Telecommunications

  • April 23, 2024

    Hot Spot Co. Investors' Revised $2.4M Deal Gets Initial OK

    Investors in mobile hotspot-maker Franklin Wireless Corp. have received an initial green light for their $2.4 million deal to end claims the company knowingly sold devices with defective batteries that could burst into flames after a federal judge rejected an earlier iteration of the proposal.

  • April 23, 2024

    Broadcasters Support Bill To Revive Diversity Tax Certificate

    Broadcasters are supporting the recent reintroduction of a bill that seeks to increase diversity in the broadcasting industry by requiring the Federal Communications Commission to bring back a tax incentive program to facilitate the sale of broadcast stations to people of color and women.

  • April 22, 2024

    T-Mobile Can't Dodge Stolen Nude Photos Suit

    T-Mobile can't dodge most of a suit seeking to hold the mobile behemoth liable for allegations that one of its employees stole nude photos from a customer's phone, which she turned in as part of a trade-in offer, a Washington federal court has ruled.

  • April 22, 2024

    FCC Fines AT&T, Internet Co. For Discussing Auction Bids

    AT&T Services Inc. and AMG Technology Investment Group LLC have not been able to convince the Federal Communications Commission to kibosh a combined $175,000 in fines for talking to each other during the bidding process for an auction of funds to subsidize infrastructure build-out.

  • April 22, 2024

    FCC Eyes Rule Changes For Independent Video Programmers

    The Federal Communications Commission plans to explore how federal rules can better help independent video programmers thrive in a competitive media landscape and may prohibit a pair of provisions that affect their contracts with distributors.

  • April 22, 2024

    Group Backs Net Neutrality, But Not Fees On Broadband

    Despite supporting a planned net neutrality regime, media advocacy group Free Press has argued against using the new rules to impose fees on the broadband industry to support telecommunications subsidies, saying the idea would only harm consumers.

  • April 22, 2024

    Mich. Panel Drains $1.3M 1-800-Bathtub Arbitration Award

    A Michigan appellate court affirmed slashing most of a $1.3 million arbitration award for the owner of the toll-free number 1-800-BATHTUB, pulling the plug on the owner's claim that a bathroom remodeling company stole the number.

  • April 22, 2024

    Mueller Industries To Buy Nehring Electrical For Up To $600M

    Machinery industry company Mueller Industries Inc., advised by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, on Monday unveiled plans to buy Nehring Electrical Works Co. and some of its affiliates for up to $600 million in a deal that will provide Mueller with a platform for long-term growth in the electrical and power infrastructure space.

  • April 22, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week, Delaware's Chancery Court news included a Tesla announcement about moving to Texas, a midcase appeal of Tripadvisor's move to Nevada, and United Airlines' escape from a stockholder suit. Disputes about board entrenchment, squeeze-out mergers, co-founder fallouts and deadly ice cream moved ahead.

  • April 20, 2024

    House Passes Another Bill To Force TikTok Divestment

    The House voted 360-58 on Saturday to pass a bill requiring ByteDance Ltd. to divest TikTok or face a ban in the U.S. and giving the parent company a longer runway to sell the app than a version the House previously passed in March.

  • April 20, 2024

    Power To Spy Without Warrants Renewed For 2 Years

    President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a bill reauthorizing a controversial program to spy on foreigners, hours after the Senate passed it while rejecting a push for warrants to search U.S. citizens' data inadvertently collected while surveilling foreign targets.

  • April 19, 2024

    TCPA Only Protects Consumers, Fax Co. Worker Says

    One fax services company can't sue another for carrying out what it says is "possibly the largest junk fax operation in the United States" because it doesn't count as a consumer under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, an employee of the company being sued has told a Colorado federal court.

  • April 19, 2024

    SpaceX Wants 'Flexible' Net Neutrality Rules For Satellites

    SpaceX is continuing its push for the rights of broadband providers to manage their networks, asking the Federal Communications Commission in a meeting this week to allow for a "flexible standard" as the commission's vote to reinstate net neutrality regulations approaches.

  • April 19, 2024

    DOJ Can't Coordinate Google Ad Tech Discovery With Texas

    A Virginia magistrate judge on Friday denied a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to coordinate discovery in its suit accusing Google of monopolizing key digital advertising technology with a similar case from state enforcers pending in Texas.

  • April 19, 2024

    NY Scraps Proposal Impacting Local Broadband Networks

    Public broadband advocates are applauding a budget bill approved by New York's state Legislature that lacks previously proposed language they say would have weakened the state's rollout of locally owned wireless networks.

  • April 19, 2024

    Antitrust Case Judge Reveals Husband's Ties With Apple

    A New Jersey federal magistrate judge assigned to the U.S. Department of Justice's recent iPhone antitrust case disclosed on Friday that her husband has ties to Apple, but told the parties she does not believe she needs to recuse herself.

  • April 19, 2024

    Cohen Seglias Suit Says DOD Must Unblock Its Web Domain

    Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC has sued a communications arm of the Department of Defense over claims a government software system mistakenly flagged the firm's web domain as malware, asking the agency to clear a "bureaucratic quagmire" and lift the block keeping DOD officials from contacting its lawyers.

  • April 19, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 18, 2024

    Satellite Broadband Co. Faces Investor Suit Over Project Delay

    Satellite manufacturer AST SpaceMobile Inc. was hit with an investor suit accusing it of concealing supply issues that prevented the timely launch of a satellite fleet intended to provide broadband services, leading to a 24% share price decline when the issues were eventually disclosed.

  • April 18, 2024

    NFL Can't Call Sunday Ticket Package A 'Luxury' At Trial

    The NFL cannot describe its Sunday Ticket broadcast package as a "luxury" in an upcoming trial over class action antitrust claims that the television bundle is anti-competitive, a California federal judge has ruled.

  • April 18, 2024

    Google Judge Notes Broad Reach Of Texas Ad Tech Claims

    A Texas federal judge pressed Google during oral arguments Thursday to explain why a coalition of state attorneys general can't sue over its dominance in advertising placement auction technology when they're representing not just companies suing separately, but consumers as well.

  • April 18, 2024

    DOJ Tries To Quell Lawmakers' Concerns On FISA Bill

    The U.S. Department of Justice is looking to allay privacy concerns on Capitol Hill raised over the proposed reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, telling Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and others in recent letters that domestic churches and media companies can't be targeted under a controversial amendment.

  • April 18, 2024

    School, Library Supporters Call FCC Wi-Fi Plan Cost Effective

    A trio of school and library groups defended a Federal Communications Commission plan to fund Wi-Fi hot spots in education, saying the conservative Heritage Foundation mischaracterized the initiative as wasteful.

  • April 18, 2024

    AT&T, Pittsburgh Settle Dispute Over Cell Site Fees, Delays

    The city of Pittsburgh has created a new fee schedule for small wireless communications facilities, which AT&T agreed will resolve the telecom firm's claims that the city effectively prevented its service expansion with its prior fee schedule, according to a joint stipulation filed in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • April 18, 2024

    AGs, Google Defend $700M Play Store Deal Ripped By Judge

    A group of state attorneys general and Google defended the proposed $700 million settlement both sides brokered in the states' antitrust suit against the company in December, telling a San Francisco federal judge that the deal is consistent with Ninth Circuit precedent and releases only a limited set of claims against Google for a seven-year period.

Expert Analysis

  • Kochava Ruling May Hint At Next Privacy Class Action Wave

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    The Southern District of California's recent ruling in Greenley v. Kochava and increasing complaints alleging that a consumer website is an illegal “pen register” due to the use of third-party marketing software tools foreshadow a new theory of liability for plaintiffs in privacy litigation, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Mexico

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    ESG has yet to become part of the DNA of the Mexican business model, but huge strides are being made in that direction, as more stakeholders demand that companies adopt, at the least, a modicum of sustainability commitments and demonstrate how they will meet them, says Carlos Escoto at Galicia Abogados.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • Opinion

    A Telecom Attorney's Defense Of The Chevron Doctrine

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    The Chevron doctrine, which requires judicial deference to federal regulators, is under attack in two U.S. Supreme Court cases — and while most telecom attorneys likely agree that the Federal Communications Commission is guilty of overrelying on it, the problem is not the doctrine itself, says Carl Northrop at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • What Cos. Should Know About FTC's Proposed Junk Fee Rule

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    The Federal Trade Commission recently announced a notice of proposed rulemaking targeting junk fees and how businesses may advertise prices to consumers — and since it would give the agency powers to seek monetary penalties against businesses that do not comply, companies should look to get ahead now, say Phyllis Marcus and Nicole Johnson at Hunton Andrews.

  • 9th Circ. ERISA Ruling Informs DOL's New Fiduciary Proposal

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    The Ninth Circuit's reasoning in its recent Bugielski v. AT&T decision illustrates the importance of the U.S. Department of Labor's proposals to expand the reach of Employee Retirement Income Security Act third-party compensation disclosure rules and their effect on investment adviser fiduciaries, says Jeff Mamorsky at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Why The Effect Of Vivint Has Been Minimal

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    A survey of recent ex parte reexamination decisions since the Federal Circuit’s 2021 In re: Vivint decision appears to support the court’s conclusion that the ruling was limited in scope and would have limited impact, says Yao Wang at Fish & Richardson.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • The Scope Of Challenged Claims After Fed. Circ. Sisvel Ruling

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    Joshua Weisenfeld at Sheppard Mullin considers the Federal Circuit's recent Sisvel v. Sierra decision and its impact on claim construction and post-issuance claim amendments that broaden the scope of challenged claims.

  • Tips For Avoiding Disputes From M&A Earnout Provisions

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    Attorneys at Freshfields review key Delaware cases to outline several important considerations that may reduce the risk of an earnout dispute arising from a merger agreement and help the parties navigate disputes when they do occur.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.

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