Analysis

OpenAI Faces Liability Test In Suit Over ChatGPT Suicide

By Y. Peter Kang

A wrongful death suit accusing OpenAI's artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT of aiding a teenager's suicide is set to be a high-stakes test of the responsibilities that AI firms will have toward vulnerable users, particularly minors exhibiting signs of mental distress, attorneys said.

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DOJ's Slater Says Google Search Fixes Set AI 'Foundation'

By Bryan Koenig

The head of the Justice Department Antitrust Division left the door open Thursday to appealing a D.C. federal judge's rejection of the government's most sweeping remedies proposals targeting Google's search monopoly, even as she used New York City remarks to tout the fixes the government did manage to win.

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Senate Confirms Squires To Lead USPTO

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Dilworth Paxson LLP partner John Squires to serve as the next U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director.

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'My Life Ended In That Car,' Uber Assault Accuser Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A woman suing Uber over claims a driver sexually assaulted her told a San Francisco jury Thursday that "my life ended in that car" because of the lasting effects of the traumatic attack, and explained tearfully that she gave the driver a five-star review out of fear he'd come after her.

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Fed. Circ.'s PTAB Prior Art Ruling Risks Havoc, Justices Told

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit created a "jumbled mess" when it ruled that the filing date of a patent application dictates whether it can be used as prior art to invalidate a later patent, rather than the date the application was published, Lynk Labs Inc. has told the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Fed. Circ. Hears 'Settled Expectations' Are 'Lawless' In IP Feud

By Adam Lidgett

SanDisk Technologies Inc. and its former parent have become the latest challengers at the Federal Circuit to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's discretionary denial practices, taking aim at its acting director's holdings that patent owners eventually have the right to assume their patents won't be challenged.

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Circuit Board Maker Fights $7.6M Trial Loss At 11th Circ.

By Carolina Bolado

A Chinese circuit board manufacturer asked the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to reverse a ruling in its U.S. distributor's favor, arguing that the lower court improperly held it to a heightened pleading standard in their contract dispute, paving the way to a $7.6 million loss at trial.

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Amazon Must Face Buyers' Antitrust Suit Over Pricing Policy

By Lauren Berg

A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday allowed consumers' lawsuit targeting a policy Amazon had in place until March 2019 that restricted sellers from offering cheaper prices elsewhere to proceed under antitrust and consumer protection laws in 25 states, but tossed claims brought under Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee laws.

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FTC Greenlights Amazon Prime Trial For Next Week

By Rachel Riley

A Seattle federal judge has cleared the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection case against Amazon to go to trial on Monday, finding the company violated at least one requirement of an e-commerce law, yet jurors must still decide if it clearly disclosed Prime subscription terms to users and offered simple cancellation methods.

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FCC Should Follow Exec Branch Policy, Commissioner Says

By Christopher Cole

As President Donald Trump continues to get more involved in the operations of independent federal agencies, a member of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday the FCC needs to remain accountable to the executive branch.

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DOD To Probe Redundancies In Cyberspace Ops

By Tom Lotshaw

The U.S. Department of Defense said it will look for possible efficiencies and consolidations after a congressional watchdog said there may be unnecessary overlap in sprawling cyberspace operations that span hundreds of organizations, tens of thousands of personnel and more than 9,500 contractors.

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Gov't Told GPS Signal Jamming Growing Far Worse

By Christopher Cole

More than a dozen trade groups banded together to tell federal agencies that GPS signal jamming is a growing concern to U.S. industries in international waters and airspace.

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Brief

Kimmel Controversy Sidetracks Broadband Permitting Hearing

By Nadia Dreid

A U.S. House subcommittee looking into how to expedite broadband permitting struggled to stay on topic Thursday afternoon due to Democrats being hopping mad about late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air.

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DOJ Seeks Rehearing On Copyright Chief's Reinstatement

By Elliot Weld

The federal government has asked the D.C. Circuit to rethink its decision to temporarily reinstate the head of the U.S. Copyright Office who was fired by President Donald Trump, saying the president has the authority to remove the copyright chief because the position is part of the executive branch.

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Chinese Aircraft Co., Investors Ink $1.9M Deal Over 'Fake' Sales

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge has granted the first green light to a $1.9 million settlement between investors and Chinese autonomous aircraft company EHang to resolve claims the company made false and misleading statements about pre-orders for its autonomous aerial vehicles.

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AI Firm's Ex-CTO Barred From Using Trade Secrets

By Elliot Weld

A Washington federal judge has barred an artificial intelligence startup's former chief technology officer from using trade secrets to hurt the company, making disparaging statements about it or contacting the company's current or prospective customers.

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NPE Asks To Drop Samsung Patent Suit Watched By Gov't

By Elliot Weld

A nonpracticing entity has moved to drop a patent infringement suit against Samsung in light of new testimony in a case where the federal government had taken the rare step of showing interest.

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Apple Affiliate Can't Ax Classes After Wage Trial, Court Told

By Irene Spezzamonte

An Apple-affiliated repair company cannot undo five classes in a wage and hour suit that snagged a nearly $840,000 win for employees, the workers told a North Carolina federal court, arguing the company's decertification request is a "Hail Mary" attempt to delay its appeal.

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PNC Accused Of Sharing Site Users' Private Info With LinkedIn

By Matthew Santoni

A proposed class action claims PNC Financial Services violated the privacy of visitors to its website by tracking their browsing and sharing that information with social network LinkedIn, according to a complaint filed in Pennsylvania state court.

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Nvidia Investing $5B In Intel, Launches AI Chip Alliance

By Al Barbarino

Nvidia Corp. said Thursday it will join forces with Intel Corp. to develop custom chips for data centers and personal computers, kicking off the collaboration with a planned $5 billion investment in Intel stock. 

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Atlassian To Buy DX For $1B In AI Productivity Push

By Al Barbarino

Collaboration software company Atlassian announced Thursday it agreed to buy DX, a developer intelligence firm, for about $1 billion, in a deal that Atlassian said will help large enterprises gauge the impact of artificial intelligence on engineering productivity.

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Sports Group Brera Raises $300M To Launch Solana Treasury

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Irish sports ownership holding company Brera Holdings, led by Lowenstein Sandler LLP, on Thursday announced that it plans to rebrand as a digital asset treasury company called Solmate following a $300 million private fundraise.

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Group Of US Investors To Buy TikTok, Plus More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

A consortium of big-name buyers including Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz are rumored to be taking a majority stake in TikTok after a long search to find the app a U.S. owner; Paramount Skydance is reportedly ready to make an offer for Warner Bros. Discovery; and private equity shop CVC is close to inking a $1.5 billion deal to acquire web-hosting provider Namecheap. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other deal rumors from the past week.

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'Virtual CFO' To Internet Scammers Gets 4 Years

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Rhode Island man who copped to money laundering and obstructing justice in connection with claims his "virtual CFO" business helped internet fraudsters launder over $35 million was sentenced to four years behind bars, Boston prosecutors have announced.

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Jury Mulls Claims Man Duped Penny Stock Traders On Twitter

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal jury on Thursday weighed fraud claims against an Ohio salesman from securities regulators who say he duped other traders as he took in over $2.5 million buying penny stocks, hyping shares on Twitter before selling in a "scalping" scheme.

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MrBeast Ads, Kids' Privacy Practices Draw Watchdog Scrutiny

By Allison Grande

An industry self-regulatory body has urged the media company created by YouTube personality MrBeast to revamp the way it advertises to and collects personal information from children, after identifying several issues with how the company presented ads on YouTube videos and promoted its Feastables chocolate brand.

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IRS Discloses Details On ICE Agreement In Data Sharing Row

By Kat Lucero

The U.S. government disclosed additional details Thursday on the agreement between the IRS and immigration enforcement authorities to share confidential tax return information, including who had necessary permissions to access the disclosures, following a D.C. federal judge's order in a lawsuit seeking to end the interagency data sharing.

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Dorsey & Whitney IP Atty Joins Foley Hoag In Denver

By Adrian Cruz

Foley Hoag LLP announced the addition of its first intellectual property partner in the West with the hire of a longtime Dorsey & Whitney LLP attorney in its fast-growing Denver office.

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Montreal-Based Corp. Atty Moves To Akerman's NY Office

By Andrea Keckley

Akerman LLP has announced that a former Quebec-based partner at the Canadian business law firm Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP is returning to New York to join its corporate practice group.

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Assessing Potential Ad Tech Remedies Ahead Of Google Trial

The Virginia federal judge tasked with prying open Google’s digital advertising monopoly faces a smorgasbord of potential remedies, all with different implications for competition, government control and consumers' internet experience, but compromises reached in the parallel Google search monopoly litigation may point a way forward, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

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The Pros And Cons Of Levying Value-Based Fees On Patents

The potential for a recurring, value-based maintenance fee on patents, while offering some benefits, raises several complications, including that it would likely exceed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's statutory authority and reduce research and development activities in the U.S., says Sandip Patel at Marshall Gerstein.

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Earned Wage Access Providers Face State Law Labyrinth

At least 12 states have established laws or rules regulating services that allow employees to access earned wages before payday, with more laws potentially to follow suit, creating an evolving state licensing maze even for fintech providers that partner with banks, say attorneys at Venable.

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Series

Writing Musicals Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My experiences with writing musicals and practicing law have shown that the building blocks for both endeavors are one and the same, because drama is necessary for the law to exist, says Addison O’Donnell at LOIS Law.

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Uber Says Philly Law Firm, Doctors Fabricated Injuries

By James Boyle

Ride-sharing company Uber has accused personal injury firm Simon & Simon PC and a network of healthcare providers of fabricating medical records to inflate accident complaints, according to a RICO suit filed in Philadelphia federal court.

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NJ Atty Sanctioned For Citing AI-Generated Fake Case Law

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday issued a $3,000 monetary sanction on an attorney for violating Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure by submitting a reply brief including fabricated case law citations and later acknowledging that his use of generative artificial intelligence contributed to the errors.

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Polsinelli Can't Trim, Arbitrate Atty's Sexual Harassment Case

By Lauren Berg

Polsinelli PC and two former partners cannot trim and compel arbitration of claims in a $20 million sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by a former equity shareholder, a D.C. federal judge ruled Thursday, saying the shareholder plausibly alleges her claims and isn't required to arbitrate the dispute.

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Analysis

Trump's Georgia Case: Legal Experts On What Happens Next

By Kelcey Caulder

The 2020 Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and his co-defendants may be both "dead" and costly for taxpayers, legal experts told Law360, citing the expected reluctance of most prosecutors to take over the litigation and a new state law that allows criminal defendants to recover legal fees in certain circumstances.

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Judge Halts Kids' Removal, Calls ICE Plan 'House Of Cards'

By Britain Eakin

A D.C. federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday barring the Trump administration from deporting Guatemalan children in federal custody, finding the move would likely violate congressionally established procedures for unaccompanied minors.

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DC Judge Included In Senate's Bloc Confirmation

By Courtney Bublé

A judge for the Superior Court of Washington, D.C., was confirmed on Thursday as part of the en bloc confirmation of 48 nominees to various positions following Republicans voting in favor of changing the rules.

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Analysis

Circuit Split On Felon Gun Ban Could Set Up High Court Review

By Spencer Brewer

A growing divide among federal appellate courts on how a gun ban for felons fits within the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 expansion of individuals' right to carry firearms in public could force the high court to revisit the Second Amendment.

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Analysis

Arbitration Clauses Won't Protect IPOs From Investor Suits

By Jessica Corso

With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission greenlighting the use of mandatory arbitration clauses for newly public companies, securities litigation experts are waiting to see whether any company is willing to risk the almost inevitable legal blowback that will come with taking advantage of the policy.

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Ex-Trump Atty Says Fla. Discipline Case Is Over 'Void' Charges

By Chart Riggall

Former Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro told the Supreme Court of Florida this week to reject a push to discipline him over his conviction in Georgia's election interference racketeering case, arguing his name was cleared by a court order invalidating the charge to which he pled guilty.

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Dems Demand Even More Funds For Courts, Judicial Security

By Courtney Bublé

An alternative continuing resolution unveiled by the Democrats in the House and Senate on Wednesday evening includes more funding for judicial security and the courts than the Republicans' version, but it's unlikely it will be adopted as is.

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Trump Asks High Court To Let Him Remove Fed's Cook

By Jon Hill

President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to allow him to move forward with firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, escalating a fight over presidential removal power that will test the boundaries of the central bank's traditional independence.

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