Media & Entertainment

  • December 03, 2024

    Fla. High Court Takes Up Ex-Marvel Exec's Hate Mail Dispute

    The Florida Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up the question of whether former Marvel Entertainment chair Ike Perlmutter can request punitive damages in a case against his neighbor in a long-running defamation dispute over hate mail.

  • December 03, 2024

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    December's appellate forecast calls for a squall of showdowns in a tiny time period before the holidays, including arguments involving recent U.S. Supreme Court cases, Big Tech's patents and popular purveyors of health food. In addition, winds of change are swirling around the White House's litigation posture and judicial nominations, and we'll quiz you on the latter in this edition of Wheeling & Appealing.

  • December 03, 2024

    OpenAI Must Disclose Execs' Messages To News Orgs.

    The New York Times, Daily News, other news organizations and writers can gain access to the social media messages of executives at OpenAI in their litigation accusing the company of using copyright-protected material to train ChatGPT after a New York judge rejected efforts to block the disclosure of the messages.

  • December 03, 2024

    Judge Denies News Orgs. Bid To Unseal FTX Customer Names

    A Delaware federal judge on Tuesday said he wouldn't reverse an order allowing defunct crypto platform FTX Trading Ltd. to keep customer names out of public bankruptcy filings, rejecting an appeal from major news outlets to unseal the information and writing that sealing the information preserved FTX's assets and protected creditors from cybercrime.

  • December 03, 2024

    Mattel's 'Wicked' Doll Boxes Linked To Porn Site, Mom Says

    Mattel was hit with a proposed class action Tuesday in California federal court by a mother who alleged she bought the toy giant's line of "Wicked" dolls based on the film for her young daughter, only to find out afterward the packaging featured a hyperlink leading to a pornographic website.

  • December 03, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says It's Too Late To Fight Over Funkadelic Songs

    The Second Circuit has decided that it's a few decades too late for the courts to weigh in on a "genuine" copyright dispute between two feuding record labels that both claim to own some songs written by Funkadelic bandleader George Clinton in the late 1960s.

  • December 03, 2024

    Google Wants Ad Tech Claims In Texas Heard By Judge, Not Jury

    Google is pushing to have the Texas-led antitrust case targeting its digital ad technology tried to a judge instead of a jury, saying state enforcers are not entitled to have a jury decide whether the company violated the law or what penalties should be imposed if it did.

  • December 03, 2024

    Lizzo Designer's Harassment, Unpaid OT Claims Clipped

    A California federal court threw out several claims in a lawsuit launched against Lizzo and her touring company by a fashion designer who created custom pieces for the singer on tour, finding the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn't apply to work performed in Europe.

  • December 03, 2024

    Gov't Floats Sharing Plan For Lower 37 GHz Airwaves

    The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it was recommending shared use of the lower 37 gigahertz spectrum band among government and private-sector users.

  • December 03, 2024

    Data Caps Harm Consumers, Rural Electric Co-Ops Tell FCC

    As the Federal Communications Commission considers the impact of data caps some broadband providers impose on internet service plans, rural electric cooperatives have told the commission that caps are bad for consumers and that their own business model for broadband does not involve such usage limits.

  • December 03, 2024

    No Standing In 'Threadbare' Voice Assistant Suit, Google Says

    Google wants a D.C. federal judge to toss a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of blocking rival voice assistant products from running on Android and other devices, contending that the complaint has failed to articulate an injury "with even a modicum of detail."

  • December 03, 2024

    Trump Argues Immunity Extends To Local Prosecutions

    President-elect Donald Trump told the New York state judge presiding over his hush money case that the criminal charges and guilty verdict should be thrown out, arguing in an expansive motion released Tuesday that allowing a local prosecution to proceed would upset the republic's balance of power.

  • December 03, 2024

    Harvey Weinstein Gets March Trial Date In LA Civil Rape Suit

    A California judge on Tuesday set a March trial date for a civil lawsuit brought by a woman whom Harvey Weinstein was convicted of raping, saying the disgraced movie producer's age and poor medical condition outweigh the plaintiff's desire to pause proceedings until a criminal appeal concludes.

  • December 03, 2024

    Tech Giants Seek Firm's Communications With Elusive Client

    Apple and Amazon want Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP to turn over texts and emails with a client who disappeared from a putative class action against the tech giants, to determine whether the plaintiff consented to the case continuing in his absence.

  • December 03, 2024

    Alex Jones Atty Seeks Leniency Over Sandy Hook 'Mistake'

    The lead attorney in Infowars host Alex Jones' $1.44 billion Connecticut defamation trial admits he "made a mistake" when he approved sending several Sandy Hook Elementary School victims' confidential records to other Jones attorneys, saying Tuesday he should receive either no discipline or a reprimand in a pared-down case.

  • December 03, 2024

    Film Financing Firm Gets OK For Ch. 11 Auction In January

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge gave Film Finance Inc., a company that offers financing for high-profile film projects, the go-ahead Tuesday to put itself on the auction block early next year after dropping protections for its baseline bidder that had attracted the ire of the U.S. Trustee's Office.

  • December 03, 2024

    FCC Aims To Protect Weather Sensors With 24 GHz Rules

    The Federal Communications Commission has passed new rules for radiofrequency emissions limits in the 24 gigahertz spectrum band to align with an international ruling from 2019 aimed at protecting vulnerable meteorological sensors that are assigned to a nearby band of frequencies.

  • December 03, 2024

    OneTaste Execs Say Former Member's Journals Fabricated

    Two former OneTaste executives facing forced labor conspiracy charges claim a former employee's journals were fabricated for a Netflix documentary about the sexual wellness company and were further edited by an FBI agent before being produced to the defense in discovery.

  • December 02, 2024

    Girardi Won't Get New Fraud Trial Despite Memory Claims

    A California federal judge on Monday denied Tom Girardi's bid for a new trial after a jury found he misappropriated $15 million worth of client settlement funds, standing by a prior assessment that the disbarred attorney was "exaggerating" symptoms of mild cognitive impairment.

  • December 02, 2024

    Google Can't Yet Appeal Ruling Preserving Kids Tracking Suit

    A California federal judge on Monday declined to let Google immediately appeal his earlier ruling leaving intact allegations the search giant surreptitiously tracks children's web activity, finding Google hasn't shown that the issues underlying that ruling warrant an appeal at this stage in the litigation.

  • December 02, 2024

    PTAB Presses Play On Playrix's Challenge To Video Game IP

    A ruling from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director changing the meaning of a claim in a video game patent was enough for the agency's administrative board to now move forward with a challenge over patented software cited in a Texas lawsuit lodged against mobile game developer Playrix.

  • December 02, 2024

    McDonalds Can't Nix $10B Bias Suit Despite 'Close Call'

    A California federal judge has refused to hand a summary judgment win to either party in Byron Allen's $10 billion lawsuit alleging that McDonald's Corp. discriminates against Black-owned media companies, finding that the discrimination allegations are a "close call" involving factual disputes that must be decided at trial.

  • December 02, 2024

    Meta Can't Dodge $25M Fine For Wash. Election Ads

    Facebook parent company Meta must pay $25 million in fines for repeatedly running afoul of Washington state's political advertising transparency law, a state appellate panel ruled Monday, finding the technology giant's free speech rights were not violated by being forced to comply with the law.

  • December 02, 2024

    Influencer Hasn't Shown She's 'Special' In IP Row, Rival Says

    An influencer hasn't backed up her claims that she's "unique" and "special" in her case accusing a competitor of copying her social media aesthetic, the rival told a Texas federal court, asking it to reject a magistrate judge's recommendations to keep much of the case alive.

  • December 02, 2024

    Filmmaker Says He Didn't Infringe IP With Beirut Documentary

    An independent filmmaker and his company have launched a suit in Ohio federal court seeking a declaration that they never infringed any copyright owned by a nonprofit while making a documentary about the 1983 U.S. Marine barracks bombings in Beirut.

Expert Analysis

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • Influencer Considerations As FINRA Initiates Crackdown

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    To avert risks when evaluating influencer and referral programs, firms should assess the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's recent settlements involving the supervision of social media tastemakers, as well as recent FINRA guidance in this area, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • 15 Quick Tips For Uncovering And Mitigating Juror Biases

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    As highlighted by the recent jury selection process in the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump, juror bias presents formidable challenges for defendants, and attorneys must employ proactive strategies — both new and old — to blunt its impact, say Monica Delgado and Jonathan Harris at Harris St. Laurent.

  • Legal Issues To Watch As Deepfake Voices Proliferate

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    With increasingly sophisticated and accessible voice-cloning technology raising social, ethical and legal questions, particularly in the entertainment industry and politics, further legislative intervention and court proceedings seem very likely, say Shruti Chopra and Paul Joseph at Linklaters.

  • Car Apps, Abuse Survivor Safety And The FCC: Key Questions

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    A recent request for comment from the Federal Communications Commission, concerning how to protect the privacy of domestic violence survivors who use connected car services, raises key questions, including whether the FCC has the legal authority to limit access to a vehicle's connected features to survivors only, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

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    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.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    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.

  • Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

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    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.

  • Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy

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    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.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

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    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.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    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.

  • When The Platform Is A Product, Strict Liability Can Attach

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    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.

  • 4 Sectors Will Likely Bear Initial Brunt Of FTC 'Junk Fees' Rule

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    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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