Telecommunications

  • February 26, 2024

    Clement, Prelogar Odd Bedfellows In Social Media Showdown

    After GOP-led states targeted perceived stifling of conservative voices on social media, Monday's oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court could have featured predictable partisan fissures. But the case instead illustrated that legal ideology in the digital age is sometimes surprising.

  • February 26, 2024

    Ligado Claims Iridium Bias In $40B Spectrum Takings Case

    Ligado Networks has pushed back against Iridium Communications' bid to back the government in Ligado's $40 billion lawsuit accusing the government of unlawfully taking over a spectrum it secured exclusive licensing for, saying Iridium had ulterior motives for filing a friend-of-the-court brief.

  • February 26, 2024

    Apple Antitrust Class Action Gets Early 2026 Trial Date

    A California federal judge on Monday set trial in a high-stakes consumer class action antitrust fight over Apple's App Store policies for February 2026, but refused to weigh in on Apple's request to pause certain discovery while the tech giant appeals the judge's recent class certification decision.

  • February 26, 2024

    Religious Stations Ask Justices To Review Webcast Royalties

    Religious webmasters who say that the Copyright Royalty Board's latest rate hike affects them disproportionately want the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their case and decide whether there is religious discrimination at play.

  • February 26, 2024

    Don't Nix Cash App Referral Text Suit, Consumer Says

    Cellphone users alleging mobile payment service Cash App bombarded them with "annoying and harassing spam texts" have told a Seattle federal judge that Cash App's parent company shouldn't be allowed to escape their suit, pointing to recent and "nearly identical" claims against trading app Robinhood that survived a dismissal bid and subsequently settled for a proposed $9 million.

  • February 26, 2024

    Protect 'Cellular V2X' Technology In Cars, Group Urges Feds

    Federal Communications Commission rules need to make sure unlicensed signals don't interfere with the nascent cellular vehicle-to-everything technology, which allows cars to communicate with their environments, a trade group emphasized in a recent letter to the FCC.

  • February 26, 2024

    Justices Say Social Media Speech Laws Pose 'Land Mines'

    The U.S. Supreme Court seemed skeptical Monday of the constitutionality of Florida and Texas laws prohibiting social media platforms from removing content or users based on viewpoint, but struggled with whether the still-developing records in the lawsuits challenging the regulations could support a meaningful ruling on platforms' First Amendment rights.

  • February 26, 2024

    FCC OKs Frequency Coordination Tech For 6 GHz Band

    The Federal Communications Commission is approving a group of applications for automated frequency coordination systems to allow unlicensed, standard power Wi-Fi devices on the 6 gigahertz band, saying the systems showed through rigorous testing that they can use the band without causing harmful interference to incumbent users.

  • February 26, 2024

    Feds Blacklist Canadian Surveillance Co. Over Egypt Work

    The Bureau of Industry and Security added Canadian network surveillance provider Sandvine Inc. to its export blacklist on Monday over the surveillance provider's support to the Egyptian government's program of censorship and political repression.

  • February 26, 2024

    Bally Sports Parent Gets OK For $495M Settlement, $450M DIP

    A Houston bankruptcy judge on Monday approved a $495 million settlement and a $450 million debtor-in-possession financing package for Bally Sports Network's parent company, loading the bases for the broadcaster to file a Chapter 11 plan in the coming weeks.

  • February 26, 2024

    FCC Tells Reps. Starlink RDOF Application Was Insufficient

    The Federal Communications Commission recently told members of Congress that the agency rejected satellite company Starlink's long-form application for about $885 million in rural broadband development subsidies because the company's plan indicated it had trouble meeting speed standards, among other reasons.

  • February 26, 2024

    Meta Drops Data Scraping Fight Against Israeli Co.

    Meta told a California federal judge Friday it's agreed to drop its remaining claim in litigation alleging Israeli company Bright Data unlawfully scrapes user data from Meta's social media platforms to sell to third parties, and Meta also agreed to waive its right to appeal its recent partial summary judgment loss.

  • February 26, 2024

    $9.7M Financial Network Telemarketing Deal Gets Final OK

    A California federal judge granted final approval Friday to a $9.75 million class action settlement against a debt consolidation company and its subsidiaries for telemarketing calls that plaintiffs say violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

  • February 24, 2024

    Up Next At High Court: Social Media Laws & Bump Stocks

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments related to three big-ticket cases this week in a pair of First Amendment challenges to Florida and Texas laws prohibiting social media platforms from removing content or users based on their viewpoints and a dispute over the federal government's authority to ban bump stocks.

  • February 23, 2024

    Netflix, Hulu Don't Owe Franchise Fees, Calif. Panel Rules

    Netflix and Hulu have again beaten a proposed class action from a California city claiming the streaming providers should be regulated like cable companies and pay franchise fees to localities, with a state appeals court ruling the city had no right to private action under a 2006 statute.

  • February 23, 2024

    FCC To Again Start Collecting Broadcast Workforce Data

    The Federal Communications Commission has voted on party lines to start collecting workforce diversity data from the broadcast industry after a more than two-decade hiatus.

  • February 23, 2024

    Google Says Innovation Led To Dominance In Closing Brief

    Google is telling the D.C. federal judge overseeing the U.S. Department of Justice's monopoly case against the search giant that its innovation and relentlessness are the forces driving its dominance in search, not anticompetitive agreements as the Justice Department has alleged.

  • February 23, 2024

    Dish, IFit Settle Patent Suit Over Streaming Tech

    Fitness equipment maker NordicTrack's parent company has settled a dispute with Dish Network that accused it of infringing Dish patents related to streaming technology, drawing to a close a fight that spread all the way to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

  • February 23, 2024

    Telecom Giants Can't End Decadelong 4G LTE Patent Row

    A group of prominent telecommunications companies has failed to escape a patent dispute dating back a decade with the University of Minnesota concerning wireless communications technology used in 4G LTE network services.

  • February 23, 2024

    Commerce Dept. Partly Waives 'Buy America' For BEAD

    The U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday announced limited waivers from "Buy America" requirements under the agency's $42.5 billion broadband deployment program to make sure that enough advanced components can flow to projects around the country.

  • February 23, 2024

    Judge Won't Reschedule Google's Ad Tech Trial In Va.

    A Virginia federal judge refused a request from Google on Friday to reschedule a slated September trial for the U.S. Department of Justice's ad tech monopolization case, saying the tech giant can overcome a potential timing conflict for its attorneys.

  • February 23, 2024

    Fla. Doctor Says T-Mobile Let Hacker Steal Her SIM Card

    A Tampa, Florida, doctor has sued T-Mobile for allegedly failing to stop a "SIM swap" hacker from transferring her personal phone account and then doing little to address the identity theft that followed, which involved the hacker trying to steal thousands from her retirement account and using her medical credentials to write more than 700 fraudulent prescriptions.

  • February 23, 2024

    Sirius XM Subscription Suit Booted Back To NY State Court

    A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday granted a request by the New York attorney general's office to proceed in state court with claims accusing Sirius XM of deceptive subscriber retention practices, rejecting the company's bid to litigate in federal court.

  • February 23, 2024

    Congress Must Fund Next-Gen 911, 9 Ex-FCC Chairs Say

    Nine former chairs of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, who served under Democratic and Republican administrations, are urging congressional leadership to fully commit to implementing the next generation of 911.

  • February 23, 2024

    Ohio Chamber Backs Google In 'Common Carrier' Case

    Ohio's Chamber of Commerce is lining up behind tech behemoth Google in its battle to convince an Ohio court that it is not a common carrier while the state is trying to convince the court that Google is, so it may be banned from preferring its own products in its search results.

Expert Analysis

  • Firm Tips For Helping New Lawyers Succeed Post-Pandemic

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    Ten steps can help firms significantly enhance the experience of attorneys who started their careers in the coronavirus pandemic era, including facilitating opportunities for cross-firm connection, which can ultimately help build momentum for business development, says Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners.

  • Prepping Your Business Ahead Of Affirmative Action Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming ruling on whether race should play a role in college admissions could potentially end affirmative action, and companies will need a considered approach to these circumstances that protects their brand power and future profits, and be prepared to answer tough questions, say Nadine Blackburn at United Minds and Eric Blankenbaker at Weber Shandwick.

  • Tackling Judge-Shopping Concerns While Honoring Localism

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    As the debate continues over judge-shopping and case assignments in federal court, policymakers should look to a hybrid model that preserves the benefits of localism for those cases that warrant it, while preventing the appearance of judge-shopping for cases of a more national or widespread character, says Joshua Sohn at the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • How Fla. Amendment Changes The State's Mini-TCPA

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    Gov. Ron Desantis recently signed amendments that will roll back Florida's mini-Telephone Consumer Protection Act by getting rid of the capacious definition of an autodialer, leaving the courts to sort out where the lines fall in Florida Telephone Solicitation Act litigation, says Aaron Weiss at Carlton Fields.

  • Perspectives

    How Attorneys Can Help Combat Anti-Asian Hate

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    Amid an exponential increase in violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, unique obstacles stand in the way of accountability and justice — but lawyers can effect powerful change by raising awareness, offering legal representation, advocating for victims’ rights and more, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    Congress Needs To Enact A Federal Anti-SLAPP Statute

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    Although many states have passed statutes meant to prevent individuals or entities from filing strategic lawsuits against public participation, other states have not, so it's time for Congress to enact a federal statute to ensure that free speech and petitioning rights are uniformly protected nationwide in federal court, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • 5 Insider-Threat Reminders After Recent DOJ Prosecutions

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    Three recent U.S. Department of Justice actions may well lead to much greater scrutiny of companies in which insiders engage in a variety of corporate misconduct, including conducting or enabling cybercrimes, which will likely fall not just on government contractors, but across industries and geographies, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Some Client Speculations On AI And The Law Firm Biz Model

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    Generative artificial intelligence technologies will put pressure on the business of law as it is structured currently, but clients may end up with more price certainty for legal services, and lawyers may spend more time being lawyers, says Jonathan Cole at Melody Capital.

  • Section 214 Order Solidifies FCC's Role In National Security

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    In its recent approval of an order to collect foreign ownership information from international Section 214 authorization holders, the Federal Communications Commission demonstrates its formal commitment to improving efforts to protect national security and international telecommunications services, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Why Ericsson DPA Breach Is Precedent-Setting

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    Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson recently faced several penalties for breaching a deferred prosecution agreement, revealing a sobering new precedent for when the U.S. Department of Justice will find an entity in noncompliance, so companies should be prepared to revisit pre-resolution disclosures, say James Koukios and Sarah Maneval at MoFo.

  • Metaverse Presents New Challenges For Data Preservation

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    With regulators increasingly requesting data — and recordings — from virtual meeting applications, and cracking down on employee use of ephemeral messaging, companies have hints of what's to come for metaverse-generated data and should consider the technological capabilities of the metaverse and governance of its data, says Timothy Taylor at Holland & Knight.

  • Failed Tegna Deal Reveals Increasing Merger Review Hurdles

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    A deeper look at how the Tegna-Standard General deal derailed during merger review suggests some practical steps that firms should consider to close transactions when dealing with multiple federal agencies operating under a whole-of-government antitrust enforcement approach, say Jody Boudreault and Katherine Dutcher at Baker Botts.

  • A Lawyer's Guide To Approaching Digital Assets In Discovery

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    The booming growth of cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens has made digital assets relevant in many legal disputes but also poses several challenges for discovery, so lawyers must garner an understanding of the technology behind these assets, the way they function, and how they're held, says Brett Sager at Ehrenstein Sager.

  • Opinion

    High Court's Ethics Statement Places Justices Above The Law

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    The U.S. Supreme Court justices' disappointing statement on the court's ethics principles and practices reveals that not only are they satisfied with a status quo in which they are bound by fewer ethics rules than other federal judges, but also that they've twisted the few rules that do apply to them, says David Janovsky at the Project on Government Oversight.

  • G7 Russia Restrictions May Further Complicate Compliance

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    New sanctions and export controls announced at the G7 summit targeting parties that help Russia circumvent existing restrictions signal continued multilateral commitment to intensifying economic pressure on Russia, and underscore the increasing compliance challenges for companies that pursue Russia-related opportunities, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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