In Reggaeton Case, Judge Asks If Beats Are Commonplace

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge questioned Friday whether music created by a pair of Jamaican artists is the foundation of thousands of reggaeton songs, asking one of their attorneys to address defense arguments that they are trying to own commonplace musical elements.

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X Can Still Sue Media Matters In Ireland, 9th Circ. Rules

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Friday vacated a California federal judge's injunction that blocked X Corp.'s ongoing lawsuit against left-leaning watchdog Media Matters in Ireland over an allegedly defamatory article, saying Media Matters waited too long before seeking to bring the case to the Golden State and thus prejudiced X.

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LA Angels, Skaggs Family Reach Deal Amid Jury Deliberations

By Gina Kim and Craig Clough

The Los Angeles Angels reached a settlement Friday ending a wrongful death suit brought by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs over his overdose death while traveling to an away game in 2019, cutting short jury deliberations in a two-month trial that saw the Angels facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential liability.

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Rakoff Asks If Man Seeking 'Top Gun' Credit Had Copyright

By Elliot Weld

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Friday asked an attorney for a man who claims that he wasn't credited for writing significant portions of the 2022 film "Top Gun: Maverick" why he shouldn't think the man knew he'd be infringing Paramount's copyrights given that he didn't have a contract to work on the movie.

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The Data Privacy And AI Developments That Shaped 2025

By Allison Grande

The past year delivered a pair of major jury verdicts against Meta and Google in two of the first data privacy cases to head to trial, while a controversial effort quickly materialized and gained steam at the federal level to block states from regulating emerging artificial intelligence technologies. 

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3 Firms Advise As Sony Nabs Majority Stake In Peanuts Brand

By Al Barbarino

WildBrain has agreed to sell its 41% stake in Peanuts Holdings LLC to Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. for C$630 million in cash, or roughly $457 million, in a deal steered by three law firms. 

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Baker Botts, Morgan Lewis

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Trump Media and Technology Group merges with fusion power company TAE Technologies, pharmaceutical company Cencora boosts its stake in cancer care company OneOncology, and Phoenix Financial partners with private equity giant Blackstone to plug billions into various credit strategies.

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Feature

The 6 Biggest Rulings By Massachusetts' Top Court In 2025

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' top court rejected a novel double jeopardy claim in a headline-grabbing murder case, revived claims against Harvard over a "ghoulish" scheme, and said a Snapchat Bitmoji could show police bias, among other significant rulings this year.

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9th Circ. Takes Up IPhone Buyers' Class Decertification

By Bryan Koenig

The Ninth Circuit has summarily agreed to let consumers appeal what they had described as the "death knell" district court ruling that decertified their class of iPhone users that was expected to reach 200 million members in an antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies.

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App Makers Tell 9th Circ. It Got Google Maps Facts Wrong

By Bryan Koenig

App makers asked the Ninth Circuit to rethink their proposed antitrust class action accusing Google of locking out rival maps products, arguing a panel refused to revive the case only because it did "not address and ignored" their allegations.

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Live Nation 401(k) Suit Arbitration In Calif. Gets Redo

By Kellie Mejdrich

A California federal judge agreed to reconsider his order from 2023 requiring arbitration of some claims in a federal benefits suit from Live Nation workers alleging excessive fees in their employee 401(k) plan after the Ninth Circuit had remanded the case in August.

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Analysis

The Telecom Developments That Defined 2025

By Christopher Cole

As Republicans took the reins of the Federal Communications Commission this year, the commission wasted little time filling a wish list of industry demands, from axing older regulations to launching plans to relax limits on media consolidation, streamline Space Bureau paperwork and put the kibosh on unwanted cable billing rules.

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Senate Bill Would Direct Extra BEAD Funds To AI

By Nadia Dreid

Congress has a lot of ideas about what should happen with funds that states were allocated as part of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, but end up not using — the newest one is turning those dollars toward workforce development related to artificial intelligence.

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Analysis

Top State & Local Tax Cases Of 2025

By Jaqueline McCool

From a Colorado appellate court upholding a tax on Netflix subscriptions to Pennsylvania's high court finding the Pittsburgh fee on nonresident pro athletes unconstitutional, 2025 was a busy year for state and local tax cases. Here, Law360 looks at the most influential cases of 2025 and their impact going into the new year.

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Meta Mostly Defeats 'Bricked' Devices False Ad Suit, For Now

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge has explained his decision to toss the bulk of a proposed class action alleging Meta Platforms Inc. deceptively sold video-calling devices it later "bricked" by dropping software support, although he refused to toss an unfair competition claim and gave the consumers the opportunity to take another stab at the complaint.

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Gambling Tech Co. Loses Sanction Bid In NJ Defamation Case

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state judge rejected a gambling technology company's bid for sanctions in its defamation suit against investigative firm Black Cube and law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP, ruling that Black Cube did not willfully disobey a court discovery order.

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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 the designer of an 88-facet diamond bring a copyright claim against a luxury watch retailer, collapsed firm Axiom Ince bring legal action against the solicitors' watchdog, and the Post Office hit with compensation claims from two former branch managers over their wrongful convictions during the Horizon information technology scandal.

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Nicklaus Cos. Want Creditor Liens Nixed In Ch. 11 Before Sale

By Ben Zigterman

Sporting gear and golf course design firm Nicklaus Cos. has asked the Delaware bankruptcy court to invalidate the liens of its largest creditor and to provide clarity on its claim status ahead of a proposed asset sale in February.

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A 6th Circ. Snapshot: 3 Cases That Defined 2025

With more than a thousand opinions issued this year, three rulings from the Sixth Circuit stood out for the impact they'll have on the practice of civil procedure, including a net neutrality decision, a class certification standards ruling and an opinion about vulgarity in school, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

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How Fractional GCs Can Manage Risks Of Engagement

As more organizations eliminate their in-house legal departments in favor of outsourcing legal work, fractional general counsel roles offer practitioners an engaging and flexible way to practice at a high level, but they can also present legal, ethical and operational risks that must be proactively managed, say attorneys at Boies Schiller.

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Bonus Spotlight

Haynes Boone, Seward & Kissel Announce Year-End Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Haynes Boone is handing its associates year-end and special bonuses in line with those offered by a significant portion of BigLaw this year, largely adhering to a bonus scale first put forward by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP in November, a firm spokesperson confirmed Monday.

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Analysis

4 Legal Ethics Matters That Rocked 2025

By Emily Sawicki

This year, judges across the country grappled with attorneys' use and misuse of generative artificial intelligence, and prominent federal prosecutor battles dominated headlines in some of the top legal ethics matters of 2025.

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DOJ Challenges ABA's Standing In Law Firm Intimidation Suit

By Ryan Boysen

The Trump administration is not waging an intimidation campaign against U.S. law firms, the government said Friday, calling an American Bar Association lawsuit challenging its alleged "law firm intimidation policy" as total speculation that must be dismissed due to lack of standing.

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Ex-CIA Director's Lawyers Accuse DOJ Of Judge Shopping

By Carolina Bolado

Former CIA Director John Brennan's attorneys asked the chief judge for the Southern District of Florida on Monday to block prosecutors from trying to steer any potential charges against him for investigating Russia's 2016 election interference to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's courtroom.

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Analysis

2025 Was A Policy Year Like No Other For Immigration Attys

By Britain Eakin

This year brought nonstop immigration policy whiplash as the Trump administration ramped up enforcement, triggering panic among employers about I-9 compliance in a landscape of constantly shifting adjudication and work authorization policies. Here, Law360 looks at how policy shifted attorney practice in 2025.

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Calif. Atty Slams 'Protectionist' ABS Fee-Sharing Ban

By Emily Sawicki

A California attorney has pushed back on opposition from California's attorney general and the state's bar association amid his efforts to block enforcement of a ban on fee sharing with out-of-state law firms owned by nonattorneys, arguing the new state law is a "protectionist act, in defiance of the constitution."

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LawFirms.com Beats LegalForce's TM Suit After Bench Trial

By Ivan Moreno

A California judge has concluded that a company that operates LawFirms.com did not infringe a law firm's trademarks for LegalForce, saying that during a four-day bench trial in October the court found "no one was actually confused or misled."

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Schumer Pushes Senate To Sue Over Epstein File Release

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a resolution on Monday that would direct the Senate to take legal action to force the Trump administration to fully comply with the law to release the files of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Analysis

As US Executions Decline, Florida Surges

By Brandon Lowrey

During Florida's 1994 gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Jeb Bush accused Democratic incumbent Lawton Chiles of being too soft on crime; Chiles' immediate predecessor, Bush pointed out, had signed almost 10 times as many death warrants as Chiles had.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's justices threw the Court of Chancery in reverse big time last week, rescinding a decision by the state's chancellor that last year effectively canceled tech tycoon Elon Musk's multi-year, then-$56 billion stock-based compensation package. It was a decision that lit up the court's relatively low-key, pre-holiday wind-up. It also highlighted the endless, 3D tug of war over Delaware-chartered companies and the interests of boards, officers, controllers, stockholders and the corporate bar.

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