Telecommunications

  • September 25, 2024

    FCC Closer To Opening Airwaves, But Auctions Still In Limbo

    President Joe Biden's communications regulators are still pushing to get prized spectrum into the hands of private companies, but the window for regaining legal authority to auction the airwaves this year will soon close, and the next White House administration will face challenges too.

  • September 25, 2024

    Peru's Telecom Co. Can Fight $168M Awards, Judge Says

    A D.C. federal judge enforced about $168 million in arbitral awards against Peru following a dispute over a broadband infrastructure installation project after the country ignored the litigation for nearly two years, though he agreed to hear arguments from a state-owned entity that's fighting the awards.

  • September 25, 2024

    State Telecom Roundup: States Pass Their Own 'Mini-TCPAs'

    Not content to let the federal government do all the legislating when it comes to telemarketing, states have spent the last couple of years crafting their own "mini-TCPAs" that expand liability beyond the parameters of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and provide private rights of action for their citizens under state laws.

  • September 24, 2024

    Adult Actresses' Blacklist Suit Against Meta Nixed Before Trial

    A California federal judge has dismissed a case claiming Meta conspired with OnlyFans and blacklisted adult entertainers who used competitors' risque platforms weeks before its October trial date, saying he had "no choice" and did so despite the social media giant's "questionable recordkeeping."

  • September 24, 2024

    Verizon Foe Defends $847M Patent Win In EDTX

    A Dallas patent business said on Tuesday it doesn't think the $847 million verdict it scored in Texas federal court in Marshall against a pair of telecom giants in June is too much.

  • September 24, 2024

    Cathode Ray Class Attys Fight Over Fees At 9th Circ.

    Plaintiffs firm Cooper & Kirkham urged the Ninth Circuit Tuesday to reverse a ruling slashing its $3.452 million fee award in since-settled cathode ray tube price-fixing multidistrict litigation, arguing the firm was being unfairly punished for representing a subclass, while lead class counsel slammed the firm's tactics as "extreme mischief."

  • September 24, 2024

    Google Investors' Atty Defends Fees For $350M Privacy Deal

    Counsel for Google LLC shareholders who reached a $350 million settlement with Alphabet Inc. over claims they were deceived about a 2018 data breach urged a California federal judge Tuesday to approve the deal, including about $66.5 million for attorneys, calling the fees more than reasonable.

  • September 24, 2024

    Eighth Circ. Poised To Weigh FCC's Anti-Redlining Rule

    The Federal Communications Commission is headed to court in St. Louis this week to defend new rules aimed at preventing discrimination in broadband deployment as industry groups opposing the rules fret that enforcement could begin any time.

  • September 24, 2024

    Google Expert Targets DOJ's Ad Tech 'Mistakes And Omissions'

    A Nobel Economics Prize-winning auctions expert on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Justice Department's monopolization case targeting Google's online advertising placement technology, telling a Virginia federal court that it was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the allegedly harmful auctions work.

  • September 24, 2024

    Motorola Ducks Out Of Smartphone Camera Patent Suit

    A federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday decided to end one of the patent lawsuits by a retired businessman over operating smartphone cameras, ruling that "no reasonable jury could conclude Motorola is infringing the patent."

  • September 24, 2024

    Cox Sues RI Over Use Of Broadband Deployment Dollars

    Cox Communications is suing the state of Rhode Island over its plan for using federal Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment Program funding, saying in a new complaint that the plan uses "flawed internet speed data" to justify providing redundant high-speed service in affluent areas that are already well-connected.

  • September 24, 2024

    Dish Owner Tells FCC Device Unlocking Good For Competition

    Dish and its parent company EchoStar are leaning on the Federal Communications Commission to finalize requirements that mobile providers unlock a customer's device within 60 days of them signing up, so they can change carriers if they want.

  • September 24, 2024

    Insurer Says Telecom Co. Not Covered For Marshall Fire Suits

    A Liberty Mutual unit told a Colorado federal court that a subsidiary of Lumen Technologies isn't an additional insured under a policy issued to a construction company, thus making the subsidiary ineligible for coverage of underlying lawsuits alleging that poorly designed telecommunications lines contributed to the 2021 Marshall Fire.

  • September 24, 2024

    Dish Slams 'Entitled' Standard General Exec's Race Bias Suit

    Dish Network has called for sanctions against Soo Kim, his hedge fund Standard General and their attorneys, calling Kim's racial discrimination suit against Dish, the Federal Communications Commission and a collection of other media players "an expensive temper tantrum."

  • September 24, 2024

    Judge Won't Yet Set New Trial For AT&T Exec After Hung Jury

    An Illinois federal judge declined Tuesday to set a new bribery trial date for an AT&T executive accused of illegally influencing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, saying he first wanted to take a "serious look" at the defense's forthcoming motion for acquittal after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict last week.

  • September 24, 2024

    Commercial REIT Unveils $251M IPO As Pipeline Builds

    Real estate investment trust FrontView Inc. on Tuesday launched plans for an estimated $251 million initial public offering, represented by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP and underwriters' counsel DLA Piper LLP, joining a growing IPO pipeline.

  • September 24, 2024

    SEC, CFTC Issue $118M Fines In Latest Text Message Actions

    Federal regulators said Tuesday that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and nearly a dozen other financial firms have agreed to pay fines totaling nearly $120 million to settle recordkeeping violations tied to employee use of unapproved communication methods like text messages to conduct business.

  • September 24, 2024

    Swisscom's €8B Vodafone Italia Deal Gets EU Clearance

    Swisscom AG said Tuesday that Europe's competition authority has cleared its proposed €8 billion ($8.9 billion) acquisition of Vodafone Group PLC's Italian business under the bloc's foreign subsidies rules.

  • September 23, 2024

    Nike, Others Let TikTok 'Fingerprint' Sites, Suits Claim

    Nike, its subsidiary Converse and telehealth company Teladoc were each hit with proposed class actions on Friday in California federal court over allegations that they violated the state's "trap and trace" law by using TikTok software to collect personal data from visitors to their websites.

  • September 23, 2024

    Google Executive Says There's No Internal Ad Tech Advantage

    A Google executive pushed back Monday on some of the U.S. Justice Department's most important allegations of a conflict of interest in the search giant's control over online display advertising placement technology, arguing that website publishers are in charge of how ads are placed and priced.

  • September 23, 2024

    Calif. Gov. Vetoes Privacy Bill, OKs Social Media Addiction Law

    California's governor has refused to enact legislation that would have required browser developers to make it easier for consumers to stop the sale and sharing of their personal information, while approving a bill that will block online platforms from using algorithms to deliver addictive feeds to children without parental consent.

  • September 23, 2024

    Navigation Co. Says Criticisms Of 900 MHz Plan Overblown

    A navigation company that wants to use portions of the lower 900 megahertz band to set up an Earth-based broadband and geolocation network has told the Federal Communications Commission that critics' concerns about interference are overstated.

  • September 23, 2024

    CFTC Fines Piper Sandler $2M In Latest Text Messaging Action

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission both announced settlements Monday in their ongoing probe into the financial industry's use of personal devices to discuss company business, with the CFTC issuing a fine against a subsidiary of Piper Sandler & Co. while the SEC said that a cooperative investment adviser would not have to pay anything. 

  • September 23, 2024

    Radio Station Could Lose FCC License Over $32K In Back Fees

    The Federal Communications Commission is threatening to strip a New Jersey gospel radio station's license over delinquent regulatory fees, telling the station it needs either to pay up, explain why the fees should be waived or risk losing its broadcast license.

  • September 23, 2024

    Frontier Must Face 401(k) Suit Over Verizon Investments

    Frontier Communications Corp. can't dodge a proposed class action alleging its employee 401(k) plan was overinvested in Verizon Wireless and other telecommunications stocks, a Connecticut federal judge ruled, saying the existence of other investment options in the plan couldn't defeat the case.

Expert Analysis

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To 'Right-To-Repair' Laws

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    Oregon’s recently passed "right-to-repair" statute highlights that the R2R movement is not going away, and that manufacturers of all kinds need to be paying attention to the evolving list of R2R statutes in various states and consider participating in the process, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane.

  • New Federal Bill Would Drastically Alter Privacy Landscape

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    While the recently introduced American Privacy Rights Act would eliminate the burdensome patchwork of state regulations, the proposed federal privacy law would also significantly expand compliance obligations and liability exposure for companies, especially those that rely on artificial intelligence or biometric technologies, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.

  • Social Media Free Speech Issues Are Trending At High Court

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision examining what constitutes state action on social media can be viewed in conjunction with oral arguments in two other cases to indicate that the court sees a need for more clarity regarding how social media usage implicates the First Amendment, say attorneys at Kean Miller.

  • Recent Wave Of SEC No-Action Denials May Be Slowing

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March granted no-action relief to Verizon and others on the grounds that a director resignation bylaw proposal would mean violating Delaware law, bucking recent SEC hesitation toward such relief and showing that articulating a basis in state law is a viable path to exclude a proposal, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Series

    Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic

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    Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals

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    Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.

  • SEC Off-Channel Comms Action Hints At Future Enforcement

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    Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent enforcement action against Senvest does not shed light on how the agency will calibrate penalties related to off-channel communications violations, it does suggest that we may see more cases against standalone investment advisers, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Being An Equestrian Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond getting experience thinking on my feet and tackling stressful situations, the skills I've gained from horseback riding have considerable overlap with the skills used to practice law, particularly in terms of team building, continuing education, and making an effort to reset and recharge, says Kerry Irwin at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Fintiv Denials Are On The Rise At PTAB

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    Following last year's CommScope v. Dali decision, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board is increasingly using Fintiv factors to discretionarily deny inter partes review petitions — and attorneys ignore it at their peril, say Josepher Li and Michelle Armond at Armond Wilson.

  • 4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy

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    With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.

  • Practical Pointers After Fed. Circ. Double-Patenting Decision

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    With the Federal Circuit recently denying a full court review of In re: Cellect, a decision regarding obviousness-type double-patenting, affected patent family holders should evaluate their rights through both patent prosecution and future litigation lenses to minimize risks, say Austin Lorch and Jeff Wolfson at Haynes Boone.

  • Patent Lessons From 8 Federal Circuit Reversals In March

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    A number of Federal Circuit patent decisions last month reversed or vacated underlying rulings, providing guidance regarding the definiteness of a claim that include multiple limitations of different scopes, the importance of adequate jury instruction, the proper scope of the precedent, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

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