States can't make companies promise to provide low-cost options in order to get access to federal broadband infrastructure funds, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has announced, saying that to do so would be illegal rate regulation.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

NTIA Says States Can't Regulate Rates In Broadband Program

By Nadia Dreid

States can't make companies promise to provide low-cost options in order to get access to federal broadband infrastructure funds, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has announced, saying that to do so would be illegal rate regulation.

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FCC Moves Ahead On Controversial Broadband Inquiry

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday it has launched a plan to study the deployment of broadband services across the U.S. that consumer groups have attacked as failing to account for wide gaps in adoption and affordability.

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FCC Asked To Reconsider Paramount-Skydance Deal

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission needs to rethink its decision to greenlight Skydance Media's controversial $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global, a third-party firm has told the agency, arguing it never addressed "substantial evidence in the record" that Paramount was talking to President Donald Trump on the sidelines.

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NAB Says Streamers' Success Makes 39% Cap Outdated

By Christopher Cole

The broadcast industry's top lobbying group said marketplace changes call for the Federal Communications Commission to lift the 39% cap on national TV audience share.

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ENFORCEMENT

Feds Charge 2 With Shipping Nvidia AI Chips To China

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two Chinese nationals residing in California were charged with using a company they founded to unlawfully export microchips used in AI applications worth "tens of millions of dollars" to China in violation of the Export Control Reform Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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LITIGATION

Apple Looks To Nix Consumer Antitrust Case, Decertify Class

By Matthew Perlman

Apple told a California federal court that antitrust claims from a class of more than 185 million consumers targeting its App Store policies should not go to trial because the allegations focus on legitimate product design and business decisions, not anti-competitive conduct.

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Google Ad Exchange Rival Follows DOJ With Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A Google rival entered the fray over advertising placement technology with a Virginia federal court complaint explicitly following in the wake of the Justice Department's successful lawsuit that led to Google being liable for illegally monopolizing two targeted ad tech markets.

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Amazon, DC AG Seek To Delay Antitrust Trial To May 2027

By Jared Foretek

The D.C. Attorney General's Office and Amazon are seeking more time to complete fact discovery in the city's antitrust suit against the online retail giant, asking for the potential trial in the case to be moved from January 2027 to May of that year.

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Novo Nordisk Lodges Suits Over 'Knockoff' Semaglutide Meds

By Rae Ann Varona

Novo Nordisk said Tuesday it has recently filed more than a dozen lawsuits accusing weight loss companies, med spas and pharmacies of tricking patients into purchasing and using unapproved drugs containing semaglutide, which the Danish pharmaceutical company uses in its blockbuster medicines Wegovy and Ozempic.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Opinion

The Legal Education Status Quo Is No Longer Tenable

As underscored by the fallout from California’s February bar exam, legal education and licensure are tethered to outdated systems, and the industry must implement several key reforms to remain relevant and responsive to 21st century legal needs, says Matthew Nehmer at The Colleges of Law.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Law, Medical School Orgs Face Application Fee Antitrust Suits

By Gina Kim

The Law School Admission Council and the Association of American Medical Colleges have each been hit with a proposed class action in Pennsylvania and D.C. federal courts, respectively, by candidates who said the nonprofits conspired with their member schools to charge excessive application fees that have been fixed at the same price regardless of the school.

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Judge Mulls Sanctioning Hagens Berman In Thalidomide Suits

By Lauren Berg

The Pennsylvania federal judge presiding over dozens of product liability actions against manufacturers of the morning sickness drug thalidomide Tuesday ordered Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP to explain why it shouldn't be sanctioned for allegedly conducting "grossly inadequate" pre-suit inquiries, obstructing discovery and doctoring evidence.

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Analysis

Tesla Verdict Could Embolden Plaintiffs With Similar Claims

By Carolina Bolado

The $329 million verdict handed down by jurors in Miami on Friday over a fatal Florida Keys crash is the first to find Tesla's autopilot defective and will likely embolden other plaintiffs with similar claims to take them to trial, personal injury attorneys told Law360.

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Analysis

A Free Exercise 'Blueprint' In Colo. Abortion Reversal Order

By Mark Payne

A Colorado federal judge's decision to allow medication abortion "reversals" on free exercise grounds could serve as a model for other lawsuits meant to legitimize a practice that is outside the standard practice of medicine.

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Law Profs Urge 11th Circ. To Toss Judge-Shopping Sanctions

By Madison Arnold

A group of seven law school professors is urging the Eleventh Circuit to toss a sanctions ruling against three attorneys for judge shopping, arguing that federal law does not forbid the practice and citing the "potentially chilling effect the order will have on counsel, especially those involved in pro bono representation."

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OptumRx Urges Panel To DQ Motley Rice In LA Opioid Suit

By Craig Clough

OptumRx told a California appellate panel Tuesday that Motley Rice should be disqualified from representing Los Angeles County in a lawsuit alleging it colluded with drugmakers to fuel the opioid crisis, saying the firm violated state law by using confidential information obtained in the case in other lawsuits it's handling against Optum.

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Feature

Meet FDA Chief Counsel Sean Keveney

By Dan McKay

The new top attorney at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, described as a "tremendous technical lawyer," rose through the ranks as a federal prosecutor before helping lead President Donald Trump's confrontation with elite universities this year.

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5th Circ. Says Texas Voter ID Law Is Legally Sound

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel upheld a Texas law that requires voters to provide an identification number when voting by mail, finding the law complies with the Civil Rights Act and that the state designed it to combat mail-in ballot fraud.

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Ex-USPTO Heads, Judges Oppose Anti-Patent Thicket Bill

By Elliot Weld

A pro-innovation group composed of former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials and former Federal Circuit judges on Tuesday asked Congress to oppose a bill introduced last month that would limit so-called patent thickets used by pharmaceutical companies to restrict the production of generic counterparts to their drugs.

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Analysis

Medicaid Cuts May Worsen Incarceration-Linked Death Risks

By Hannah Albarazi

A new public health investigation reveals an association between incarceration and elevated risk of early death, not only for people who have been behind bars but for entire communities. Experts caution that impending disinvestment in Medicaid could worsen outcomes in vulnerable populations.

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Ghislaine Maxwell Slams Feds' Bid To Unseal Grand Jury Docs

By Lauren Berg

Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking children for late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, urged a New York federal judge Tuesday to deny the government's bid to unseal grand jury transcripts, saying release of the sealed materials could jeopardize the appeal of her 2021 conviction.

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Ex-Patent Examiner Fights USPTO Exclusion At High Court

By Adam Lidgett

A former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review his exclusion from practicing before the agency, saying the justices should look at issues relating to a suspension he received and also federal civil rights protections.

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Approach The Bench: Justice Wecht On Judicial Campaigns

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

If running for judicial office often requires walking the line of being a sitting jurist and a politician, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht is no stranger to that tightrope.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

ACA Connects - America's Communications Association

Amazon.com Inc.

American Civil Liberties Union

Apple Inc.

Association of American Medical Colleges

Boston University

Career Education Corporation

Council for Innovation Promotion

Disability Rights Texas

Epic Games Inc.

Epic Systems Corp.

Express Scripts Holding Co.

GSK PLC

Google LLC

Lambda Legal Defense & Educational Fund

Law School Admission Council Inc.

Medco Health Solutions Inc.

NVIDIA Corp.

National Amusements Inc

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Novo Nordisk A S

OpenX Technologies Inc.

OptumRx Inc.

Paramount Global

Skydance Media LLC

State Bar of California

Tesla Inc.

Texas Civil Rights Project

The JAMA Network

The New York Times Co.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Ultimate Fighting Championship Ltd.

University of Virginia

World Economic Forum

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alston & Bird

Arnall Golden

Bowman & Brooke

Cannella Snyder

Coppersmith Brockelman

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

Custodio & Dubey

Dominick Feld

Eaton & Wolk

Gibson Dunn

Hagens Berman

Hausfeld LLP

Hilgers Graben

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Kellogg Hansen

Kirkland & Ellis

Lightfoot Franklin

Markus Moss PLLC

Mike Scott Law

Motley Rice

Pietragallo Gordon

Rousso Boumel

Singleton Schreiber

Smith Gambrell

Wiggin & Dana

Williams & Connolly

Wolf Haldenstein

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alabama Attorney General's Office

Bureau of Industry and Security

California Supreme Court

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Florida Supreme Court

Food and Drug Administration

Los Angeles Superior Court

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado