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Telecommunications
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March 07, 2024
Supremacy Clause Bars Wash. Tax On FCC Lifeline Program
The Washington State Supreme Court said Thursday that Assurance Wireless USA does not have to pay a state sales tax on funds it receives from a federal free-phone program, in a unanimous opinion that found the levy violates the constitutional ban on states taxing "instrumentalities" of the federal government.
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March 07, 2024
FCC Looking Into Alternatives To New Spectrum Auctions
The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it will look into ways to use existing legal powers to get more electromagnetic spectrum into the hands of commercial users a year after Congress let the agency's spectrum auction authority lapse.
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March 06, 2024
Top Calif. Antitrust Atty Says Criminal Cases On The Horizon
California is poised to start prosecuting criminal antitrust cases under a Golden State law that is "broader" than federal law, a senior assistant attorney general for the California Department of Justice said Wednesday at a San Francisco conference.
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March 06, 2024
Garland On AI Crime, And A Taylor Swift Tune For DOJ
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday told a group of lawyers gathered in San Francisco that the U.S. Department of Justice is ramping up its hiring of computer scientists to fight artificial intelligence-driven crime and also revealed which Taylor Swift song he thought should be the department's anthem.
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March 06, 2024
Epic's Clash With Apple Over App Store Keeps Simmering
Epic Games said Wednesday that Apple is flouting new European rules by terminating its developer account and blocking it from launching its own iOS app store, but Apple said it made the move because of Epic's "hotfix" that sparked litigation in the U.S. several years ago.
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March 06, 2024
States Expand Privacy Law Patchwork As Shake-Up Looms
New Jersey and New Hampshire opened 2024 by passing privacy laws that take a largely familiar approach to protecting consumers' personal data, but promising proposals in Maine, Maryland and other states stemming in part from a failed federal effort signal that a new playbook may be on the way.
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March 06, 2024
FCC To Explore 'Amnesty' For Rural Deployment Defaults
The Federal Communications Commission has asked the public for its views on a proposal to release internet service providers from some obligations to deploy rural broadband under FCC subsidy programs so that affected communities can still obtain federal funding.
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March 06, 2024
Industry Groups Fight Expanding Digital Discrimination Rules
Three broadband industry groups want the Federal Communications Commission to pump the brakes on its plans for new digital discrimination oversight requirements, at least until the agency has seen how its controversial and recently passed discrimination rules shake out.
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March 06, 2024
Net Neutrality Plan Could Receive FCC Vote By April
As the cable industry again urged the Federal Communications Commission to scrap a Democratic-led plan to restore net neutrality rules, FCC Republican Brendan Carr signaled Wednesday that the proposal could receive a vote as early as April.
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March 06, 2024
Network Biz Investor Challenges Board Removals In Chancery
An early preferred stockholder of PacketFabric sued the network-as-a-service provider in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Wednesday, requesting an order invalidating what it calls a conflicted board cramdown that converted the investor's preferred shares to common stocks and axed its two seats on the company's board.
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March 06, 2024
Sony, ISP File Dueling 4th Circ. Petitions Over $1B Verdict
Cox Communications Inc. has urged the full Fourth Circuit to reconsider a three-judge panel's decision that the internet service provider is liable for willfully contributing to copyright infringement in a lawsuit from music publishers, arguing the panel's conclusion upholding a jury's finding makes the circuit "the most severe" regime in the country.
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March 06, 2024
PTAB Turns Off Dali Antenna Patent In 2 Texas Cases
A pair of rulings from an administrative board has gutted the language in a patent covering antenna technology that had been at issue in a web of dismissed lawsuits in Texas.
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March 06, 2024
Cruz Wants FCC Subsidy System Turned Over To Congress
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Wednesday floated a plan to convert the Federal Communications Commission's multibillion-dollar subsidy system for low-income telecom services to direct congressional control, citing spiraling costs.
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March 06, 2024
Juniper Networks Sued In Del. For Details On $14B HP Sale
Leaders of artificial intelligence networking platform Juniper Networks Inc. are breaching their duties to stockholders by withholding material information about the company's recently announced $14 billion acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., a Juniper shareholder alleged Wednesday in a Delaware Court of Chancery complaint.
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March 05, 2024
Google Keeps Win In 'Lockbox' Privacy Suit At 9th Circ.
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday refused to revive a proposed class action alleging that Google's "Lockbox" program secretly collected information about Android owners' non-Google app use, saying Google clearly disclosed in its privacy policy that it tracks activity in third-party apps.
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March 05, 2024
Judges Unsure On Atty Sanctions In Robinhood Spam Suit
Class counsel sanctioned $750,000 for helping instigate a spam text suit against Robinhood Financial likely engaged in "shenanigans," a Washington appeals judge said Tuesday, though a colleague on the bench questioned whether those sanctions should stick if Robinhood was nevertheless liable in the case.
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March 05, 2024
App Store Users Tell 9th Circ. To Reject Class Cert. Appeal
Consumers pressed the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to not take up Apple's appeal of the certification of millions of App Store users, arguing the class action raises none of the issues justifying immediate intervention before trial on allegations targeting the technology giant's iron grip over app distribution on iPhones.
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March 05, 2024
UPS, AT&T Can't Avoid ESG Proxy Proposals, But BofA Can
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff have indicated they won't let UPS and AT&T get out of including shareholder proposals on environmental and social matters from their upcoming proxy statements, while letting Bank of America exclude two ESG-related proposals.
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March 05, 2024
Gibson Dunn AI Leader On Weathering The AI Policy Blizzard
Like a mountaineer leading a team through a snowstorm, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP's artificial intelligence co-chair Cassandra L. Gaedt-Sheckter is guiding companies developing and using artificial intelligence through a blizzard of new laws and regulations coming online in Europe and the U.S., saying that assessing AI risks is the North Star to mitigating them.
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March 05, 2024
Senate Dem Sees Votes For Broadband Discount Funding
A key Democratic senator said late Tuesday he sees momentum growing on Capitol Hill for at least a short-term funding renewal for the embattled Affordable Connectivity Program.
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March 05, 2024
House Bills Take Big Swing At TikTok
On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will once again scrutinize TikTok and consider legislation to shore up national security concerns that the technology company decried as an "outright ban."
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March 05, 2024
Ill. Atty Tells 1st Circ. Feds Botched Venue For Scam Case
An Illinois lawyer convicted of receiving proceeds from business email compromise schemes orchestrated by others told the First Circuit on Tuesday that Massachusetts was the wrong place for him to have been tried, urging the appeals court to dismiss the charges underlying the guilty verdict.
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March 05, 2024
FCC Looks To Ban Bulk Billing In Apartment Buildings
The Federal Communications Commission is considering banning bulk broadband billing in apartment buildings, with the hopes of expanding choice and lowering costs for residents of multi-tenant buildings, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a release Monday.
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March 05, 2024
Ericsson Elevates DOJ Veteran To Compliance Head
Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson said Tuesday it has chosen a lawyer from within its own legal department as the next leader of its compliance department.
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March 05, 2024
Fried Frank Guides Viavi's £1B Deal For UK Rival
Communications group Viavi said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy telecom testing specialist Spirent for around £1 billion ($1.26 billion) to strengthen its artificial intelligence expertise and wireless infrastructure work.
Expert Analysis
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The Case For Quantifying The Impact Of 'Dark Patterns'
Recent lawsuits alleging that Amazon and Audible used so-called dark patterns to deceive customers show that federal agencies and consumers are actively challenging such conduct, and quantifying its impact on purchase decisions is an important step toward using an evidence-based approach for determining the appropriate level of deterrence, say economists at Brattle.
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Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too
While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.
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Keep Up With Telemarketing Compliance: State Law Roundup
As more states enact mini-Telephone Consumer Protection Acts to seemingly fill the "autodialer" void left by the U.S. Supreme Court's Facebook v. Duguid ruling, compliance will become a difficult game of whack-a-mole — some of the laws regulate equipment, while others restrict to whom calls can be made, and more, say attorneys at Blank Rome.
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Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions
As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.
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9th Circ. Expands TCPA Standing, Narrowing Defenses
While the Ninth Circuit's recent Hall v. Smosh Dot Com decision expands Telephone Consumer Protection Act standing, companies defending TCPA claims should watch the district court's ruling on remand for a potential narrow exception where a third-party user consents to contact for a number on the do-not-call registry, say attorneys at Duane Morris.
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A Checklist For Cyber Incident Response Communications
The recent cyberattack of file transfer tool MOVEit, and its spread among industries, is a reminder for companies that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to incident response communications, and there are certain questions that every business should ask before communicating about an incident, say Kamran Salour at Lewis Brisbois and Sadia Mirza at Troutman Pepper.
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Level Up Lawyers' Business Development With Gamification
With employee engagement at a 10-year low in the U.S., there are several gamification techniques marketing and business development teams at law firms can use to make generating new clients and matters more appealing to lawyers, says Heather McCullough at Society 54.
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Mallory Ruling Leaves Personal Jurisdiction Deeply Unsettled
In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court recently rolled back key aspects of its 2017 opinion in Daimler AG v. Bauman that limited personal jurisdiction, leaving as many questions for businesses as it answers, say John Cerreta and James Rotondo at Day Pitney.
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What Revised FTC Guides Mean For Influencer Campaigns
The Federal Trade Commission’s recent updates to its endorsement guides will affect influencer campaigns in several key ways, including how and when influencers should make disclosures, and how companies should manage campaigns, says Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye.
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4 Legal Issues Grant-Funded Broadband Projects May Face
The Biden administration's recently announced funding allocations represent the largest ever government investment in broadband internet infrastructure, but these new development opportunities will require navigation of complicated and sometimes arcane legal environments, says Casey Lide at Keller & Heckman.
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5 Ways Firms Can Rethink Office Design In A Hybrid World
As workplaces across the country adapt to flexible work, law firms must prioritize individuality, amenities and technology in office design, says Kristin Cerutti at Nelson Worldwide.
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Top 5 Privacy Cases To Watch, From Chatbots To Geolocation
Litigation related to privacy law violations has been on the rise recently, and while some judges have pushed back on the novel theories set forth by plaintiffs, new privacy cases are launched almost every day, including notable ones on topics ranging from chatbots to geolocation, say Sushila Chanana and Rodolfo Rivera Aquino at Farella Braun.
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Flawed Analysis Supports Common Law Tax Deficiency Ruling
The Colorado federal district court’s recent decision in Liberty Global, holding that the U.S. Department of Justice may assert a common law tax claim without the notice of tax deficiency required by the Internal Revenue Code, relies on a contorted reading of the statute and irrelevant case law, say Loren Opper and Christie Galinski at Miller Canfield.
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Opinion
Congress Should Curb FTC Pattern Of Consent Order Abuse
In upcoming hearings, Congress should recognize that the Federal Trade Commission’s intrusive investigation of Twitter is part of a growing pattern of consent order abuse, which will continue to harm consumers, companies and the agency itself unless lawmakers step in, says former FTC chief technologist Neil Chilson, now at the Center for Growth and Opportunity.
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Opinion
Bar Score Is Best Hiring Metric Post-Affirmative Action
After the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down affirmative action admissions policies, law firms looking to foster diversity in hiring should view an applicant's Multistate Bar Examination score as the best metric of legal ability — over law school name or GPA, says attorney Alice Griffin.