FCC Caps Prison Phone Rates To Be 'Just And Reasonable'

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday placed new caps on prison phone rates under the Martha Wright-Reed Act, enacted to make sure that rates for incarcerated people and their families are "just and reasonable."

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FCC Votes On Party Lines To Subsidize Wi-Fi For Students

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission voted along a partisan divide Thursday to expand a federal school and library subsidy to cover Wi-Fi services for students to remedy gaps in broadband access.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Comcast Gets PTAB To Eye Patent Despite EDTX Trial

By Andrew Karpan

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Thursday said it will look into a petition by Comcast asking it to invalidate claims in a patent organizing "content on a display device" that is tied to a $338.7 million jury verdict and is being asserted in another case set to go to trial later this year.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

State PUCs Urged To Keep Eye On Broadband Projects

By Nadia Dreid

States need to step up and do more to ensure that telecommunication companies working on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund projects within their borders do the work they committed to doing on time, according to a former Federal Communications Commission official.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NTIA Gives FCC Routing Security Plan The Thumbs Up

By Nadia Dreid

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration says it's speaking for the Biden administration in throwing its weight behind the Federal Communications Commission's plan to impose new security rules regarding the crucial routing technology used by the internet.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Meta And FTC Want DC Circ. Privacy Fight Kept Paused

By Ali Sullivan

Meta's D.C. Circuit bid to stop the Federal Trade Commission from modifying the parties' $5 billion privacy settlement should be kept on ice, both sides said Thursday, as the commission vies to toss Meta's trial court suit following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Epic Says Apple's 'Strategic Delay' Tactics Still Ongoing

By Bryan Koenig

The ongoing fight between Epic Games and Apple over the tech giant's compliance with a court order meant to open up app payment competition showed little sign of abating as Epic continued to blast Apple for slow and incomplete production.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Urban Outfitters Freed From Class Claims Over 'Spy Pixels'

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge said an Arizona woman lacked standing to bring a class action against clothing retailer Urban Outfitters over its alleged use of "spy pixels" to track customer activity because she failed to show a violation of that state's recording laws.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Del. Judge Overrules ViaTech's $34M Jury Win Against Adobe

By Dani Kass

A Delaware federal judge has concluded that Adobe Inc. could not have infringed a ViaTech technologies licensing system patent, and threw out a jury's $33.8 million infringement verdict.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Invalid Patents Sink Tech Co.'s Claims Against Lenovo

By Travis Bland

A North Carolina federal judge has cut claims in an infringement suit over data transfer patents by wireless and video technology company InterDigital against Lenovo, finding some of the challenged patents are invalid.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Tech Giants Can't Sink Slide-To-Unlock Patent At Fed. Circ.

By Andrew Karpan

Samsung, Apple and Google failed on Thursday to persuade a panel of Federal Circuit judges to kill a patent covering the idea of sliding-to-unlock a phone, purportedly developed by a small Sweden smartphone developer over a decade ago.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

CEO Firing Case Tied To Mogul Going To Mediation

By Travis Bland

A former chief executive and a European IT company tied to convicted mogul Greg Lindberg will head to mediation as part of a back-and-forth case involving allegations of firing without warning and spending company money on women's lingerie.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Amphenol Corp. Paying $2.1B For CommScope Mobile Units

By Al Barbarino

Amphenol Corp. has inked a deal to buy two mobile networks units from CommScope for $2.1 billion, with Latham & Watkins LLP and Alston & Bird LLP advising the companies, respectively, on the all-cash deal, according to statements Thursday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

7th Circ. Motorola Ruling Raises Stakes Of DTSA Litigation

The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera gives plaintiffs a powerful tool to recover damages, greatly increasing the incentive to bring Defend Trade Secrets Act claims against defendants with large global sales because those sales could generate large settlements, say attorneys at MoFo.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers cases touching on pre- and post-conviction detainment conditions, communications with class representatives, when the American Pipe tolling doctrine stops applying to modified classes, and more.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

BCLP Seeks Merger Partner As Departures Continue

By Aebra Coe

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP's headcount has declined by more than 20% since the law firm's seminal combination, according to firm data, with a surge of lateral departures this spring and summer. Sources have told Law360 Pulse that firm leaders are currently seeking a merger partner.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Several State Courts Impacted By Global Tech Outage

By Sarah Martinson

Several state courts have been impacted by a global Microsoft Windows outage Friday morning causing operational challenges and courthouse closures.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Seeks Probe Of Conflicts In Ex-Fed. Judge's Cases

By Jack Karp

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked its internal watchdog to look into why federal prosecutors kept quiet about the fact that they allegedly knew now-resigned Alaska federal Judge Joshua Kindred had inappropriate relationships with several attorneys appearing before him, the DOJ confirmed to Law360 Friday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NASCAR Names New General Counsel Amid Shake-Up

By Sue Reisinger

NASCAR Holdings' has named a new general counsel and a new deputy general counsel and head of privacy to fill out the team of chief legal officer Amanda Oliver.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Bar Backs Creating New Virtual Bar Exam To Cut Costs

By Hailey Konnath

The State Bar of California's Board of Trustees has signed off on plans to negotiate a potentially $8 million, five-year deal with Kaplan North America LLC to replace the Multistate Bar Exam with its own state exam that could be taken remotely, according to a statement issued Friday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Kavanaugh Murder-Attempt Suspect Set To Face Trial

By Rae Ann Varona

A man charged with attempting to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has failed to reach a plea deal after nearly two years of negotiations, setting his case up for trial in Maryland federal court, federal prosecutors said Friday.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2nd Circ. Upholds Ax Of Ex-Ropes & Gray Clerk's Bar Exam Suit

By Ryan Boysen

A former Ropes & Gray LLP attorney who was fired after twice failing the New York bar exam can't sue the state agency that administers the test for failing to accommodate her disabilities, the Second Circuit ruled Friday, finding the agency is protected by sovereign immunity.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Apple Wants Litigation Funder To Explain Role In Patent Row

By Rose Krebs

Apple Inc. wants a Delaware federal judge to order litigation funder Omni Bridgeway LLC to turn over documents explaining its relationship with Finnish company MPH Technologies Oy and its financial interest in MPH's ongoing patent litigation against Apple in California.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NYC Bar OKs Attys' Financial Stakes In Alternative Biz Entities

By Andrea Keckley

A new ethics committee report says a New York City lawyer may hold a financial interest in alternative business structures in jurisdictions that let them provide legal services, provided the lawyer is merely a financial investor, not practicing law through the entity.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge Recuses As Tech Firm Slams Dow Chemical's Request

By Ryan Harroff

An Ohio federal judge has recused himself from a trade secrets case brought against Dow Chemical Co. after the technology firm that sued it showed the court a settlement offer without approval that would grant Dow Chemical's recusal motion, which the tech firm said was a "cavalier approach to a drastic remedy."

Response attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Class Seeks $1.5B Settlement In Payday Loan Dispute

By Crystal Owens

A class of borrowers has urged a Virginia federal court to approve what would be the largest settlement ever obtained in a challenge to participants in the tribal lending industry, arguing that the agreement would give significant relief to hundreds of thousands in the form of debt cancellations and cash payments.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law Profs Throw Flag On NFL's 'Unconscionable' Arbitration

By David Steele

Allowing the NFL's arbitration system, with commissioner Roger Goodell as the arbitrator, to prevail in Brian Flores' discrimination dispute with the league is "unconscionable" and "egregious," a dozen law professors have told the Second Circuit in an amicus brief supporting the former Miami Dolphins head coach.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Firm Beats Rival's Claims In 'Sweet Justice' TM Fight

By Rachel Rippetoe

A California federal court on Thursday nixed a personal injury firm's countersuit against its rival in a battle over the trademark use of the term "Sweet Justice," ruling that the firm's counterclaims are a "mirror-image" of the underlying suit.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Texit' Atty Sues State Rep., Judge Over Defamation Fees

By Catherine Marfin

A civil rights attorney who has represented the group behind the "Texit" movement filed a lawsuit against a state representative and court officials in a North Texas county, accusing the group of colluding to run up attorney fees against him in a defamation case connected to the pro-Texas-secession group.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Colo. Federal Judges Point Out Recent High Turnover

By Daniel Ducassi

Colorado's chief federal judge on Friday observed "there has been a lot of turnover" on the bench in the district over the past several years, noting five out of the seven active district court judges were nominated by President Joe Biden. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Blanche Law PLLC and Continental PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Florida federal judge tossed the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

A kidney care company has asked a federal judge to throw out a former in-house counsel's lawsuit that claims she was fired for raising concerns about violations of federal anti-kickback statutes, and a study showed the world's most extensive public country-by-country tax reporting rules would require 51% of large U.S. multinational corporations to disclose tax arrangements. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen a libel clash between comedian Paul Currie and the Soho Theatre Company over allegations of anti-semitism, technology giant Huawei face a patents claim by Mediatek, Westfield Europe pursue action against Clearpay Finance for contract breaches and tour operating company Carnival hit chartered airline Maleth Aero for significant flight delays. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »