California

  • April 21, 2025

    CBS, Male Writer End Bias Suit Over Diversity Quotas

    CBS Studios Inc. and its parent have agreed to end a lawsuit brought by a straight white male freelance writer who accused CBS of discriminating against him by repeatedly choosing to hire more diverse candidates for writer roles, according to a stipulation filed in California federal court Friday.

  • April 21, 2025

    Sacramento State Prof Can Take Race Bias Claims To Trial

    A California federal judge is sending race bias claims by a Black lecturer at Sacramento State University to trial, finding a jury needs to parse through his allegations that a colleague may have attempted to sabotage his application to a tenure-track role on the basis of discrimination. 

  • April 21, 2025

    Eateries Owner Gets 3 Years For Tax, COVID Fraud

    A restaurant owner who committed tax crimes and illegally collected more than $1.7 million in pandemic relief money was sentenced to more than three years in prison by a California federal judge, a fraction of the sentence urged by prosecutors who pointed to millions in cash hidden in his bedroom.

  • April 21, 2025

    Davis Wright Brings On MoFo Employment Ace In Bay Area

    Davis Wright Tremaine LLP announced Monday that the firm has fortified its employment class action group with a partner in San Francisco who came aboard from Morrison Foerster LLP.

  • April 19, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: Q1 Dealmakers, Tariff Tension

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including the law firms that guided the 10 largest real estate deals of the first quarter, and how dealmakers and companies have been navigating uncertainty in the market.

  • April 18, 2025

    No Privilege For Litigation Funder In Netflix Case, Judge Says

    A Virginia federal judge said Friday "it is clear" a Finnish executive cannot claim any kind of attorney-client privilege over his relationship with a litigation funder, after his former lawyer was accused of sharing confidential financial information about Netflix Inc. related to a failed patent case against the streaming service.

  • April 18, 2025

    Qualcomm Judge Bemoans 'Inefficiency' In Patent Fights

    A Florida federal judge has scheduled a third hearing on claim construction in a ParkerVision Inc. lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc. over wireless communications patents, while commenting about "the inefficiency of patent litigation."

  • April 18, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Rethink Nixed Zillow, NAR Antitrust Case

    The Ninth Circuit won't be rethinking a panel decision refusing to revive a defunct brokerage platform's case accusing Zillow and the National Association of Realtors of anticompetitively relegating its listings from Zillow's main page.

  • April 18, 2025

    Democratic AGs Say Trump Illegally Fired FTC Commissioners

    Attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia filed an amicus brief Friday in D.C. federal court backing two fired Democratic Federal Trade Commission members, writing that President Donald Trump's actions violate federal law prohibiting their removal except for cause. 

  • April 18, 2025

    Stewart Ends IPRs Of Patent Hulu Already Got Axed In Court

    The acting head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has thrown out a pair of Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions granting Hulu's bids to review a patent on inserting ads in media content.

  • April 18, 2025

    DOJ Accuses Uniform Supplier Of Dodging Customs Duties

    The U.S. Department of Justice has slapped a fast food uniform supplier and its Chinese-based manufacturers with a complaint in California federal court, alleging they conspired to underpay customs duties owed on apparel imported from China. 

  • April 18, 2025

    IP Notebook: AI Prompts, DMCA Battle, Squishmallows Scuffle

    Welcome to IP Notebook, a recurring series that highlights disputes and legal developments that raise novel or crucial questions in the trademark and copyright space.

  • April 18, 2025

    FTC's Southern Glazer's Pricing Case Preserved

    A California federal judge refused to toss the Federal Trade Commission's price discrimination lawsuit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits LLC, concluding the alcohol distribution giant moves liquor around enough to trigger interstate commerce and that the FTC has adequately alleged unfair treatment of mom-and-pop stores relative to big box retailers.

  • April 18, 2025

    How Manatt Beat A Crypto Trader's 'Code As Law' Defense

    After a crypto user exploited a software bug to create millions of dollars' worth of new tokens from a blockchain network, a Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP team defeated his claim to the tokens — and won an award worth millions — by showing that faulty code can't stand in for rule of law.

  • April 18, 2025

    Block Execs Failed To Prevent 'Illicit Activities,' Suit Says

    A Block Inc. shareholder claims in a new suit that the fintech company's top brass, which includes former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey, failed to prevent illicit activities like money laundering, child sexual abuse and terrorism financing on its platform, causing damage to the company's reputation and investors as a result.

  • April 18, 2025

    Judge Nixes Feds' DQ Bid In Migrant Kids Legal Funding Case

    A California federal judge has denied the Trump administration's bid to remove her from a lawsuit challenging funding cuts that prevent attorneys from representing child migrants, ruling her employment at one of the plaintiffs nearly seven years ago doesn't undermine her impartiality.

  • April 18, 2025

    Swiss-Italian Man Seeks To Block IRS Getting Data From Apple

    A Swiss-Italian man is seeking to quash an IRS summons on Apple Inc. to produce records linked to his account as part of a probe into his Swiss income tax liabilities, according to a petition filed in California federal court.

  • April 18, 2025

    Tesla Settles Black Production Worker's Race Bias Suit

    Tesla has agreed to settle a Black former production worker's suit claiming she was called racist slurs on the job and retaliated against for complaining that the facility fostered a culture of discrimination, according to a California federal court filing.

  • April 18, 2025

    Off The Bench: Maine Sued Over Trans Ban, NIL Deal Tweaked

    In this week's Off The Bench, the Trump administration takes aim at Maine's policy on transgender athletes, the NCAA's settlement with athletes stands firm on a contentious clause, and a university that displayed a controversial quiz question at a football game settles with the quiz's creator.

  • April 18, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Global Payments Inc. buys Worldpay from GTCR and FIS, Intel Corp. sells a stake in its Altera business to Silver Lake, KKR acquires OSTTRA from S&P Global and CME Group, and Canada's Capital Power Corp. nabs two U.S. natural gas power plants.

  • April 17, 2025

    Apple Slams Claim Amber Alert On AirPod Hurt Boy's Hearing

    Apple urged a California federal judge Thursday to toss claims that a set of AirPod Pro earbuds was defective, causing an Amber alert to damage a 12-year-old boy's hearing, saying there's no evidence the notification could have caused the injury and the family's expert didn't rule out COVID-19 as the cause.

  • April 17, 2025

    Musk Blames Twitter Investors For 'Languish' In Case

    Elon Musk on Thursday pushed back against a trial schedule proposed by a class of former Twitter investors in litigation accusing the right-wing billionaire of intentionally tanking the social media platform's stock price, saying the investors have caused the case to "languish."

  • April 17, 2025

    Another Xerox Patent Bites The Dust At Fed. Circ.

    Federal Circuit judges on Thursday affirmed yet another patent board ruling that scratched out claims in a patent issued to a Xerox unit that was asserted against a trio of major social media companies.

  • April 17, 2025

    9th Circ. Signals Support For Tribes' Cultural Loss Claims

    A Ninth Circuit panel was skeptical Thursday that a Teck Resources unit could dodge the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation's claims for tribal service losses stemming from a smelter's Columbia River pollution, with one judge saying Teck's argument was "splitting hairs."

  • April 17, 2025

    Weight Watchers Fakes Limited-Time Sales, Suit Says

    Two California women on Wednesday hauled Weight Watchers into California federal court, alleging in a putative class action that the diet program company made up fake sales with fake limited-time offer periods to induce consumers into signing up for multimonth memberships.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating The Growing Thicket Of 'Right To Repair' Laws

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    An emerging patchwork of state laws on the right to repair creates tensions with traditional intellectual property and competition principles, so manufacturers should plan proactively for legal disputes and minimize potential for rival third-party repairs to weaponize state laws, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Unpacking First Consumer Claim Under Wash. Health Data Act

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    The first consumer class action claim filed under Washington's My Health My Data Act, Maxwell v. Amazon.com, may answer questions counsel have been contending with since the law was introduced almost a year ago, if the court takes the opportunity to interpret some of more opaque language, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

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    U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.

  • Implementation, Constitutional Issues With Birthright Order

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    President Donald Trump's executive order reinterpreting the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship clause presents unavoidable administrative problems and raises serious constitutional concerns about the validity of many existing federal laws and regulations, says Eric Schnapper at the University of Washington School of Law.

  • A Close-Up Look At DOJ's Challenge To HPE-Juniper Deal

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    The outcome of the Justice Department's challenge to Hewlett Packard Enterprise's proposed $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks will likely hinge on several key issues, including market dynamics and shares, internal documents, and questions about innovation and customer harm, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Justices Likely To Issue Narrow Ruling In $1.3B Award Dispute

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    After last week's argument in Devas v. Antrix, the Supreme Court appears likely to reverse the holding that minimum contacts are required before a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state and remand the case for further litigation on other important constitutional questions, say attorneys at Cleary. 

  • AG Watch: Texas Is Entering New Privacy Enforcement Era

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    The state of Texas' recent suit against Allstate is the culmination of a long-standing commitment to vigorously enforcing privacy laws in the state, and while still in the early stages, it offers several important insights for companies and privacy practitioners, says Paul Singer at Kelley Drye.

  • IRS Scrutiny May Underlie Move Away From NIL Collectives

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    The University of Colorado's January announcement that it was severing its partnership with a name, image and likeness collective is part of universities' recent push to move NIL activities in-house, seemingly motivated by tax implications and increased scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.

  • 6 Laws Transforming Calif.'s Health Regulatory Framework

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    Attorneys at Hooper Lundy discuss a number of new California laws that raise pressing issues for independent physicians and small practice groups, ranging from the use of artificial intelligence to wage standards for healthcare employees.

  • Opinion

    NCAA Name, Image, Likeness Settlement Is A $2.8B Mistake

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    While the plaintiffs in House v. NCAA might call the proposed settlement on name, image and likeness payments for college athletes a breakthrough, it's a legally dubious Band-Aid that props up a system favoring a select handful of male athletes at the expense of countless others, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

  • Implications Of Kid Privacy Rule Revamp For Parents, Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent amendments to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act will expand protections for children online, meaning parents will have greater control over their children's data and tech companies must potentially change their current privacy practices — or risk noncompliance, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

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    If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

  • Anticipating Calif. Oversight Of PE Participation In Healthcare

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    A new bill recently introduced in the California Senate revives last year's attempt to increase oversight of healthcare transactions involving private equity groups and hedge funds, meaning that attorneys may soon need to assess the compliance status of existing management relationships and consider modifying contract terms, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.

  • Recent Cases Suggest ESG Means 'Ever-Shifting Guidelines'

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    U.S. courts have recently handed down a number of contradictory decisions on important environmental, social and governance issues, adding to an already complex mix of conflicting political priorities, new laws and changing regulatory guidance — but there are steps that companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Pepperdine Case Highlights Shift In Collegiate IP Landscape

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    A complaint filed by Pepperdine University against Netflix and Warner Bros. two weeks ago alleges that a comedy series unlawfully copies the school's trademarks, and the decision could reshape the portrayal of collegiate athletics on screen and the legal tools schools use to defend their emblems, says Mindy Lewis at Michelman & Robinson.

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