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Media & Entertainment
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June 20, 2024
Calif. AG, City Atty Target SpongeBob App Over Kids' Privacy
California's attorney general and the Los Angeles city attorney have teamed up to secure a deal that requires the operator of a SpongeBob SquarePants-themed app to pay $500,000 and overhaul its data-handling practices to resolve claims that the company gathered and shared children's personal information without consent.
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June 20, 2024
'Jetflicks' Piracy Trial Results In 5 Convictions In Las Vegas
Following a trial that stretched on for half a month, a federal jury in Las Vegas convicted a group of people who were accused of making more than $1 million running an illegal streaming website called "Jetflicks."
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June 20, 2024
Caltrans Tells FCC It's Against FirstNet Control Of 4.9 GHz
California's Department of Transportation is adding its name to the list of public service entities lining up to tell the Federal Communications Commission that making AT&T's FirstNet the national manager of the 4.9 gigahertz safety band is a bad idea.
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June 20, 2024
Oprah Special Hiked Viacom Price, Archegos Trader Concedes
An attorney for Archegos Capital Management LP founder Bill Hwang attempted Thursday to undercut testimony that the hedge fund boss had total control over his portfolio companies, getting a key cooperator to agree that ViacomCBS Inc.'s share price was at one point boosted by Oprah Winfrey's interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
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June 20, 2024
FCC Slams Bid In 6th Circ. To Put Net Neutrality On Hold
The Federal Communications Commission told the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday it should pay no heed to a collection of net neutrality challengers arguing that "dire consequences" will ensue if the appellate court doesn't stop the agency from reinstating open internet regulations while the two sides argue the matter out in court.
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June 20, 2024
ACC Fights FSU's Stay Appeal In Media Rights Contract Suit
The Atlantic Coast Conference has urged North Carolina's highest court to support a judge's decision to reject a bid by Florida State University to pause the organization's media rights lawsuit while a related action plays out in the Sunshine State.
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June 20, 2024
Madonna Mulls Sanctions Bid After Fans Drop 'Frivolous' Suit
Attorneys defending Madonna, Live Nation and the Barclays Center against allegations that fans were "lulled" into buying tickets for a tardy show slammed the plaintiffs' unannounced dismissal of the "frivolous" case, telling a New York federal judge Wednesday they don't agree to bear their own costs and might seek sanctions.
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June 20, 2024
FCC Allows Top-4 Exception So Gray Can Sell Station
The Federal Communications Commission has granted an exception to its rule prohibiting ownership of stations carrying more than one top-four network in a local market, allowing Gray Television to sell a Cheyenne, Wyoming, station as part of a larger deal.
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June 20, 2024
1st Circ. Says Song Royalties Go To Artists, Not Band Owners
The First Circuit ruled that members of musical groups, not their owners or managers, are due royalties as featured "recording artists" under federal law.
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June 20, 2024
Vegas Papers Can't Pause Suit Amid Trim Appeal, Judge Says
Rival Las Vegas newspapers won't see their acrimonious antitrust dispute placed on ice while the Ninth Circuit contemplates reversal of a partial dismissal order in the matter with no trial dates in place yet, a Nevada federal judge has determined.
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June 20, 2024
First Amendment Bars Models' Likeness Suit, Strip Clubs Say
Three Philadelphia-area strip clubs facing a suit by Carmen Electra and other models over using their likeness without permission told a federal judge the plaintiffs' complaint is barred by the First Amendment because they are public figures "or limited purpose public figures."
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June 20, 2024
DLA Piper Adds 2 Entertainment Attys In NY From Reed Smith
Two entertainment and advertising partners have left Reed Smith LLP to join DLA Piper, including the first woman to serve as the chief negotiator for the Joint Policy Committee, the bargaining representative for the advertising industry in negotiations for the multibillion-dollar commercials collective bargaining agreements with SAG-AFTRA and the American Federation of Musicians.
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June 20, 2024
EchoStar Says Customers Can Skip Junk Fees With Right Info
Dish Network parent company EchoStar is defending early termination fees to the Federal Communications Commission, telling the agency that Dish's 2009 settlement agreement over deceptive charges can serve as a model for FCC billing guidelines.
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June 20, 2024
LA Boutique Adds Real Estate Pro As 4th Name Partner
Boutique entertainment and business legal firm Freedman Taitelman & Cooley LLP is rebranding for the second time in less than a year — adding real estate and business attorney Stuart Liner to the front of the masthead.
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June 20, 2024
Snapchat Inks $15M Deal In Calif. Watchdog's Sex Bias Suit
The parent company of Snapchat agreed to pay $15 million to end a California Civil Rights Department suit alleging it discouraged women from applying for promotions and failed to protect them from inappropriate sexual advances, according to a filing in California state court.
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June 18, 2024
Novant Pays $6.7M For Sharing Patient Data With Facebook
A North Carolina federal judge on Monday gave the final seal of approval to a proposed $6.7 million deal resolving litigation alleging Novant Health Inc. shared sensitive patient data with Facebook, certifying a nationwide settlement class of roughly 1.3 million individuals.
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June 18, 2024
Ex-CBS Sports Chair Denies Fixing NFL Sunday Ticket Price
The recently retired chairman of CBS Sports on Tuesday told a California federal jury considering multibillion-dollar antitrust claims against the NFL that his network didn't collude with the league to fix the price of the DirecTV Sunday Ticket television package.
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June 18, 2024
RR Donnelley Pays $2.1M To Settle SEC Claims Over Hack
Marketing and communications giant R.R. Donnelley & Sons has reached a deal with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission to pay over $2.1 million to settle claims over a 2021 cybersecurity incident that stemmed from poor internal controls and disclosure failures, the agency announced Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
IPhone Buyers Want Canadian Data In Amazon Antitrust Case
Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. must be forced to turn over Canadian sales data as part of a lawsuit accusing the pair of hatching an anticompetitive agreement to choke third-party sales, a group of iPad and iPhone buyers told a Washington federal court.
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June 18, 2024
No Reason To Move Net Neutrality Suits To DC Circ., ISPs Say
Nearly a dozen industry groups are calling on the Sixth Circuit to reject an effort by the Federal Communications Commission to move a raft of lawsuits over the FCC's net neutrality rules to the D.C. Circuit.
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June 18, 2024
9 Firms Vie To Lead Suit Over Ad Tech Co.'s Microsoft Ties
Pomerantz LLP, Levi & Korsinsky LLP and several other firms have filed competing bids to lead a proposed shareholder class action alleging that shares of ad tech company Perion Network declined nearly 40% after its strategic partner Microsoft Bing "unilaterally" changed its search advertising pricing.
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June 18, 2024
Megan Thee Stallion Escapes IP Suit Over 'Savage' Song
A Manhattan federal judge concluded Tuesday that rapper and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion did not rip off music from a hip-hop producer to create her hit song "Savage" in 2020, saying the plaintiff failed to show that she and the other defendants had access to his composition or that the two songs are substantially or strikingly similar.
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June 18, 2024
Anticompetitive Rules Hinder BEAD Fund, Critic Claims
The success or failure of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program lies in the "devilish details," according to one free-market think tank, which says that rules encouraging rate regulation and favoring "gold-plated" fiber technology could soon "cause havoc" if oversight is not rigorous enough.
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June 18, 2024
6th Circ. Asks Who's A 'Consumer' In Meta Data Sharing Case
Sixth Circuit judges questioned how a decades-old federal privacy law aimed at protecting people's video rental history applies to website users, as one customer argued Tuesday that the court should revive claims that Paramount unlawfully shared his data with Meta, Facebook's parent company.
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June 18, 2024
Blackstone Plans Takeover Of Japan's Infocom In $1.7B Deal
Blackstone said Tuesday it is planning to take Japanese digital comic distributor Infocom private in a deal that marks its largest private equity deal ever in Japan, worth 275 billion yen ($1.7 billion).
Expert Analysis
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Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony
In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew
When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.
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Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy
The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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Series
Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System
As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.
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When The Platform Is A Product, Strict Liability Can Attach
A New York state court's recent ruling in Patterson v. Meta, holding that social media platforms can be considered products, appears to be the first of its kind — but if it is upheld and adopted by other courts, the liability implications for internet companies could be incredibly far-reaching, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.
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4 Sectors Will Likely Bear Initial Brunt Of FTC 'Junk Fees' Rule
If the Federal Trade Commission adopts its comprehensive proposed rule to ban unfair or deceptive fees across the U.S. economy, many businesses — including those in the lodging, event ticketing, dining and transportation sectors — will need to reexamine the way they market and price their products and services, say attorneys at Skadden.
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8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy
The rapidly expanding digital creator economy — funding for which more than doubled in the U.S. in the first quarter — comes with its own set of unique legal issues investors must carefully consider before diving in, say Louis Lehot and Alan Pate at Foley & Lardner.
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Action Steps To Address New Restrictions On Outbound Data
Companies should immediately assess all their data-based operations so they can consider strategies to effectively mitigate new compliance risks brought on by recently implemented transaction restrictions, including a Justice Department proposal and landmark data legislation, say attorneys at Wiley.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
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CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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How Copyright Office AI Standards Depart From Precedent
The U.S. Copyright Office's recent departure from decades of precedent for technology-assisted works, and express refusal to grant protection to artificial intelligence-assisted works, may change as the dust settles around ancillary copyright issues for AI currently pending in litigation, says Kristine Craig at Hanson Bridgett.
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Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes
Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.