DOJ Urges Chrome, Android Sales In Google Case

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice late Wednesday formally asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to order a range of steps to end Google's monopolization of general search services and the text ads shown alongside search results, most notably by forcing the company to spin off the Chrome browser.

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Apple Says DOJ Case Has Too Much Speculation To Survive

By Bryan Koenig

Apple's attorneys pressed a New Jersey federal judge Wednesday to toss the U.S. Department of Justice's monopolization lawsuit, asserting in oral arguments that the government is simply trying to force them to work with rivals when attacking controls imposed on iPhone app developers.

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USPTO Unveils Patent Fee Hikes Set To Take Effect In January

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday released a final rule that will increase many patent-related fees on Jan. 19, recalibrating some proposed hikes that had drawn criticism from attorneys and industry groups while leaving others intact.

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Google Beats EcoFactor Patent Case Over Nest

By Andrew Karpan

Google has persuaded a California federal court to nip in the bud one of the newer patent lawsuits targeting its Nest smart home brand, winning a ruling that found an air conditioner capable of "calculating and comparing thermal efficiency" wasn't enough for a patent.

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Bankman-Fried Tech Deputy Who Parsed Code Avoids Prison

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge allowed tech expert Zixiao "Gary" Wang to avoid jail Wednesday for his role in the $11 billion FTX fraud, crediting his effort to detail programming "back doors" that enabled Sam Bankman-Fried to loot the bankrupt crypto exchange.

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DC Circ. Skeptical Of Texas AG's Bid To Revive X Probe

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. Circuit panel seemed skeptical Wednesday of the Texas attorney general's claims that Media Matters lacks a valid claim to challenge the state enforcer's investigation into the media watchdog's reporting about the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, but one judge expressed uncertainty about the suit's readiness for judicial review.

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Wash. Judge Questions Startup's Amazon Antitrust Claims

By Greg Lamm

A Washington federal judge on Wednesday suggested that antitrust claims might not survive in a startup's complaint against Amazon Web Services involving a dispute over higher-speed internet connections in the Middle East that allowed the startup to cater to its customer Epic Games.

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Student Can't Undo Punishment For AI Use, Judge Says

By Brian Dowling

A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday refused to second-guess high school officials who disciplined a student for using a generative artificial intelligence program to write the text and find sources for a history report.

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Foley Shouldn't Face Data Breach Claims, Calif. Panel Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel affirmed the dismissal of Accellion Inc.'s cross-complaint against law firm Foley & Lardner LLP in an insurance company's lawsuit claiming the software-maker should be held liable for a $1 million ransomware attack that targeted the law firm, finding that Accellion's cross-claims are untimely.

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'Ambush' At Patent Trial Led To $22M Loss, ASUS Says

By Rae Ann Varona

Taiwanese computer company ASUSTeK and the California owner of patents it infringed lambasted each other in post-trial motions filed in Texas federal court, with ASUS seeking to vacate a $22 million verdict due to the patentee's "ambush" tactics, and the patentee wanting its award doubled for ASUS' "pirate-like behavior."

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Musk, Ramaswamy Say High Court Rulings OK Federal Cuts

By Lauren Berg

Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, President-elect Donald Trump's picks to lead a newly created "Department of Government Efficiency," on Wednesday said two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings will give them the authority to cut off power to regulatory agencies and conduct massive federal layoffs.

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CFPB Wraps Rule To Pull Big Payment Apps Into Supervision

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday that it has finalized a measure to bring providers of major digital payment apps under its supervisory umbrella, expanding the reach of its oversight deeper into the technology sector.

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'Rip And Replace' Woes Underscored By Senate Hearing

By Christopher Cole

A major industry group has again called on lawmakers to address the lack of funding needed to completely remove risky Chinese-made gear from U.S. telecommunications networks.

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2nd Circ. Doubts Error In Tenant Screener's FHA Suit Win

By Brian Steele

A Second Circuit panel appeared skeptical Wednesday that a Connecticut federal judge used the wrong analysis to find that a tenant screener's criminal history reporting practices do not violate the Fair Housing Act, grilling counsel for the federal government about the lower court's process.

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Judge Keeps Emails Redacted In Apple Foe's FOIA Row

By Andrew Karpan

The patent office convinced a D.C. federal judge Wednesday to keep in place redacted portions of six emails detailing the agency's response to a Freedom of Information Act request from a longtime legal foe of Apple Inc. that is suing the agency to find out more about administrative decisions that wiped out a $533 million jury verdict.

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Data Security Co. Shakes Suit Over Auto-Renewal Model

By Allison Grande

A North Carolina federal judge has axed a proposed class action accusing a digital security provider of tricking consumers into pricey subscriptions that were difficult to cancel, finding that while the dispute raises "legitimate societal concerns," the plaintiff failed to show that he was injured by this alleged conduct.

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Amazon Settles Military Leave Bias Suit Ahead Of Trial

By Grace Elletson

Amazon has settled an employee's suit claiming the online retail giant blocked him from promotions because he took leave to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, prompting a Washington federal judge on Wednesday to halt a trial that was set to begin in the case next month.

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Citing Fintiv, PTAB Rejects Samsung's Challenge To Patent

By Adam Lidgett

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has shot down Samsung's challenge to a Pictiva Displays patent covering technology used in features like smartphone flashlights, citing parallel district court litigation over the same patent.

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Microsoft Defeats Eye Contact Feature Patent At PTAB

By Adam Lidgett

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated claims in a RealD Spark patent it alleged were infringed by Microsoft's eye-contact feature, the latest decision in a broader legal battle.

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Firms For Ohio Funds Aim To Steer ZoomInfo Investor Suit

By Ryan Harroff

Two Ohio retirement funds asked a Washington federal judge to name their attorneys from Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP and Byrnes Keller Cromwell LLP as lead counsel and liaison counsel in investor claims brought against ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. over its allegedly misguided attempts to maintain a pandemic-era customer boom.

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Apple Tapped With Patent Suit Over IMessage 'Tapbacks'

By Andrew Karpan

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York accuses Apple of infringing two patents through some of the newer features of its iMessage app that allow people to react and respond to particular texts.

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Uber, Lyft, Chicago Ignored Due Process, Banned Driver Says

By Gina Kim

A former Uber and Lyft driver has sued the platforms in Illinois federal court for deactivating her accounts over false claims she spit on a passenger, and she also sued the city of Chicago over its ordinance allowing rideshare platforms to ban drivers without notice or an opportunity to defend themselves.

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Xerox Faces Investor Suit Over 'Reinvention' Strategy

By Sydney Price

Business technology company Xerox Inc. has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action in New York federal court alleging the company's stockholders were harmed by a "reinvention" strategy it introduced in 2023 that yielded lower sales and revenue.

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Prison Phone Cos. Say FCC Reg Fight Belongs In 5th Circ.

By Nadia Dreid

There should have been no lottery to decide where to place an appeal challenging the Federal Communications Commission's new caps on rates charged for prison phone calls — the matter belongs in the Fifth Circuit, a pair of prison phone service providers told the First Circuit.

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AI-Driven Software Co. LogicMonitor Gets $800M PE Infusion

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Software-as-a-service-based hybrid observability platform LogicMonitor on Wednesday announced that it secured an $800 million investment from a consortium of private equity investors, valuing the company at $2.4 billion.

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5 Charged For 'Scattered Spider' Phishing Hacks, Crypto Theft

By Rachel Scharf

California federal prosecutors unveiled a criminal case Wednesday accusing five alleged members of the "Scattered Spider" cybercrime group of using a phishing scheme to access the confidential data of media and technology companies and steal $11 million worth of cryptocurrency from digital wallets.

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Weil Litigation Leaders Jump To Paul Weiss In NY

By Tracey Read

The co-chair of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's global litigation department and the co-head of Weil's patent litigation practice will soon be joining Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York, the latter firm announced Wednesday.

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Atty From Telecom Biz Joins IP Firm Panitch Schwarze

By Rose Krebs

Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel LLP has hired an attorney with extensive in-house experience in the tech industry to help enhance the intellectual property services it offers to its clients.

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BigLaw Begins Matching Milbank On Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Following the news Tuesday that Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP will pay associates year-end and special bonuses in line with those handed out by Milbank LLP this year, the firms' peers have begun to respond, with swift matches Wednesday by Paul Hastings LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

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DOJ Settles With Atty Who Reported Judge's Sexual Misconduct

By Lauren Berg

A former Alaska federal prosecutor who made allegations of sexual misconduct against then-U.S. District Judge Joshua Kindred has reached an undisclosed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice resolving claims she suffered retaliation for speaking up, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Wednesday.

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Akerman Opens In Charlotte With 2 Moore & Van Allen Hires

By Xiumei Dong

Akerman LLP announced Wednesday the firm opened its second North Carolina office in Charlotte and brought on two new partners from Moore & Van Allen PLLC, including the former head of its renewable energy project finance team and a tax law expert.

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Judiciary Touts Reforms In Handling Workplace Complaints

By Ryan Boysen

The federal judiciary is successfully reforming the controversial process that aims to protect its 30,000 employees from sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a new internal report released Wednesday, even as lawmakers have called for scrapping that process altogether and replacing it with a new one.

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Trump Wants 'Immediate Dismissal' Of NY Hush Money Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

President-elect Donald Trump's legal team told the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial that his conviction should be thrown out due to his "overwhelming victory" at the polls, according to a filing released Wednesday.

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House Dem Proposes Vote Forcing Release Of Gaetz Report

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten on Wednesday introduced a resolution that would require the House of Representatives to vote on whether the House Ethics Committee must release its report on the allegations against former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a proposal unveiled the same day the ethics committee failed to reach a consensus.

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Fed. Judges Still Seek New Bench Seats Amid Dems' Loss

By Courtney Bublé

The Federal Judges Association is urging the House to pass the bipartisan bill that would expand the federal courts in order to meet rising caseloads, even as the Biden administration appears to be cooling on the idea it once supported.

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Calif. Judicial Nominee Asked About Race, Parenting Writings

By Courtney Bublé

A California judicial nominee's previous writing about the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked a national reckoning on race, was the subject of debate during a Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday.

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Washington State, DC District Court Picks Secure Seats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Wednesday voted 50-48 to confirm Washington Court of Appeals Judge Rebecca L. Pennell to the Eastern District of Washington and 50-49 to confirm Amir Ali, former president and executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center and co-director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School, to the District of Columbia.

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Girardi Pushes For New Trial Over Competency Claims

By Cara Salvatore

Counsel for Tom Girardi told a federal judge the disbarred attorney is plainly mentally incompetent and deserves a new trial over charges he defrauded clients of $15 million worth of settlement money.

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