Commercial Contracts

  • August 24, 2026

    5th Circ. Revives Architect's IP Claims In Fractured Ruling

    A divided Fifth Circuit has revived an architectural firm's copyright infringement claims over the use of its home designs in a Texas residential development, while affirming the dismissal of claims alleging that the defendants stripped copyright information from marketing materials.

  • August 24, 2026

    Spirit Data Sale To Google Draws Objection From Springshot

    Software company Springshot Inc. has filed a limited objection to the $10 million sale of Spirit Aviation Holdings' business data to Google LLC for artificial intelligence training, saying some of the data being sold could potentially constitute Springshot's intellectual property.

  • August 24, 2026

    Fiat Chrysler Brings Defective Headrest Suit To Justices

    Fiat Chrysler is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split over whether an arbitrator or a court should decide the proper venue for a dispute involving a nonsignatory to an arbitration agreement, in a proposed class action over allegedly defective Jeep and Dodge headrests.

  • August 24, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Nielsen Unbundling Order Starts Tuesday

    The Second Circuit has declared that the preliminary injunction blocking Nielsen from making Cumulus Media buy its local offerings to gain access to its national radio ratings data will go into effect Tuesday.

  • August 24, 2026

    Judge Preserves, But Narrows, IP Verdict Against NuVasive

    A Delaware federal judge on Monday kept in place much of a jury's infringement findings against NuVasive in a doctor's case against it over a group of spinal implant patents but found the jury's other infringement conclusions weren't supported by enough evidence.

  • August 24, 2026

    'Old Boys Club' Tainted College Prof's Review, Jurors Told

    A former professor at The College of New Jersey told a Garden State jury on Monday that the college's finance department was run like an old boys club and that her contract was not renewed because she's a woman.

  • August 24, 2026

    Avis Didn't Waive Arbitration In Insurance Fight, 3rd Circ. Says

    Avis Budget Group didn't waive its right to arbitrate a dispute over its supplemental liability insurance by deposing a pair of customers in discovery, the Third Circuit ruled Monday, saying the car rental company needed to develop a factual record before moving to compel arbitration.

  • August 24, 2026

    'Time Bubble' Doesn't Warrant 'RAW' TM Retrial, Judge Says

    An Arizona federal judge has denied a request for a new trial to a company suing a rival over its "RAW" rolling papers trademark, saying the company had not been prejudiced by the judge's decision to exclude evidence from May 2021 on and ordering the company to pay its rival over $3 million in attorney fees and costs.

  • August 24, 2026

    3rd Circ. Revives Exxon Unit's Bid To Arbitrate Royalties Claims

    ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. will get another chance to pursue arbitration in a case over allegedly underpaid natural gas royalties, with the Third Circuit ruling Monday that litigating class claims for more than four years did not preclude its bid for an out-of-court resolution.

  • August 24, 2026

    DirecTV Opposes Nexstar's High Court Bid In Fee Case

    DirecTV has urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant a petition for review in the satellite provider's case accusing Nexstar of working with two other station owners to fix retransmission fees, arguing DirecTV's past licensing deals show it has standing to sue.

  • August 24, 2026

    11th Circ. Affirms $9M Loss For Chinese Circuit Board Maker

    The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a $9.2 million judgment for the U.S. distributor of a Chinese circuit board manufacturer after finding that the manufacturer's lawsuit did not put the distributor's U.S. affiliate on notice it was being sued for its Hong Kong-based affiliate's unpaid invoices.

  • August 24, 2026

    AIG Owes Primary Coverage For $4.7M Ambulance Crash Deal

    An AIG unit owes primary coverage for a $4.75 million settlement of an underlying suit over an ambulance crash, a New Jersey federal court ruled, finding that a borough's coverage through a county joint insurance fund does not trigger an "other insurance" provision.

  • August 24, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court last week saw a wave of lawsuits involving corporate oversight, take-private deals, financing transactions, bankruptcy fallout, stockholder voting rights and disputes over control.

  • August 24, 2026

    Interference Cross-Claims Tossed In Pot Sale Contract Suit

    A Los Angeles judge has thrown out several interference cross-claims in a contract dispute over cannabis product distribution rights, finding that distributor Broadway Alliance hadn't sufficiently alleged that Stella Farms deliberately sabotaged its relationships with third parties.

  • August 24, 2026

    Zillow Avoids Trial As Redfin Agrees 'To Reenter Market'

    The Federal Trade Commission told a Virginia federal judge Monday that it had settled its lawsuit challenging a rental listings syndication deal that the agency said amounted to a $100 million payout by Zillow for the smaller Redfin listing service to exit the market.

  • August 21, 2026

    Wash. AG Pauses OG Case As 9th Circ. Weighs Preemption

    Washington's attorney general and its gambling commissioners have agreed to hold off on enforcing the state's gambling laws against prediction market platform OG, run by the North American Derivatives Exchange, while the Ninth Circuit decides related appeals that could resolve the underlying legal dispute.

  • August 21, 2026

    Produce Co. Says Staffing Firm Owes Defense In Pot Test Suit

    Plant-based protein food producer Myrtle Greens says it shouldn't be on the hook in a hiring discrimination lawsuit filed by a man who was turned away from a delivery job due to a positive drug test, arguing that all hiring is done by a third-party contractor that allegedly agreed to indemnify the food-maker.

  • August 21, 2026

    Kalshi Wants Wash. Ban Axed After State 'Blessed' Competitor

    Kalshi has urged a Washington state court to reconsider a recent order blocking the company from offering event contracts to the state's residents in most of its prediction market categories, raising equitable findings concerns and pointing to Washington's recent "blessing" of event contracts offered by one of Kalshi's competitors.

  • August 21, 2026

    Amazon Uses Twitch Streamers' Content To Train AI, Suit Says

    Twitch and Amazon were hit with a proposed class action in California federal court Thursday by a Twitch streamer who says the companies are exploiting and using his live broadcasts, images and recorded videos to train Amazon's generative AI models by default, without obtaining their consent.

  • August 21, 2026

    Verdict Bars Ex-Fla. Rep's 'Sham' Contract Claim, Oil Co. Says

    The U.S. affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company urged a New York federal court Friday to toss a former Florida congressman's counterclaim alleging he's still owed $30 million under a consulting contract, saying his conviction on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent shows the agreement was a "sham."

  • August 21, 2026

    Pharma Co. Loses Challenge To $3M Acne Drug Arb. Award

    A New York federal court confirmed an arbitrator's finding that Sun Pharmaceuticals breached an agreement with the owner of an acne drug by seeking regulatory approval to market a version of the drug in Canada, rejecting arguments that the arbitrator wrongly relied on extrinsic evidence.

  • August 21, 2026

    Australian Enforcer Sues Subaru Over Right To Repair

    Australia's competition enforcer is taking Subaru to court, accusing the Australian arm of the Japanese car manufacturer of breaking the country's antitrust laws by failing to offer all car mechanics the diagnostic capabilities that it gives Subaru-affiliated repair shops.

  • August 21, 2026

    OhioHealth Faces Suit Over Insurance Contract Terms

    An Ohio health system has been hit with a proposed class action over its contractual restraints that a union health plan alleges prevent cheaper insurance providers from gaining a foothold in the market.

  • August 21, 2026

    Siser's $500K Misrepresentation Claims Survive Vinyl Dispute

    A Michigan federal judge on Friday pared down a vinyl manufacturer's lawsuit seeking more than $3.1 million from a distributor that allegedly stopped paying its bills and shut down, allowing misrepresentation claims tied to about $500,000 in additional shipments to proceed while dismissing unjust enrichment, conversion and corporate veil-piercing claims. 

  • August 21, 2026

    Fla. Condo Group Gets Trial After Arbitration Rule Fight

    A Florida appeals court ruled Friday that a condominium association battling its contractor over work done after Hurricane Ian can get the trial it requested, after finding that its objection to an arbitration decision complied with Florida rules.

Expert Analysis

  • How The High Court Expanded Freight Broker Liability

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that freight brokers may be liable for selecting unsafe motor carriers, the key question will be whether brokers used reasonable care in selecting a given motor carrier, with the concurring opinion offering some clues as to what reasonable care might look like, says Marc Blubaugh at Benesch.

  • DOJ Activity Indicates Rising Antitrust Risk For Hospitals

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    Two civil actions filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against New York-Presbyterian Hospital and OhioHealth, both alleging that the hospital systems used their market power to stifle competition, highlight the government's growing scrutiny of barriers to lower-cost insurance options, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Series

    NY Times Word Puzzles Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Every morning I let The New York Times humble me with word games, which offer a chance to recalibrate my brain before the day's chaos arrives and remind me that a solution — whether to a puzzle or employment law issue — almost always exists once I find the right angle, says Amy Epstein Gluck at Pierson Ferdinand.

  • Tracking Tech Suit Is A Risk Management Reminder For Cos.

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    The Fifth Circuit recently heard oral argument in Rand v. Eyemart Express — an appeal that could reshape the legal landscape for businesses that deploy tracking tech on their websites — underscoring the importance of proactive risk management for companies across multiple industries, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Nielsen Appeal Tests Antitrust Limits Of Pricing And Bundling

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    In Cumulus v. Nielsen, the Second Circuit is considering a structural pattern in which a monopolist exploits upstream market power to foreclose downstream competition, which could potentially offer broad insight into how courts will assess exclusionary bundling and pricing defenses under antitrust law, says Luke Hasskamp at Bona Law.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • Salt-N-Pepa Suit May Shake Up Music Copyright Issue

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    James v. UMG Recordings is a copyright termination rights case that provides an opportunity for the Second Circuit to make concrete choices about grant language, authorship, work-for-hire status and survival of derivative works, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • Assessing Material Adverse Event Clauses Amid Iran Conflict

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    As deals signed before the current Middle East conflict come under pressure, determinations over material adverse effect clauses are arising in real time, and whether an MAE has been wrongfully invoked may be as consequential as whether it was validly established in the first place, say Amran Nawaz and Ralph Stobwasser at Secretariat.

  • Navigating Insurance And Contract Risks Amid Hormuz Crisis

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    The Strait of Hormuz has become a legal choke point where contractual obligations, insurance coverage and international law intersect, underscoring for maritime lawyers the importance of proactive contract drafting, rigorous policy review and close engagement with clients, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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