Meta, Google Rest In Bellwether Social Media Harm Trial

By Craig Clough

Meta Platforms and Google rested their defense Wednesday in a landmark California bellwether trial accusing their social media platforms of harming children, with the cases-in-chief ending in a somewhat anticlimactic manner as jurors were shown videotaped depositions after weeks of dramatic live testimony and attorney theatrics.

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$600M IP Award, Quinn Emanuel Contempt Faulted On Appeal

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday vacated a verdict against the maker of Norton antivirus software for infringing Columbia University patents and reversed a contempt ruling against Norton's former law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP that had caused the judgment to grow to just over $600 million.

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Microsoft Backs Anthropic In DOD Security Risk Label Row

By Madeline Lyskawa

Microsoft has thrown its support behind Anthropic's bid to block the Trump administration from enforcing an order designating the artificial intelligence company a supply chain risk to national security, saying an injunction would avoid disrupting the military's use of advanced AI.

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Intel Caved To Feds' 'Extortionary' Stock Demand, Suit Says

By Lauren Berg

Intel Corp.'s board gave the federal government $11 billion worth of stock in response to the Trump administration's "extortionary threats," according to a newly unsealed lawsuit brought by a shareholder who says the board lacked authority to issue the U.S. Department of Commerce a 9.9% company stake.

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Squires Adds Domestic Industry, Biz Size To Denial Analysis

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires will take into account the domestic impact of invalidating a patent and how big the patent owner is when deciding whether to discretionarily deny Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions, according to a memorandum issued Wednesday.

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Analysis

Trump Cybercrime Order Creates New Compliance To-Do List

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump's recent executive order calling for a coalition of government agencies to combat cybercrime is far more forceful than efforts under prior administrations, according to white collar lawyers, who tentatively applaud the proposal while warning it could raise new compliance risks.

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Sens. To Examine US Plans For Global Spectrum Talks

By Christopher Cole

With global talks over managing the airwaves set for next year, senators overseeing U.S. radio spectrum policy will focus a hearing next week on how the U.S. can get a leg up on using the airwaves to fuel economic growth.

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Md. Gov't Agencies Oppose Talkie's FCC Preemption Bid

By Nadia Dreid

A Maryland-based internet service provider was not up front with the Federal Communications Commission about the details surrounding a permitting dispute when it came to the agency to ask it to preempt local regulations and allow it to move forward with a new utility pole and attachments without them, an Old Line State county says.

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Fed. Circ. OKs Dropbox, Box Inc. Wins In Patent Challenges

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday declined to breathe new life into a pair of data management patents Dropbox and Box Inc. challenged at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board after being sued in federal district court for infringement.

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NHK Wants Seagate Antitrust Case Paused For High Court Bid

By Matthew Perlman

NHK Spring is asking the Ninth Circuit to pause an antitrust case from Seagate Technologies over the alleged fixing of hard drive component prices while the Japanese manufacturer petitions the U.S. Supreme Court for review.

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Fidelity Gets Initial OK On $2.5 Million Data Breach Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday granted preliminary approval to Fidelity Investments' $2.5 million deal to end a putative class action claiming the financial services giant didn't protect the personal information of more than 155,000 account holders during a "preventable" 2024 data breach.

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Comcast, Peacock Escape Irish Co.'s Patent Suit, For Now

By Lauren Berg

A Delaware federal judge on Wednesday dismissed an Irish technology company's lawsuit alleging Comcast and its subsidiaries, NBCUniversal and Peacock TV, offer video streaming and network monitoring services that infringe four of its patents, saying the complaint does not adequately allege infringement, but gave the plaintiff an opportunity to rework the suit.

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DNA Testing Co. Can't Shake Suit Over Genetic Data Sharing

By Allison Grande

A Massachusetts federal judge refused to release Nebula Genomics Inc. from a proposed class action accusing it of illegally sharing its customers' genetic information with Meta and other third parties through online tracking tools, finding that the parties' choice-of-law agreement didn't extend to the plaintiff's genetic privacy allegation. 

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Apple Affiliate Can't Unravel Classes After Wage Verdict

By Benjamin Morse

An Apple-affiliated repair company cannot undo five classes in a wage and hour suit that snagged a nearly $840,000 win for employees, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting arguments that a recent Fourth Circuit ruling undermined the court's earlier decision.

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Photobucket Can't Escape AI Training Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

A proposed class action alleging image hosting website Photobucket used billions of photographs uploaded by users for biometric data and training image generators can largely move forward, but one named plaintiff must arbitrate her claims, a Colorado federal judge ruled.

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Sales Agents Showed Insurance Co. Willfully Flouted FLSA

By Irene Spezzamonte

Sales agents supported their claims that an insurance marketing and sales organization willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, a New Jersey federal judge ruled, applying a longer statute of limitations to the workers' claims for unpaid wages.

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GreenSky, Ex-Workers Settle Wage Claims Amid Arbitration

By Chart Riggall

GreenSky LLC told a Georgia federal court Wednesday it's reached a settlement in a wage suit from former customer service employees a month after the fintech company won a bid to force the suit into arbitration.

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Students Certified As Class In Conn. Intimate Photos Breach

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut state judge has certified an issue class of prep school students who allege that a former IT employee snooped through their electronic devices and accessed their "intimate" photos and videos, also appointing Faxon Law Group LLC and Silver Golub & Teitell LLP as co-lead class counsel.

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OpenAI Wants 'Parallel' ChatGPT Murder-Suicide Suit Tossed

By Y. Peter Kang

OpenAI has asked a California federal judge to dismiss a suit alleging ChatGPT encouraged a man to murder his mother and then commit suicide, saying the case filed by the perpetrator's estate largely mirrors a "parallel" state court action lodged earlier by the mother's estate.

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Uber Argues It Doesn't Have Same Duty To Safety As Taxi Cos.

By Jonathan Capriel

Uber can't be held liable for the alleged sexual assault of a passenger by a North Carolina driver, the company told the California federal court overseeing multidistrict litigation over similar claims, arguing that it is a technology company and therefore doesn't have the same duty to ensure passenger safety as a taxi company.

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Archer Aviation Seeks ITC Probe Of Rival Joby's Air Taxis

By Jack McLoone

Electric air taxi company Archer Aviation accused rival Joby Aviation of using imported materials that infringe Archer's patents, asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate these claims while the companies also do battle in California federal court.

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Texas Drone Defense Co. Says Execs Diverted IP To Rival

By José Luis Martínez

Dallas-area Delta Black Aerospace Inc. has accused its former executives and a minority shareholder company of orchestrating a scheme to divert intellectual property and licensing rights tied to military drone technology to a new startup.

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Brief

Wisconsin Bell, Feds Settle 17-Year-Old FCA Suit For $55M

By Nadia Dreid

Wisconsin Bell will pay $55 million to end long-running False Claims Act whistleblower claims accusing the company of overcharging public schools and libraries for internet services paid for by the government under the federal E-rate program, bringing almost 18 years of litigation to an end.

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Brief

Apple Resolves Patent Case Over Coding Co.'s Technology

By Elliot Weld

Apple Inc. and Advanced Coding Technologies LLC have told a Texas federal judge that they've resolved the latter company's infringement claims over patents that cover ways of encoding and decoding data.

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Level Equity raises $293.5M For Its Software-Focused Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Middle-market private equity shop Level Equity Management LLC on Wednesday revealed that it closed its third fund above target after securing $293.5 million in total capital commitments.

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4th Circ. Expands Online Data Privacy For Child Sex Material

By Parker Quinlan

The Fourth Circuit has ruled that law enforcement officers are barred under the Fourth Amendment from opening and viewing private files stored on an online cloud database without a warrant, applying existing case law from physical files to electronically stored documents.

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Uber Must Fork Over Internal Docs In FTC Subscription Fight

By Dorothy Atkins

A California magistrate judge ordered Uber to produce numerous internal documents to the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday in litigation accusing the ride-share giant of enrolling consumers into its paid subscription service without consent, after the FTC accused the company of stonewalling discovery and producing only 72 documents totaling 179 pages.

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Orrick Lands Gunderson Dettmer Tech Transactions Pro

By James Mills

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is boosting its transactions team with a Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP technology transactions ace as a partner in its Silicon Valley office, the firm announced on Wednesday.

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Clifford Chance Names New Houston Office Leader

By Lynn LaRowe

Following the departure of Clifford Chance LLP's Houston office managing partner last month, the firm has selected a replacement from within its corporate bench, a partner who has been with the Magic Circle firm since it opened in Texas nearly three years ago.

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Spencer Fane Hires Transactions, Banking Partners In D.C.

By Jack Rodgers

Spencer Fane LLP has hired two attorneys in Washington, D.C., who focus their practices on consumer financial matters, financial services and compliance-related issues, the firm announced Tuesday.

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MoFo Private Equity Atty Joins Greenberg Traurig In Miami

By Adrian Cruz

Greenberg Traurig LLP announced Wednesday that a Miami-based private equity attorney has joined the firm's corporate practice from Morrison Foerster LLP.

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Structuring Water Agreements For Data Center Development

For developers of artificial intelligence data centers, water use is now a threshold feasibility and financing variable amid a regulatory landscape with a state-driven push for transparency and federal push to streamline pathways for AI-related infrastructure, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

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Patent Eligibility Bulletin: Steps To Consider As USPTO Shifts

Recent memoranda from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, along with some of the first patents issued under Director John Squires, indicate a recalibration of the subject matter eligibility landscape, signaling a renewed emphasis on concrete technological improvements and a potentially pro-AI stance, say attorneys at Banner Witcoff.

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Why The NCUA's Stablecoin Moment Matters

The National Credit Union Administration, a historically conservative federal agency, recently proposed a detailed stablecoin licensing framework, confirming that the proposition of building a regulatory architecture within the banking industry has moved well past "whether" and firmly into "how," says Stephen Aschettino at Fox Rothschild.

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4th Circ. Scolds Atty Suspected Of Using AI In Race Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The Fourth Circuit has reprimanded an attorney suspected of using generative artificial intelligence to draft briefs in a race discrimination lawsuit against Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., warning that courts need to grapple with the technology as it "may soon become the norm."

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Democrats Seek Review Of Bondi's Role In Brother's Cases

By Alison Knezevich

Two Democratic lawmakers have asked the U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general to review whether Attorney General Pam Bondi "adequately recused herself" from cases involving clients represented by her brother Brad Bondi, who is a partner at Paul Hastings LLP.

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Sinema Says Tryst With Ex-Guard Not In NC Court's Reach

By Abigail Harrison

Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, now a Hogan Lovells attorney, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that a lawsuit alleging her cross-country affair with a former member of her security detail ended a 14-year marriage must be dismissed because the trysts occurred outside state borders.

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Ex-Judge Testifies About Alleged Forgeries In Amazon Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia testified Thursday about the alleged forging of court documents, signatures and court stamps in a criminal case against a woman accused of defrauding Amazon out of $9.4 million through fraudulent invoices. 

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Judge Newman Takes Suspension Battle To Supreme Court

By Ryan Davis

Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman brought her fight against a suspension imposed on her by her colleagues to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, arguing that a lower court wrongly held that her challenges to the order are not subject to judicial review.

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Calif. Bar Says Internal Docs Bolster Claims Against Exam Co.

By Emily Sawicki

The State Bar of California has bulked up its breach of contract and fraud suit against the administrator of its "disastrous" February 2025 bar exam, filing an amended complaint in light of information it says it learned from internal communications unearthed amid discovery.

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Holyoak's US Attorney Nomination Advances

By Courtney Bublé

The nomination of Melissa Holyoak, former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, to be U.S. attorney for the District of Utah was sent to the full Senate on Thursday.

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CFTC Takes 1st Steps Toward Prediction Market Regulations

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission opened the door Thursday to promised prediction market regulation, calling for public feedback on what such rules might look like while laying out the staff's view on the current rules that the platforms should follow in order to offer betting on sports and other events.

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