Goldstein Asks 4th Circ. To Undo Pretrial Rulings

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein is appealing a series of rulings from a Maryland federal judge denying his bid to toss five of the 22 federal tax charges he's slated to stand trial for next year.

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11th Circ. Lets Fla. Enforce Social Media Law Amid Appeal

By Hailey Konnath

A split Eleventh Circuit panel on Tuesday allowed Florida to enforce its law banning children 13 and under from social media while the Sunshine State appeals a lower court's injunction, ruling that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is likely to succeed in his argument that the law is constitutional.

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Anthropic Judge Warns Firm Against 'Extortion' In Opt-Out Bid

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge doubled down Tuesday on his concerns that Arizona law firm ClaimsHero is misleading authors to opt out of AI company Anthropic's $1.5 billion deal to end copyright infringement claims, saying the firm appears to be seeking "a nuisance settlement" and warning it against a legal strategy he called "extortion."

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Bloomberg Can't Nix Mike Huckabee's IP Suit Over AI Training

By Gina Kim

Bloomberg must face a proposed copyright infringement class action led by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee alleging the media company used e-books to train its large language model, after a New York federal judge said Monday she can't determine whether the fair use defense applied without "a robust factual record."

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Live Nation Trims But Can't Shake Off Taylor Swift Fans' Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has tossed for good negligence and fraud claims from a lawsuit by hundreds of Taylor Swift fans who allege Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC's anticompetitive conduct caused the Eras tour ticket sale "disaster," but kept alive breach of contract and antitrust claims.

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Warner Music, Suno Settle AI Suit, Unveil Partnership

By Rae Ann Varona

Warner Music Group and artificial intelligence music startup Suno entered a new music creation partnership that also resolves WMG's copyright lawsuit against the AI-powered platform, the companies announced Tuesday, nearly a week after WMG also announced a settlement and collaboration with another AI music generator.

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Fla. Law Student Expelled For Antisemitic Post To Be Reenrolled

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of a law school student who was expelled after he was investigated over antisemitic posts on social media, saying the university didn't prove his speech "constituted a true threat." 

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Fed. Circ. Affirms Akamai's Win In Streaming Patent Fight

By Dani Kass

A California federal judge properly found that Akamai Technologies Inc. didn't infringe streaming patents owned by MediaPointe Inc. and that certain claims were invalid as indefinite, the Federal Circuit said Tuesday.

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Kaiser Cleared To Pay $46M For Sharing Data With Tech Cos.

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge granted preliminary approval Tuesday to a settlement of at least $46 million from three Kaiser Permanente entities to resolve claims by 13.1 million patients across the country who say it disclosed their information to Google, Microsoft, Twitter and other third parties without consent.

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Maryland Judge Keeps Kids' Privacy Law Challenge

By Jared Foretek

NetChoice's challenge to Maryland's "Kids Code" law regulating online privacy protections for children survived the state's motion to dismiss, after a Maryland federal judge Monday said the trade association had made sufficient claims that the law burdens protected speech.

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Circus, Bank Of America Agree To Wrap Up Online Theft Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

An Atlanta-based circus company and Bank of America have struck a tentative deal to end a lawsuit claiming the financial services giant let online thieves siphon off more than $4.8 million of the circus' funds, according to a filing in Georgia federal court. 

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FTC, Ticket Resellers Look To Toss Dueling BOTS Act Cases

By Matthew Perlman

Ticket brokers have asked to toss the Federal Trade Commission's case accusing them of bypassing Ticketmaster limits to buy and resell hundreds of thousands of concert tickets, while the commission asked to nix a preemptive case seeking to block the enforcement action.

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3rd Circ. Restores NCAA Junior-College Eligibility Rule

By Matthew Santoni

An NCAA rule that includes junior colleges when determining a college athlete's eligibility is a "commercial" restriction, but a Rutgers University football player must go back to court and define the market for his labor if he wants to argue the rule violates antitrust law, the Third Circuit said Tuesday.

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MSG Seeks To Boot Atty From Ex-Exec's Bias, Retaliation Suit

By Patrick Hoff

A Reavis Page Jump LLP attorney representing a former Madison Square Garden security executive in a discrimination suit is too enmeshed in the facts of the case, MSG said, urging a New York federal court to kick the lawyer and firm off the suit if it's not outright dismissed.

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Del. Supreme Court Backs FloSports In Records Fight

By Jarek Rutz

A fight among siblings over access to corporate records ended with the Delaware Supreme Court affirming that three stockholders of sports streaming platform FloSports Inc. failed to follow the procedural steps required under the Delaware General Corporation Law.

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StubHub Hit With Investor Suit Over Pre-IPO Disclosures

By Sydney Price

Online ticket reseller Stubhub was hit with a proposed shareholder class action in New York federal court accusing it and several of its executives and underwriters of concealing changes to the company's operations that would impact its free cash flow ahead of its initial public offering earlier this year.

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Former Fox Exec Says Philly Station Complaint Still Valid

By Christopher Cole

A former Fox media executive has called on the Federal Communications Commission to revive the Media and Democracy Project's complaint against Fox TV's Philadelphia station, saying it differs from recently debated "news distortion" complaints against major networks.

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DOJ Probing SeaWorld, Busch Gardens For ADA Violations

By Carolina Bolado

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it has opened an investigation into the owner of SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and other theme parks to determine whether bans on certain types of walkers at the parks violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Nicklaus Golf Co. Gets OK For $10M Ch. 11 Loan

By Rick Archer

A Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday gave sporting gear and golf course design company Nicklaus Cos. permission to tap $10 million in Chapter 11 financing, even though counsel for founder and pro golf legend Jack Nicklaus said he was disputing the bulk of the company's debts.

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UK Getty Ruling Tests Balance Of IP Rights And AI Industry

The recent Getty Images v. Stability AI High Court decision, rejecting copyright claims while upholding limited trademark infringement, will influence the creative community and U.K. artificial intelligence industry alike, and the training of AI models in the U.K. is still a risk, say lawyers at Powell Gilbert.

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Considerations When Invoking The Common-Interest Privilege

To successfully leverage the common-interest doctrine in a multiparty transaction or complex litigation, practitioners should be able to demonstrate that the parties intended for it to apply, that an underlying privilege like attorney-client has attached, and guard against disclosures that could waive privilege and defeat its purpose, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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Bonus Spotlight

Magic Circle Firms Enchant Associates With Top-Tier Bonuses

By Tracey Read

U.S. associates at Linklaters LLP and Clifford Chance LLP have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, as the Magic Circle firms Wednesday became the latest to match the BigLaw standard for this year's associate bonuses.

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After Big Win For 2 Trump Foes, A Third Faces 'Tougher Job'

By Phillip Bantz

The recent dismissal of federal criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey does little to help President Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser John Bolton, whose defense in a classified-materials case presents a thornier set of legal and factual issues, experts say.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: ISP Liability & State Subpoena Suits

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the first week of its December oral argument session, during which the justices will consider whether internet service providers can be held liable for contributing to their customers' infringing activity online and whether the subjects of state subpoenas are required to first challenge them in state court. 

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Interview

For Covington's Adrian Perry, Music Is A Family Affair

By Theresa Schliep

Despite having a famous rock star dad, Covington & Burling LLP partner Adrian J. Perry wasn't all that interested in being a musician as a young child, but he knew as early as 6 years old that he wanted to be a lawyer.

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Calif. Privacy Agency Gaining Steam Ahead Of 5th Anniversary

By Allison Grande

California's data privacy regulator has taken several notable steps in recent months, including handing down its first penalty upward of $1 million dollars and finalizing long-awaited rules on topics such as cybersecurity audits and technologies that use artificial intelligence, and the groundbreaking agency shows no signs of slowing down as its fifth anniversary approaches. 

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Split 6th Circ. Shields Baker Donelson, Not City Councilman

By Matt Perez

In a published opinion, the Sixth Circuit has found that Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC is shielded by qualified immunity as outside counsel for the city of Nashville in litigation over the law firm's firing of a city election commission chair and member of the firm.

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Foley & Lardner Hit With Malpractice Suit Over Chancery Loss

By Rose Krebs

Foley & Lardner LLP has been sued in Delaware Superior Court by three officers of a now-defunct food recycling company who say the firm was negligent when representing them in a Chancery Court case that led to a $1.6 million judgment against them and another officer.

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DOJ Asks Court If It Can Release Epstein Files Under New Law

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a New York federal court's permission to publicly release the files related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, clarifying Wednesday that it wants to release search warrant results, travel and financial records, police reports, and other materials.

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Keesal Young Poaching Suit Against Stradley Ronon Trimmed

By Madison Arnold

A California state judge cleared Keesal Young & Logan to pursue most of its lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young crossed the line when it recruited 10 former Keesal Young attorneys, finding that claims such as inducing breach of contract could move forward, in part, because of conversations among the attorneys.

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DOJ Says Ex-Employees Can't Challenge Firings In Fed. Court

By Rose Krebs

The government says a D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a lawsuit filed by a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and two other ex-Department of Justice employees, alleging they were unlawfully fired.

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Hub Hires: Todd & Weld, Freshfields, Shipman

By Julie Manganis

It was a busy November in Boston's legal community as another firm expanded into the market, and a longtime judge traded his gavel for the ability to address his growing concerns about the Trump administration.

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