Snap Investors' $65M Deal OK'd, But Attys Face 'Cheap' Judge

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge said Thursday he will grant preliminary approval of a $65 million deal to resolve a proposed securities class action against Snapchat, but warned the plaintiffs' side they will "have to see" about the request for 30% of the settlement in attorney fees because he is "notoriously cheap."

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9th Circ. Won't Revive Google Maps Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A Ninth Circuit panel gave short shrift Thursday to app-makers trying to revive a proposed antitrust class action accusing Google of locking out rival maps products, rejecting the appeal because Google doesn't actually bar "the use or display of non-Google maps content to a Google Map."

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Authors' Attys Seek $300M In Fees After $1.5B Anthropic Deal

By Elliot Weld

The attorneys who represented a group of authors that secured a $1.5 billion settlement with artificial intelligence business Anthropic after claiming the company infringed copyrights by training its models with pirated books have asked the court for $300 million in fees.

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Fed. Circ. Prior Art Ruling Conflicts With AIA, Justices Told

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit ruling that the filing date of a patent application dictates whether it can be used as prior art to invalidate a later patent is at odds with the law that created the modern administrative patent review system, one of the law's chief architects told the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

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Fed. Circ. Mulls If Switching $104M Verdict For $3 Was Fair

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Circuit didn't seem to be buying Versata Software's argument Thursday morning that a Michigan federal judge made a big mistake by clearing a nearly $105 million trade secrets and breach of contract verdict it won against Ford and replacing it with just $3 in damages.

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Crypto Investors Fight To Revive Ripple Suit At 9th Circ.

By Dorothy Atkins

A certified class of investors urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to revive allegations Ripple Labs violated securities laws through unregistered sales of digital-token XRP, arguing the lower court misapplied the Ninth Circuit's SEC v. Murphy precedent in granting Ripple summary judgment under a three-year statute of repose.

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Live Nation Customers Appear Poised For Antitrust Class Cert.

By Craig Clough

Consumers accusing Live Nation of monopolizing the live entertainment industry were in a good position Thursday for class certification after a California federal judge issued a tentative ruling that would approve the request and appeared skeptical of the entertainment giant's arguments at a hearing.

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Google Fights Unlockd's Judge Recusal Bid In Antitrust Case

By Christine DeRosa

Google is opposing a move by Unlockd Media seeking the recusal of U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. in an antitrust lawsuit in California federal court, arguing that the judge's close relationship with Google's vice president for litigation and discovery doesn't require him to step away from the case.

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Prolonged FTC Review Kills $615M Healthcare Staffing Deal

By Matthew Perlman

Talent software and staffing company Aya Healthcare Inc. abandoned its planned $615 million deal for Cross Country Healthcare Inc. on Thursday, citing uncertainty from an ongoing Federal Trade Commission review that was extended by the government shutdown.

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Squires Clarifies Points On Patent Eligibility Declarations

By Adam Lidgett

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires is reminding applicants that they can file declarations explaining why their patents are eligible under Section 101 of the Patent Act and that examiners need to consider them when filed. 

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Kimmel Brouhaha Brings Out Levity At DC's 'Telecom Prom'

By Christopher Cole

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's roller coaster ride at the hands of the Federal Communications Commission took center stage Wednesday at a light-hearted Washington dinner for telecom lawyers, as FCC Chair Brendan Carr served up a comedic bit over the controversy that followed Kimmel's recent war of words with the agency chief.

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Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

By Jeff Overley

Is the False Claims Act constitutional? Will Mark Zuckerberg be deposed in high-profile privacy litigation? Did a major drugmaker's shenanigans cost investors nearly $7 billion? That's a small sample of the intriguing legal questions we're exploring in this preview of December's top appellate action.

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Watchdog Says Hegseth's Signal Use Could've Harmed Pilots

By Madeline Lyskawa

A Pentagon watchdog released a report Thursday finding that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's use of Signal to discuss plans to bomb targets in Yemen earlier this year exposed sensitive information that could have put U.S. pilots at risk of harm. 

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Fla. Gov Floats AI 'Bill Of Rights' Amid Federal Pushback

By Allison Grande

Florida's Republican governor on Thursday put forth a proposed framework to protect consumers from potential risks posed by artificial intelligence systems, including unauthorized uses of their data and the harms that chatbots pose to minors, a move that comes as the Trump administration and some Republicans in Congress push for states to be blocked from regulating the emerging technology.

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Rural Carriers Upset Over FCC's AT&T Deal Approval

By Christopher Cole

Wireless carriers serving rural regions are dismayed at the Federal Communications Commission's staff decision this week to approve AT&T's $1 billion spectrum license deal with UScellular, saying it relies on flawed market analysis.

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Google Asks 5th Circ. To Transfer Monopoly Suit To Calif.

By Rae Ann Varona

Google on Thursday urged the Fifth Circuit to transfer mobile analytics software company Branch Metric's lawsuit accusing the search giant of monopolizing several markets related to mobile device searches, saying a lower court was wrong to keep the suit in Texas since California is the "clearly more convenient forum."

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NC Court Blocks AI Tech Rollout Amid Trade Secret Dispute

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal judge agreed with Canada-based Atlas Power Technologies Inc. that its multimillion-dollar technology for data centers using artificial intelligence will be endangered by the launch of a parallel product from a board member in coming weeks, granting the company's request for a temporary restraining order.

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Credit Bureaus Can't Duck Suit Over Excluded Medical Debt

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge has found that Equifax, Experian and TransUnion must face key parts of a rejiggered proposed antitrust class action from medical practices and collection agencies targeting the credit reporting agencies' decision to exclude medical debt under $500 from consumer credit reports.

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Former Live Nation Workers See 401(k) Fee Suit Tossed

By Kellie Mejdrich

A California federal judge tossed a suit from two Live Nation ex-workers alleging excessive fees in their employee 401(k) plan, following the Ninth Circuit in August saying the workers hadn't specifically appealed the lower court's holding that the ticket sales company could enforce a class action waiver.

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Data Co. Seeks To Consolidate NJ Judicial Privacy Law Cases

By Jake Maher

The data privacy firm Atlas Data Privacy has asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to consolidate over 100 ongoing cases where it is suing data brokers under the state judicial privacy statute Daniel's Law into a single multicounty litigation, according to a notice to the bar filed this week.

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Bobcat Says Caterpillar Reverse-Engineered Loader Parts

By Elliot Weld

Construction equipment maker Doosan Bobcat has accused rival Caterpillar Inc. of breaking down products to look for ways to engineer them, especially skid-steer loaders, excavators and dozers, in a pair of patent infringement lawsuits it brought in Texas federal court and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

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Medical Device Co. Faces Investor Suit Over IV Pump Issues

By Sydney Price

Medical device company Baxter International Inc. has been hit with a proposed investor class action accusing it of falsely claiming that it resolved issues associated with an IV pump before recalling the product this year.

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Insurance Broker Tech Leader Sued In Del. Over Market Power

By Jeff Montgomery

Alleging potential "mid-nine figures" in damages, insurance broker software venture Ardent Labs Inc. has filed a five-count suit in Delaware's Court of Chancery accusing an industry leader — Applied Systems Inc. — of "anticompetitive conduct that violates the letter and spirit of antitrust law."

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Kalshi Sues Conn. Over Online Gambling Enforcement Case

By Katryna Perera

Derivatives exchange KalshiEX LLC has sued the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection and its leaders over a cease-and-desist order issued by the department directing Kalshi to stop operations within the state.

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Brief

TaskUs' $17.5M Investor Settlement, Atty Fees Get Final OK

By Sydney Price

Final approval has been granted to the $17.5 million deal settling claims between outsourced digital customer service company TaskUs and its investors who allege that the company improperly influenced its ratings on the employer review website Glassdoor, according to an order on Thursday.

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VC Firm Nexus Wraps $700M Fund To Invest In Tech Startups

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners on Thursday revealed that it closed its eighth fund after securing $700 million of investor commitments.

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Wachtell Advising OpenAI On Planned Neptune Purchase

By Al Barbarino

OpenAI has agreed to acquire experiment-tracking startup Neptune, a deal that brings in-house a set of tools designed to give researchers real-time visibility into how large artificial intelligence models learn.

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Solmate To Acquire RockawayX, Creating 'Crypto Giant'

By Katryna Perera

Solmate Infrastructure, formerly known as Irish sports ownership holding company Brera Holdings, announced Thursday it has entered into a business combination with the blockchain arm of venture capital firm Rockaway Capital, RockawayX.

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1st Spot Crypto Market To Launch Amid CFTC 'Crypto Sprint'

By Emilie Ruscoe

Derivatives exchange Bitnomial said Thursday it is poised to launch the first spot crypto exchange regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, with guidance from Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.

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Judge Says IT Co. Ignored Standing Burden In Protest

By Tom Lotshaw

A Court of Federal Claims judge rejected a Washington, D.C., company's preaward protest over scoring provisions for a major governmentwide acquisition for information technology services, ruling that it fell woefully short in demonstrating standing.

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SEC Investor Panel Presses For Corporate AI Disclosures

By Jessica Corso

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission working group is urging the agency to adopt regulations that could standardize the way publicly traded companies report the way they use artificial intelligence, arguing Thursday that investors are not always being kept informed about the risks of the technology.

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EU To Probe Meta's WhatsApp Restrictions On AI Providers

By Matthew Perlman

European enforcers have launched an investigation into recent changes Meta made to its WhatsApp policies over concerns that they block artificial intelligence providers from communicating with their users on the messaging platform.

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Ropes & Gray Adds Ex-Meta Lead As AI Strategy Chief

By Matt Perez

Ropes & Gray LLP announced Thursday the hiring of a former senior manager at Meta and onetime attorney at the firm as its first chief of artificial intelligence strategy.

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Foreign Investment Office Leader Joins DLA Piper In DC

By Jack Rodgers

The former leader of a Commerce Department office that does national security reviews of foreign investments, and who has more than a decade of working in senior roles in government, has joined DLA Piper LLP's Washington office as a partner, the firm announced Wednesday.

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Squire Patton Hires Foley & Lardner's Bankruptcy Vice Chair

By Andrea Keckley

Squire Patton Boggs LLP announced Wednesday that it has hired the former vice chair of Foley & Lardner LLP's bankruptcy and restructuring practice.

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NY Tax Talk: New ALJs, New Rules, Apportionment, Bundling

Attorneys at Eversheds review the top New York tax law developments from last quarter, including appointments to the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal and the city's proposed rules to clarify income taxation of foreign corporations, and highlight two litigation matters to watch.

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What Trump's Scientific Discovery AI Order Will Mean For Cos.

Although private organizations will not see an immediate change in their compliance obligations from President Trump's recent executive order establishing a government effort to use artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery, large enterprises and critical infrastructure operators will face pressure to demonstrate that their AI practices are comparable, says Shawn Tuma at Spencer Fane.

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Why Digital Asset Treasuries Are Drawing Regulator Concerns

Financial regulators’ recent focus on potential insider trading and investor risk at hundreds of publicly traded digital asset treasuries may have been summoned by how quickly this rapidly expanding market responds to asset allocation decisions, as well as variations in risk disclosure practices across the sector, say attorneys at The Brattle Group.

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Series

Preaching Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Becoming a Gospel preacher has enhanced my success as a trial lawyer by teaching me the importance of credibility, relatability, persuasiveness and thorough preparation for my congregants, the same skills needed with judges and juries in the courtroom, says Reginald Harris at Stinson.

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9th Circ. Ruling Upholds Employee Speech Amid Stalled NLRB

The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in National Labor Relations Board v. North Mountain Foothills Apartments shows that courts are enforcing National Labor Relations Act protections despite the board's current paralysis, so employers must tread carefully when disciplining employee speech, whether at work or online, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

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Fed. Circ. In Oct.: Spotlight On Wording Beyond Patent Claims

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Barrette Outdoor Living v. Fortress Iron provides useful guidance on how patent prosecutors should avoid language that triggers specification disclaimer and prosecution disclaimer, doctrines that may be used to narrow the scope of patent infringement claims, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

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Immigration Lawyers Battle Burnout Amid Deportation Surge

By Daniel Connolly

As the Trump administration carries out a mass deportation campaign across the country, immigration attorneys faced with heavy demand and changing norms are feeling the impact of burnout and stress on their practices and emotions, they told Law360.

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Bonus Spotlight

Katten Exceeds Market Bonus Scale, Orrick Matches

By Tracey Read

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has joined a select few law firms that have gone beyond the BigLaw norm for year-end and special bonuses.

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Brief

Holland & Knight Adds Ex-House Speaker's Adviser In DC

By Tracey Read

Holland & Knight LLP has added the former senior policy adviser and counsel to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as a public policy and regulation practice group partner.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

An SEC panel has asked the agency to adopt regulations that could standardize the way publicly traded companies report details about AI use. Meanwhile, the FCC approved AT&T's $1 billion UScellular deal after AT&T became the latest of the big three mobile carriers to agree to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion policies. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Gupta Wessler LLP and Block & Leviton LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eleventh Circuit revived a proposed class action against NextEra Energy Inc. that seeks to hold the energy company liable for a share price drop that followed political interference allegations involving a subsidiary.

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Mass. IOLTA Panel Says It's Owed Slice Of Residual Funds

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts panel that oversees Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts asked the state's highest court Friday to at least partially unwind a $4 million class action settlement, saying a lower court didn't give it a chance to argue for a portion of what it says are "significant" residual funds.

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Judges Beat Ethics Suits For Dropping Retirement Post-Trump

By Jake Maher

A Fourth Circuit judge and two district court judges have defeated ethics complaints from a conservative legal organization alleging they improperly reversed their decisions to take senior status after President Donald Trump was elected.

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Court Staff Attys Settle Claims Of Undermining Colleague

By Julie Manganis

Six months after Massachusetts' highest court revived some of a former Appeals Court staff attorney's claims in a suit alleging two supervisors intentionally undermined him, the parties have reported reaching a settlement in the case.

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