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October 08, 2024
'Alarming' AI Might Aid Research In Patent Fights, Judge Says
A Federal Circuit judge on Tuesday told law school students at the University of California, Berkeley that while he finds artificial intelligence tools "a little alarming and frightening," he could see how they might be useful for finding prior art in patent disputes.
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October 08, 2024
Ex-Uber Exec's Actions Smell Like Cover-Up, 9th Circ. Judge Says
A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Tuesday of Uber's ex-security chief's effort to overturn his convictions for obstructing an investigation into an Uber data breach, with one judge saying the defendant's abrupt changes to Uber's policies "does smell to me like a cover-up."
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October 08, 2024
Kimberly-Clark Says Plaintiff Can't Link Tampon To Lead Test
Kimberly-Clark moved Monday to toss a California woman's proposed class action accusing the personal care goods multinational of concealing unsafe lead levels in a line of its U by Kotex tampons, saying the consumer did not even say she used the tampons.
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October 08, 2024
Adobe Slams FTC, DOJ For 'Rewrite' Of Subscription Law
Adobe Inc. blasted a federal government lawsuit over its annual subscription plan and early termination fees on Monday, saying the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice are improperly attempting to "rewrite existing law" with the case.
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October 08, 2024
ITC Erred With Oil Drilling Tech IP Ruling, Fed. Circ. Told
US Synthetic Corp. on Tuesday urged the Federal Circuit to reverse a U.S. International Trade Commission decision that allows rivals to import a diamond oil drilling tool material the Utah-based company says infringes its intellectual property, arguing the agency wrongly found its drilling technology invention is abstract and patent-ineligible.
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October 08, 2024
Uber Tells 9th Circ. JPML Can't Consolidate Assault Cases
Uber Technologies Inc. urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to find that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation and a district judge erred in refusing to enforce Uber's "non-consolidation" clause with passengers, arguing the contractual provision binds federal courts and prohibits the JPML from the centralization of sexual-assault litigation before a single judge.
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October 08, 2024
DOJ Sues LA Fitness Over Nationwide Accessibility Issues
The U.S. Department of Justice sued gym chain LA Fitness on Tuesday, alleging that it mistreated patrons with disabilities at its nearly 700 locations across the country, including by failing to fix broken pool lift equipment and charging caretakers additional fees.
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October 08, 2024
CooperSurgical Fails To Escape Embryo Solution Recall Suits
A California state judge on Tuesday declined to dismiss four lawsuits filed against CooperSurgical Inc. by individuals or couples who allege the company failed to recall a toxic solution before it destroyed their developing embryos, trimming a few claims but otherwise keeping the suits intact.
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October 08, 2024
FuboTV Rips Fox Attempt To Transfer Sports Streaming Fight
Fox wants the New York federal judge overseeing the lawsuit accusing it, ESPN and Warner Bros. of trying to run a rival out of business with a joint sports streaming venture to lop off the claims against it and ship them to California, but plaintiff FuboTV says Fox is trying to "forum shop mid-case."
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October 08, 2024
9th Circ. Says Mexican Family Was Persecuted By Cartel Violence
A Mexican mother and daughter will get another shot at asylum after the Ninth Circuit ruled on Tuesday that the Board of Immigration Appeals wrongly determined that cartel violence, including kidnapping, physical assault and murder, isn't persecution.
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October 08, 2024
Judge Tells VA To Quickly Develop Housing For LA Veterans
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and experts picked by a class of homeless, disabled military veterans were ordered by a California federal judge to collaborate on plans for veteran housing on a Los Angeles campus.
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October 08, 2024
Limp Bizkit's $200M Suit Says UMG Hid Royalties
Rock band Limp Bizkit hit Universal Music Group Inc. on Tuesday with a suit seeking more than $200 million, alleging that the music company created and used technology that allows it to hide royalties from its artists and hoard profits.
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October 08, 2024
Student Loan Cos. Settle Ex-Exec's Severance Dispute
Student loan companies Navient Corp. and Earnest LLC told the Ninth Circuit they had reached a settlement to end a former executive's lawsuit alleging he was wrongly denied severance benefits, just days before a dual-sided appeal in the case was set for panel arguments on Thursday.
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October 08, 2024
Exporting Chips To China Doesn't Merit 7 Years, 9th Circ. Told
Counsel for a former UCLA electrical engineering professor urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reduce his seven-year prison sentence for illegally exporting high-powered semiconductor chips to China, saying the conduct did not amount to an evasion of national security controls.
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October 08, 2024
J&J Greenwashes '100% Plant-Based' Wipes, Suit Says
Johnson & Johnson customers hit the pharmaceutical giant with a putative false advertising class action in California federal court alleging its line of Aveeno makeup removing wipes are not 100% plant-based or environmentally friendly as the package claims.
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October 08, 2024
Calif. Tax Preparer Gets 6 Years For $28M Scheme
The owner of a California tax preparation business who helped customers create sham companies was sentenced to six years in prison for a decadelong scheme that caused a tax loss of at least $28 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
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October 08, 2024
Apollo Plugs $1.6B Into SCI Capital's Continuation Vehicle
Affiliates of private equity giant Apollo Global Management have agreed to invest $1.6 billion as part of a portfolio vehicle managed by SCI Capital Partners LP that oversees portfolio companies Morton Salt and Reddy Ice, in an agreement shaped by Gibson Dunn and Proskauer Rose.
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October 08, 2024
Manatt RE Leader Found Common Ground Without An Ego
Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has lost a Silicon Valley real estate partner with the death of Michael Polentz, and former colleagues are praising his ability to seamlessly break down complex ideas and his achievement of great success in the legal world — and doing so without an ego.
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October 08, 2024
9th Circ. Affirms Atty Fee Reduction In Cathode Suit
A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld a lower court's decision to cut more than $2 million from plaintiff's firm Cooper & Kirkham's $3.45 million fee award in a multidistrict litigation settlement over alleged cathode ray tube price-fixing litigation.
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October 08, 2024
Legal Tech Co. EvenUp Valued At $1B After $135M Series D
The legal technology sector has a new unicorn after artificial intelligence provider EvenUp secured a $135 million Series D funding round and reached a $1 billion valuation on Tuesday.
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October 08, 2024
London Blank-Check Eyes Reverse Takeover 2 Years After IPO
Cash shell Milton Capital PLC said Tuesday that it has reached a preliminary agreement with Horizon Energy Global Corp. that could result in the energy company taking over Milton's listing on the London Stock Exchange two years after it was first listed.
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October 08, 2024
AGs Slam TikTok With Youth Addiction, Fraud Claims
More than a dozen states have sued TikTok, alleging the popular social media platform targets young users and manipulates them into becoming habitual users while downplaying the harmful effects it can have on mental health and development.
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October 07, 2024
9th Circ. Eyes 'Justiciability' Of Ex-Rabobank Exec's OCC Row
A Ninth Circuit panel Monday signaled doubts about a former Rabobank executive's challenge to enforcement proceedings that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency abruptly abandoned last year, flagging key mootness concerns while still expressing some unease with the agency's handling of the matter.
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October 07, 2024
9th Circ. Asked To Take Another Look At 'Patent Misuse' Case
Atrium Medical Corp. has urged the full Ninth Circuit to reconsider a panel ruling siding with rival medical product maker C.R. Bard in a $52.8 million lawsuit over patent royalty provisions, saying the panel "inappropriately dispensed with the evidence adduced below and the district court's fact-finding."
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October 07, 2024
Activist Short Seller Blasts 'Preposterous' SEC Fraud Suit
The founder of Citron Research, a newsletter for short sellers, has asked a California federal court to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud suit against him and his investment advisory firm, arguing the suit "strategically omits" the disclaimers it accused the founder of not making.
Expert Analysis
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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How A Bumblebee Got Under Calif. Wildlife Regulator's Bonnet
A California bumblebee's listing as an endangered species could lead to a regulatory quagmire as California Department of Fish and Wildlife permits now routinely include survey requirements for the bee, but the regulator has yet to determine what the species needs for conservation, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Rare Robinson-Patman Ruling Exhibits Key Antitrust Risk
A rare federal court decision under the Robinson-Patman Act, which prohibits certain kinds of price discrimination, highlights the antitrust risks faced by certain suppliers and is likely to be cited by future plaintiffs and enforcement officials calling for renewed scrutiny of pricing and discounting practices, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Deciphering SEC Disgorgement 4 Years After Liu
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Liu v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to preserve SEC disgorgement with limits, courts have continued to rule largely in the agency’s favor, but a recent circuit split over the National Defense Authorization Act's import may create hurdles for the SEC, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Wiretap Use In Cartel Probes Likely To Remain An Exception
Although the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has recently signaled interest in wiretaps, the use of this technology to capture evidence of antitrust conspiracies and pursue monopolization as a criminal matter has been rare historically, and is likely to remain so, say Carsten Reichel and Will Conway at DLA Piper.
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Opinion
California Has A Duty To Curtail Frivolous CIPA Suits
As plaintiffs increasingly file class actions against companies for their use of website tracking cookies and pixels, the Legislature should consider four options to amend the California Invasion of Privacy Act and restore the balance between consumer privacy and business operational interests, say Steven Stransky and Jennifer Adler at Thompson Hine and Glenn Lammi at the Washington Legal Foundation.
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Playing The Odds: Criminal Charges Related To Sports Betting
In light of recent sports betting scandals involving MLB player Shohei Ohtani and NBA player Jontay Porter, institutions and individuals involved in athletics should be aware of and prepared to address the legal issues, including potential criminal charges, that sports gambling may bring to their door, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses
The Eighth Circuit’s recent Dexon v. Travelers ruling — that the insurer must provide a defense despite the policy’s related-acts provision — provides guidance for how policyholders can overcome related-acts defenses, say Geoffrey Fehling and Jae Lynn Huckaba at Hunton.
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Series
Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer
There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.
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9th Circ. Clarifies ERISA Preemption For Healthcare Industry
The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Bristol SL Holdings v. Cigna notably clarifies the broad scope of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's preemption of certain state law causes of action, standing to benefit payors and health plan administrators, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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State Procurement Could Be Key For Calif. Offshore Wind
A recent ruling from the California Public Utilities Commission highlights how the state's centralized electricity procurement mechanism could play a critical role in the development of long lead-time resources — in particular, offshore wind — by providing market assurance to developers and reducing utilities' procurement risks, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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Calif. Budget Will Likely Have Unexpected Tax Consequences
A temporary suspension of net operating loss deductions and business incentive tax credits, likely to be approved on June 15 as part of California’s next budget, may create unanticipated tax liabilities for businesses that modeled recently completed transactions on current law, says Myra Sutanto Shen at Wilson Sonsini.
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Patent Lessons From 7 Federal Circuit Reversals In May
A look at recent cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court provide guidance on how to succeed on appeal by clarifying the obviousness analysis of design patents, the finality of a judgment, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Politics In The Workplace: What Employers Need To Know
As the 2024 election approaches and protests continue across the country, employers should be aware of employees' rights — and limits on those rights — related to political speech and activities in the workplace, and be prepared to act proactively to prevent issues before they arise, say attorneys at Littler.