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Cybersecurity & Privacy
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September 04, 2024
Nonsolicits Don't Need Geographic Terms, Ga. Justices Say
The Supreme Court of Georgia said on Wednesday that restrictive covenants don't need to contain an explicit territorial component for them to be deemed reasonable under state law, reviving a marketing organization's attempt to enforce a nonsolicitation provision in its contracts with independent agents.
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September 04, 2024
Dynapass Drops Patent Suit Against Bank Of America
A litigation outfit has agreed to drop its patent infringement allegations against Bank of America, ending a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas over the programming behind user-authentication software.
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September 04, 2024
Colgate-Palmolive Reaches Deal In 401(k) Cyber Theft Suit
A New York federal court on Wednesday dismissed a retired Colgate-Palmolive marketing executive's suit alleging her employer and a benefits administrator breached federal benefits law by allowing a thief to drain more than $750,000 from her account online, after parties reached a tentative settlement.
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September 04, 2024
Amazon Disclosures Doom Prime Viewers' Deception Claims
A Washington federal judge on Tuesday threw out Amazon Prime subscribers' claims that the company illegally disclosed their personal viewing habits, axing some of their state law consumer protection allegations for good while providing an avenue for them to amend their federal claims.
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September 04, 2024
9th Circ. Blocks Calif.'s Social Media Content Disclosure Law
The Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that a trial judge wrongly denied X Corp.'s bid to block parts of a new California law that requires social media giants to disclose their content-moderation policies, finding that provisions requiring the companies to disclose how and whether they define extreme content are likely unconstitutional.
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September 04, 2024
NC Biz Court Bulletin: Blackbeard IP Fight, Firm Data Breach
As summer winds down, the North Carolina Business Court tackled usage rights pertaining to footage and artifacts from Blackbeard's shipwreck while grappling with uncovering the details of a cyberattack that exposed the data of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP. In case you missed those and others, here are the highlights.
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September 04, 2024
Samsung Says It Doesn't Access Face-App Scans
Samsung told an Illinois federal judge on Wednesday it is time to dismiss for good a proposed class action alleging the company unlawfully collects biometric data from smartphone and tablet users, arguing facial-recognition technology data is locally stored and not accessible to, or stored by, the company.
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September 04, 2024
Ga. Justices Affirm Rejection Of Class In Patient Privacy Suit
The Georgia Supreme Court said Wednesday that a Fulton County trial court acted within its discretion when it denied class certification for a suit over a release of patient records from a private mental health hospital, overturning a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling.
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September 04, 2024
AI Musician Duped Streaming Giants To Steal $10M, Feds Say
A North Carolina man streamed thousands of artificial intelligence-generated songs to dupe streaming giants like Spotify and YouTube and generate $10 million in an elaborate scam, federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind case.
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September 03, 2024
3rd Circ. Preview: Starbucks Firing, Liquor Law In September
Two National Labor Relations Board cases grace the Third Circuit's September session, when panels will probe the agency's suits against Starbucks Corp. for firing Philadelphia workers attempting to unionize and a plastic company accused of firing a safety whistleblower.
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September 03, 2024
SEC Fines 6 Credit Rating Firms $49M Over Texting Records
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that six nationally recognized statistical rating organizations agreed to pay a combined $49 million for failing to preserve electronic communications, the latest wave of settlements in an ongoing crackdown that has yielded billions in fines.
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September 03, 2024
No BIPA Exception For OTC Glasses, Ill. Judges Say
An Illinois appellate court has held that someone trying on nonprescription sunglasses with an online try-on tool isn't considered a patient in a healthcare setting, dooming a glasses retailer's attempt to end the biometric privacy lawsuit it faces.
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September 03, 2024
FCC Urged To Trim Rule Proposal For Blocking Spam Texts
Wireless carriers want the Federal Communications Commission to scale back a proposed rule for blocking spam texts to ensure legitimate messages can still go through despite tighter standards.
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September 03, 2024
FCC Bans Kaspersky Software In Authorized Equipment
The Federal Communications Commission is banning the use of certain Russian-made cybersecurity and antivirus software from Kaspersky Labs in agency-authorized telecommunications equipment, months after the U.S. Department of Commerce said the software could pose national security risks.
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September 03, 2024
Bain One-Ups KKR's $4B-Plus Bid In Battle For Fuji Soft
Private equity firm Bain Capital said Tuesday that it made a nonbinding offer to take Fuji Soft private, as Bain pushed the Japanese software developer to open up formal discussions for the $4 billion-plus tender offer so it has a chance to beat out rival bidder KKR.
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September 03, 2024
Founder Of Gibson Dunn Privacy Practice Joins McDermott
McDermott Will & Emery on Tuesday announced the firm added litigator Alexander Southwell, a former federal prosecutor who founded and co-led the privacy, cybersecurity and data innovation practice at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
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September 03, 2024
Former Aide To NY Gov. Indicted On Foreign Agent Charges
A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo was arrested Tuesday on allegations of secretly acting as an agent of China's government in a yearslong political conspiracy to promote the interests of the Chinese Communist Party and reap millions of dollars.
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August 30, 2024
Pa. County's Voting Machine Inspections Cost It $1M In Fees
A Pennsylvania county whose commissioners violated a court order by allowing outside inspectors to access its voting machines should pay Dominion Voting Systems and the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth more than $1 million in legal fees as part of the state supreme court's sanctions, an appellate judge recommended Friday.
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August 30, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Double Software Co.'s $13.5M Trade Secret Win
The Ninth Circuit on Friday affirmed a lower court's denial of a request by software company Proofpoint Inc. for exemplary damages that could have doubled its $13.5 million trade secret theft verdict, ruling that any error the district court made in denying the damages is harmless.
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August 30, 2024
CrowdStrike VP Called To House Hearing On Global IT Outage
A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee will dig into the faulty CrowdStrike software update that caused a massive global tech outage, revealing plans Friday for a September hearing that will feature testimony from a senior executive at the cybersecurity firm.
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August 30, 2024
UK Drops Antitrust Probe Into School Software Co.
A United Kingdom school software company is no longer facing antitrust scrutiny over alleged litigation threats against schools looking to switch providers, but the firm continues to suggest that it may take action against the "misuse of its intellectual property" that it says complaints to authorities were meant to hide.
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August 30, 2024
Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action
Appeals courts have awakened from summertime slumber and crammed their early autumn calendars with arguments of national significance, which Law360 previews in this edition of Wheeling & Appealing. We're also recapping August's top appellate decisions, exploring new polling about U.S. Supreme Court opinions and testing your knowledge of Fifth Circuit history.
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August 30, 2024
New York Magazine Reader Drops Suit Over Data Disclosures
A subscriber to New York magazine has voluntarily dropped a potential class action accusing the periodical's publisher of violating a Michigan consumer privacy law by wrongfully disclosing readers' data to third parties.
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August 30, 2024
Period Tracker App Users Seek Class Cert. In Data-Selling Suit
Users of the menstrual cycle tracking app Flo Health Inc. are seeking class certification in their suit against Flo, Google and Meta, telling a California federal judge the proposed class would include millions of users whose personal health information was sold to the ad giants without consent.
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August 30, 2024
Conn. Mayor Says Scam Cost Town $208K, Finance Chief Out
The mayor of a Connecticut town has announced that it was the victim of a "social engineering scam" that cost it about $208,000, leading to the resignation of the town's finance director, although it has since recouped half the stolen funds.
Expert Analysis
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Election Outlook: A Precedent Primer On Content Moderation
With the 2024 election season now in full swing, online platforms will face difficult and politically sensitive decisions about content moderation, but U.S. Supreme Court decisions from last term offer much-needed certainty about their rights, say Jonathan Blavin and Helen White at Munger Tolles.
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What BIPA Reform Law Means For Biometrics Litigation
A recently signed Illinois law amending the Biometric Information Privacy Act limits defendants' liability exposure on a per-scan basis and clarifies that electronic signatures constitute a valid written release, establishing additional issues that courts will need to address in future BIPA litigation, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.
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6 Considerations To Determine If A Cyber Incident Is Material
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent guidance on material cybersecurity incidents covers a range of ransomware scenarios, from a company paying a sum and regaining operations to recovering payment via cyberinsurance, but makes it clear that no single factor determines whether a cybersecurity incident is material, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.
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Series
After Chevron: What To Expect In Consumer Protection At FTC
Although the Federal Trade Commission's bread-and-butter consumer protection law enforcement actions are unlikely to be affected, the Loper Bright decision may curb the FTC's bolder interpretations of the statutes it enforces, says Mary Engle at BBB National Programs.
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The Ethics of Using Generative AI In Environmental Law
The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools is challenging environmental lawyers, consultants and government agencies to determine when and how these tools can be responsibly, ethically and productively integrated into their practices to streamline research, predictive analytics and regulatory compliance, say Ahlia Bethea and Pamela Esterman at Sive Paget.
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RealPage Suit Shows Growing Algorithm, AI Pricing Scrutiny
The U.S. Department of Justice's suit against RealPage for helping fix rental rates, filed last week, demonstrates how the use of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools to assist with pricing decisions is drawing increasing scrutiny and action across government agencies, and specifically at the Federal Trade Commission and the DOJ, say Andre Geverola and Leah Harrell at Arnold & Porter.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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CrowdStrike Incident Highlights Third-Party Risk For Banks
The global business disruptions caused by CrowdStrike's faulty software update last month serves as a reminder that banks should assess operational and compliance risks associated with third-party service providers and create resiliency plans extending down to fourth- and fifth-level providers, says Craig Landrum at Jones Walker.
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Foreign Threat Actors Pose Novel Risks To US Tech Cos.
A recent bulletin jointly issued by several U.S. intelligence agencies warns technology startups and the venture capital community about national security risks posed by foreign threat actors, so companies interested in raising foreign capital should watch for several red flags, say Robert Friedman and Jacob Marco at Holland & Knight.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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4 Steps To Address New Sanctions Time Bar Extension
Recent guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control clarifies details of the newly extended statute of limitations for civil and criminal enforcement of U.S. sanctions law, so compliance teams should implement key updates, including to lookback periods and recordkeeping policies, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Incident Response Lessons From The CrowdStrike Failure
CrowdStrike's incident highlights a growing problem within modern digital infrastructures — single points of failure that cause widespread disruption when things go wrong — so organizations should carefully review their digital infrastructure to identify unique areas of exposure or vulnerability, say Erik Dullea at Husch Blackwell and Kip Boyle at Cyber Risk Opportunities.