Analysis

Key Insights On Looming Fair Use Rulings In AI Cases

By Ivan Moreno

Two California federal judges have indicated they are inclined to find that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems is transformative, which usually means that copying a work is fair, but that may not let Meta Platforms and Anthropic off the hook in separate lawsuits.

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Stability AI, Others Fear Artists' Expert Might Use Their Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

Stability AI and other artificial intelligence art platforms urged a California federal magistrate judge Tuesday to block an artists' expert in a proposed copyright infringement class action from having access to their confidential information, their lawyer arguing the professor is a "functional competitor" who created software to "sabotage" his clients' products.

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11th Circ. Revives Suit Over 'Summer Waves' TM

By Adam Lidgett

The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday revived a trademark lawsuit that the entity behind a Georgia waterpark launched against an inflatable pool maker over its purported use of the phrase "summer waves," finding a lower court has jurisdiction to hear the case.

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Paramount Says 'Top Gun' Authorship Claim Is 'A Delusion'

By Craig Clough

Paramount Pictures Corp. urged a New York federal judge Monday to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the cousin of a "Top Gun: Maverick" screenwriter who claims he is a joint author of the film's script, saying his complaint is "a delusion."

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Willkie Partner Wants To 'Chill' Media Contact, Conn. Atty Says

By Brian Steele

A Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner and his wife are pursuing a federal lawsuit based on speculative allegations and trying to "chill" the First Amendment rights of a Connecticut attorney who represented their ex-landlord and leaked a story about them to the New York Post, the defendant is arguing in seeking judgment in his favor.

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Shaq To Pay $1.8M Over FTX Investors' Promotion Claims

By Aislinn Keely

Retired NBA star Shaquille O'Neal has agreed to pay $1.8 million to resolve claims he promoted crypto exchange FTX to the detriment of investors prior to its stunning collapse.

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Florida Man Avoids Prison Over Ashley Biden's Stolen Diary

By Stewart Bishop

A Florida resident who admitted that he and an associate sold the stolen diary of former President Joe Biden's daughter to right-wing activist group Project Veritas was spared any time in prison, as a Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday determined that his cooperation with prosecutors weighed heavily in his favor.

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OpenAI Hit With Trademark Suit Over IO Co. Name

By Christine DeRosa

Technology company IYO Inc. has accused OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of knowingly infringing its trademark when the company acquired competitor IO Products Inc. last month.

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Spokesman Sues Motel 6 Over Unauthorized Use Of His Voice

By Christine DeRosa

Tom Bodett, a radio personality and voice actor known for Motel 6's radio and television ads for nearly 40 years, has sued the hospitality chain for allegedly using his name and voice without consent after he ended an agreement.

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Lawmakers Float NIL Bills Following NCAA Deal

By Elaine Briseño

Members of Congress introduced a pair of bills Tuesday looking to establish national standards for how college athletes monetize their name, image and likeness in the wake of the landmark NCAA class action settlement last week.

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Photographer Says Marlon Wayans Took Pot Pic

By Jonathan Capriel

Marlon Wayans, star of such films as "White Chicks" and "Scary Movie," was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit on Tuesday by a photographer who claims he used her image of a Ziploc bag filled with marijuana on his Facebook account without permission.

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9th Circ. Weighs Bids To Revive 3 Website Wiretapping Suits

By Allison Grande

A Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday appeared skeptical of a trio of consumers' bids to resurrect separate proposed class actions accusing Papa John's, Converse and Bloomingdale's of unlawfully tracking website visitors, questioning whether the plaintiffs' claims fit within the scope of California's wiretapping and eavesdropping protections.

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Union, Philharmonic Fight Suits From Suspended Musicians

By Emily Brill

A musicians union has asked a New York federal judge to toss two suspended New York Philharmonic players' allegations that the union illegally dropped its fight for their reinstatement, saying it had good reason to abandon the mission after the full extent of their alleged sexual violence was revealed.

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Brief

Atlanta Drag Bar Agrees To $50K Deal In Wage Suit

By Irene Spezzamonte

An Atlanta bar that provides drag show entertainment has agreed to pay $50,000 to end a performer's proposed collective action alleging it failed to pay minimum wage and overtime, and both parties urged a Georgia federal court to greenlight the deal.

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Match.com Settles Reverse Spinoff Suit For $30M In Del.

By Jeff Montgomery

A mediator-recommended, $30 million settlement proposal has tentatively ended a five-year Delaware Court of Chancery stockholder challenge to the fairness of Match.com's 2019 reverse spinoff from the Barry Diller-controlled IAC/Interactive.

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Alphabet Investor Sues Company For TikTok Docs

By Katryna Perera

An Alphabet Inc. shareholder filed suit on Tuesday against the Google parent company in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking access to the company's books and records to investigate its compliance with a ban on the distribution of the TikTok mobile app under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

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Thune Touts GOP's Spectrum Plan On Senate Floor

By Christopher Cole

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., promoted the Republicans' legislative plan to open more federal spectrum to private companies during a floor speech Tuesday.

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FCC Temporarily Blocks Co.'s Equipment Authorization

By Nadia Dreid

The U.S. leg of a Taiwanese infrastructure company hasn't been up front about who makes some of the equipment it has been selling inside the country, the Federal Communications Commission has said, so the agency is temporarily yanking its equipment authorization.

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Relax Power Limits, But Don't Move CBRS Users, FCC Told

By Jared Foretek

Federated Wireless is urging the Federal Communications Commission to reject a proposal to relocate the Citizens Broadband Radio Service band, telling the agency Monday that despite AT&T's claims that the band sees "low demand," it is actually home to "the largest ecosystem of any commercial band in the world."

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Spoliation Is More Likely To Harm Your Case Than Help It

Destroying self-incriminating evidence to avoid a large judgment may seem like an attractive option to some defendants, but it is a shortsighted strategy that affords the nonspoliating party potentially case-terminating remedies, and support for a direct assault on the spoliator’s credibility, say attorneys at Mandelbaum Barrett.

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Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco Shows Why Attys Must Disclose AI Use

The recent revelation that a handful of questions from the controversial California bar exam administered in February were drafted using generative artificial intelligence demonstrates the continued importance of disclosure for attorneys who use AI tools, say attorneys at Troutman.

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ABA 'Surprised And Disappointed' By DOJ Shunning

By Courtney Bublé

The American Bar Association on Tuesday defended its long-standing process for reviewing judicial nominees and said Attorney General Pam Bondi was wrong to call the group an "activist organization."

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Analysis

Feds Reboot FCPA Agenda With Narrower Enforcement Focus

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday released new and tightened guidelines for enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after a four-month pause on such prosecutions, centering prospective investigations on situations that affect U.S. competitiveness and national security as well as transnational cartels.

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Top CFPB Enforcer Quits Over 'Devastating' Agency Pullback

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's top enforcement official resigned Tuesday, saying she can no longer effectively do her job under leadership that "has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way."

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Judiciary Panel Advances New Rules On Amici, AI, Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

The federal judiciary's top policy panel Tuesday propelled revamped rules regarding numerous hot legal topics, including artificial intelligence, "dark money" groups bankrolling amicus briefs and the subpoena powers of courts and defense counsel.

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NJ Rep. LaMonica McIver Indicted Over ICE Facility Incident

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver has been charged with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers during her inspection of a Newark, New Jersey, immigration detention facility last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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Wis. Judge Can't Wield Immunity For Obstructing ICE, DOJ Says

By Lynn LaRowe

The U.S. Department of Justice has urged a Wisconsin federal judge to reject a state court judge's argument that judicial immunity blocks her prosecution for allegedly obstructing an ICE arrest at a Milwaukee courthouse, saying that while judges may be immune from civil liability for official acts, they are not shielded from prosecution for supposedly criminal conduct.

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State Chief Justices Blast Plans To Cut Legal Services Corp.

By Hailey Konnath

A coalition of 37 state Supreme Court chief justices have asked federal lawmakers to reject President Donald Trump's plans to eliminate the Legal Services Corp., arguing that the "justice system is hobbled when citizens are deprived of legal counsel."

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Mass. Court-Appointed Attys Hit 'Boiling Point' Over Low Pay

By Julie Manganis

Hundreds of private attorneys in Massachusetts who are paid by the state to represent indigent defendants and others have stopped accepting new court-appointed cases over complaints about low pay, putting the system on what one veteran advocate called "the verge of imploding."

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House Conservatives Push Senate To 'Rein In' Judges

By Courtney Bublé

House conservatives are imploring their Senate counterparts to do more to "rein in" federal judges with the budget reconciliation package.

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SEC's Investment Management Chief Greiner To Leave Agency

By Tom Zanki

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission veteran Natasha Vij Greiner is stepping down as the director of the agency's investment management division, ending a nearly 24-year career serving the SEC in multiple roles, regulators announced Tuesday.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Court of Chancery showed new resistance to suits alleging corporate weaponizing of advance notice bylaws, and a new report highlighted the high fees that attorneys are cashing in on in Delaware courts compared to the federal court system. Several new suits were also filed concerning allegedly under- or overvalued sales and acquisitions being pushed through.

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