenged by Duolingo Inc. and CoStar Realty Information Inc., backing the Patent Trial and Appeal Board findings that the patents were invalid.

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10th Circ. Reveals Judge Contacted Ex-Atty In 'Tiger King' Case

By Ivan Moreno

A Tenth Circuit panel considering a copyright infringement claim against Netflix over a video clip in its popular "Tiger King" docuseries has requested the parties' input on whether a judge on the panel should recuse himself after inadvertently contacting a former attorney of the plaintiff last month on an unrelated legal matter.

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Tracking Challenges To USPTO's Discretion Policy

By Dani Kass

Leaders at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have significantly altered the Patent Trial and Appeal Board playing field since March, making changes to institution reviews that have led to unprecedented levels of petition denials. A steady stream of companies has challenged those changes through mandamus petitions to the Federal Circuit, and here Law360 tracks where those petitions stand.

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Trump Executive Order Targets 'Excessive' State AI Laws

By Hailey Konnath

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a controversial executive order establishing a "minimally burdensome national standard" for regulating artificial intelligence, deeming the order necessary for the United States to remain a leader in AI amid "excessive" state regulation.

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NY Gov. Signs Landmark AI Bill On 'Synthetic' Ad Performers

By Hailey Konnath

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signed into law landmark legislation requiring disclosure of the use of any artificial intelligence-generated "synthetic" performers in advertisements and also requiring the consent of heirs or executors to use the name, image or likeness of a person who has died.

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Samsung Gets PTAB To Ax Patent Claim From $12.5M Verdict

By Adam Lidgett

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found that Samsung was able to prove the invalidity of one claim in an Empire Technology Development LLC cellphone signal patent tied to a $12.5 million verdict against the South Korean electronics giant.

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Co. Seeks Clawback From Boeing After Doc-Sharing Accident

By Ganesh Setty

A company accusing Boeing of technology theft in space projects told a Washington federal court it should be allowed to claw back hundreds of privileged documents after inadvertently sharing them, adding that Boeing didn't confer with it in good faith.

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Josh Cellars President Denied Early Win In $4M Royalty Feud

By Aaron Keller

The former president of the company that produces Josh Cellars wines has been denied an early win in a $4 million trademark royalties lawsuit because a judge said she cannot resolve whether the parties orally amended an LLC agreement or whether a clause requiring written alterations is controlling.

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Judge Probes Alleged Fake Docs In Miss America Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge said Thursday that he wants to get to the bottom of the authenticity of operating agreements for two companies associated with the Miss America pageant filed in court in a $500 million dispute over the ownership of the competition.

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Bradley Arant Adds Former Hilgers Graben Name Partner

By Lynn LaRowe

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has strengthened its litigation practice with a partner in Dallas who came aboard from Hilgers Graben PLLC, where he was a founder of that firm's Dallas shop.

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What Law Firm Liability Risks In 2025 Signal For Year To Come

Trends and statistics reveal that law firms of all sizes and practice areas remained attractive litigation targets this year, so firms must take concrete steps to avoid professional liability risks in the year to come, say Douglas Richmond and Andrew Ricke at Lockton Companies.

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Series

Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.

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Wash. Justices Retroactively Lower Bar Exam's Passing Score

By Ben Adlin

As Washington state is preparing to transition to a new bar exam, its Supreme Court has ordered a retroactive adjustment to the current exam's minimum passing score, making an estimated hundred-plus law school graduates who narrowly failed in recent years newly eligible for admission to practice law.

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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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Dems Demand Release Of 2nd Jack Smith Report

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday demanding she release the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents after he left office the first time.

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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 Shell hit with a climate change claim from 100 survivors of a typhoon in the Philippines, London Stock Exchange-listed Oxford Nanopore bring legal action against its co-founder, and the editors of Pink News sue the BBC for defamation following its investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the news site.

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Higgs Fletcher Forms White Collar, Regs Enforcement Team

By Andrea Keckley

San Diego-based law firm Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP has launched a white collar crime and regulatory enforcement defense practice group, citing heightened regulatory scrutiny in the financial and healthcare sectors and rising enforcement risks for licensed professionals and institutions.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to review the influence that proxy adviser firms have, and law firms saw a 9.8% increase in compensation expenses along with a similar increase in billable rates. ​These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Watchdog Sues White House For Records On Law Firm Deals

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington-based nonprofit watchdog has sued the Trump administration, seeking records related to deals BigLaw firms struck to provide an estimated nearly $1 billion worth of pro bono legal services to further the administration's priorities, following the president's executive orders to withhold security clearances and investigate the firms.

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Ex-NJ Municipal Court Admin Says COVID Got Her Fired

By George Woolston

The former municipal court administrator for West Windsor Township, New Jersey, has alleged that the town failed to accommodate her disability when it fired her instead of giving her a short medical leave of absence after she contracted COVID-19.

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US Atty Nominee For Wyo. Was Outside Capitol On Jan. 6

By Courtney Bublé

One of President Donald Trump's U.S. attorney nominees, who was on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and recently told senators he still thinks "there were imperfections" in the 2020 election process, has been advanced toward Senate confirmation.

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Del. US Atty Resigns Citing 'Politics,' Successor Appointed

By Rose Krebs

The acting U.S. Attorney for Delaware said Friday that she is resigning, citing "a highly politicized, flawed blue-slip tradition" for nominees and saying she "fully" supports her first assistant, who has been appointed by a federal judge to succeed her.

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Bonus Spotlight

Axinn Veltrop's Bonuses Reach Up To $240K

By Andrea Keckley

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP is giving out bonuses of up to $240,000 for its associates, according to an in-house memo seen by Law360 Pulse.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit handed Epic Games Inc. a partial win by mostly affirming an injunction blocking Apple Inc. from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems.

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