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Media & Entertainment
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August 27, 2024
Disney Wipes Out Verdict In Movie Graphics Copyright Suit
Walt Disney Pictures does not have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in copyright infringement damages a jury said it owes to a digital-effects company after a California federal judge overturned the verdict and granted the entertainment company a post-trial victory.
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August 27, 2024
Broadcaster Settles With FCC For $8K Over Stock Transfers
An Arkansas radio broadcaster will pay an $8,000 fine to settle a Federal Communications Commission probe into unauthorized changes in control of the company's stock that occurred over two years.
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August 27, 2024
FCC Urged To Include Streetlight Poles In Deployment Regs
It's time for the Federal Communications Commission to clarify that streetlight poles are utility poles as far as the Communications Act's mandates on pole attachments are concerned, a trade group and the country's biggest mobile companies have teamed up to tell the agency.
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August 27, 2024
Hip-Hop Label Misclassified, Underpaid Performers, Suit Says
Rapper DaBaby's hip-hop label misclassified performers as independent contractors to avoid paying them overtime and minimum wages and dictated when they were allowed to eat and use the bathroom, according to a proposed class action filed in California state court.
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August 27, 2024
3rd Circ. Axes Kavanaugh Classmate's HuffPo Defamation Suit
A lower court was right to nix a defamation lawsuit by a former classmate of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh against The Huffington Post because the suit is time-barred no matter which state's law governs it, the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday.
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August 27, 2024
SpaceX, T-Mobile Seek Speedy Action On Mobile 'Dead Zones'
SpaceX and T-Mobile last week continued to push the Federal Communications Commission to approve Starlink's planned direct-to-cellular service in light of the agency's approval of rules allowing satellite companies to join with terrestrial mobile providers to fill gaps in wireless service.
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August 27, 2024
NTIA Gathers Info On Best Techs For Reaching Remote Areas
As the government continues rolling out a $42.5 billion spending program to deploy broadband to unserved areas, the U.S. Department of Commerce has asked the public to help identify technologies suitable for connecting the most remote and hard-to-reach areas.
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August 27, 2024
SXSW, Chubb Unit Settle Ticket Coverage Dispute
The organizers of the South by Southwest festival and a Chubb insurer told a Texas federal court they settled their dispute over coverage for costs stemming from a class action by ticket holders seeking refunds after the 2020 festival was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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August 27, 2024
3 Firms Build $314M Events.com SPAC Merger
Event management platform Events.com plans to go public by merging with Concord Acquisition Corp. II at an estimated $314 million value, both parties announced on Tuesday, through a deal guided by three law firms.
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August 27, 2024
Disbarred Atty Tom Girardi Convicted Of Defrauding Clients
A California federal jury on Tuesday convicted disbarred attorney Tom Girardi on all four counts of wire fraud, finding that the former titan of the plaintiffs bar misappropriated $15 million of his clients' settlement funds.
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August 27, 2024
Google Wants Out Of IP Suit Over Pirated Books
Google asked a Manhattan federal judge to dismiss allegations that it allowed advertisements to be shown to users from websites that sell pirated textbooks, claiming it has no ability to supervise those sites and isn't profiting from alleged pirating.
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August 27, 2024
Sony, Zee Drop Dispute Over Failed $10B India Media Deal
Zee Entertainment and Sony Group's India unit have reached a noncash settlement to end their dispute over the $10 billion merger deal that unraveled earlier this year, with the companies stating Tuesday they will withdraw all legal claims against each other.
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August 27, 2024
Va. Ad Tech Judge Warns Google Over Chat Deletion
Google's defense of its advertising technology could get a little harder after a Virginia federal judge on Tuesday kept the door open to assuming that deleted internal chats hid evidence that would support U.S. Department of Justice monopolization claims bound for a bench trial next month.
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August 26, 2024
Bronfman Scraps Paramount Bid, Paving Way For Skydance
Media executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. has dropped his reported $6 billion bid to buy Paramount Global just days after the offer was disclosed, opening a path for Paramount to close its merger agreement with Skydance Media.
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August 26, 2024
$4.4M Award Against Cheat Code Site Upheld At 9th Circ.
A website that circulated cheat codes for the video game "Destiny 2" failed to convince the Ninth Circuit on Monday that it got an unfair shake in front of an arbitrator who told the site to pay $4.4 million for breaking copyright and trademark laws.
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August 26, 2024
RFK Jr. Loses Bid To Get Vax Censorship Injunction At 9th Circ.
The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed a decision rejecting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to get an injunction in his case alleging Google violated his First Amendment rights by removing his YouTube videos doubting the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.
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August 26, 2024
Girardi Lied 'Over And Over,' Jury Told As Fraud Trial Wraps
A federal prosecutor told a California federal jury during closing arguments in Tom Girardi's criminal fraud trial Monday that the now-disbarred attorney lied to his clients "over and over and over again" in order to misappropriate millions of their settlement money as part of a yearslong Ponzi scheme.
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August 26, 2024
Army Corps Looks To Trim Claims In Alaskan Gold Mine Row
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has told an Alaska federal judge that most of the claims asserted by a small village that's trying to thwart an open pit gold mine can't be supported and should be dismissed.
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August 26, 2024
Firm Wants Award Nixed Over DLA Piper, Arbitrator Ties
Fortis Advisors is urging a Delaware court to vacate an arbitral award favoring gaming company Stillfront following its 2019 purchase of a Canadian video game company, arguing that an accounting firm hired to adjudicate the dispute and Stillfront's counsel at DLA Piper hid a "web of relationships" between them.
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August 26, 2024
Former Google Execs Fight Ad Tech Trial Subpoenas
Former Google vice presidents and other company managers have filed a series of motions asking a Virginia federal judge to block U.S. Department of Justice subpoenas trying to force their testimony at next month's advertising technology monopolization trial, arguing their live participation is unneeded and improperly demanded.
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August 26, 2024
Store Seeks Coverage For Murdaugh Boat Crash-Related Suit
A convenience store accused of negligently selling alcohol to disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh's underage son, who later crashed a boat that led to a girl's death, sought coverage from its insurers for a related civil conspiracy lawsuit, maintaining that the suit falls within its policies' scope of coverage.
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August 26, 2024
Ramones Heir Says Widow Is Infringing Group's TMs
The brother of late punk rocker Joey Ramone took his bandmate Johnny Ramone's widow to New York federal court for allegedly infringing several of the band's trademarks as part of what the suit says is an effort to boost her own celebrity image by "riding on the coattails of the Ramones."
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August 26, 2024
Cruz Accuses FCC Subsidies Of 'Burning Through Cash'
Sen. Ted Cruz is pointing toward a new U.S. Government Accountability Office report that he says backs up his contention that the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund is "burning through cash with only minimal government oversight of its budget."
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August 26, 2024
Ex-FCC Republican Urges 6th Circ. To Tank Net Neutrality
A former Republican on the Federal Communications Commission who helped overturn net neutrality rules when the agency leadership was in GOP hands has pressed the Sixth Circuit to snuff out the Democratic FCC's effort to revive the policy.
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August 26, 2024
Shkreli Must Give Up Copies Of Unique Wu-Tang Clan Album
Martin Shkreli must hand over any copies he made of a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album while a challenge from the crypto project that holds the sole physical copy plays out, a New York federal judge ordered Monday.
Expert Analysis
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9th Circ. Ruling Broadens Sweep Of Securities 'Solicitation'
The Ninth Circuit's recent revival of a putative securities fraud class action against Genius Brands for hiring a stock promoter to write favorable articles about it shows that companies should view "solicitation" broadly in considering whether they may have paid someone to urge an investor to purchase a security, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.
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AI-Generated Soundalikes Pose Right Of Publicity Issues
Artificial intelligence voice generators have recently proliferated, allowing users to create new voices or manipulate existing vocals with no audio engineering expertise, and although soundalikes may be permissible in certain cases, they likely violate the right of publicity of the person who is being mimicked, says Matthew Savare at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense
The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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FTC Hearing On Fake Review Rule Stressed Compliance Costs
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to finalize its proposed rule to prohibit marketers from using deceptive practices in their product reviews after an informal hearing covered arguments over whether costs of implementing the rule, such as review moderation and software maintenance, would be minimal, says Jeffrey Edelstein at Manatt.
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BF Borgers Clients Should Review Compliance, Liability
After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently announced enforcement proceedings against audit firm BF Borgers for fabricating audit documentation for hundreds of public companies, those companies will need to follow special procedures for disclosure and reporting — and may need to prepare for litigation from the plaintiffs bar, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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How AI Cos. Can Cope With Shifting Copyright Landscape
In the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, recent legal disputes have focused on the utilization of copyrighted material to train algorithms, meaning companies should be aware of fair use implications and possible licensing solutions for AI users, say Michael Hobbs and Justin Tilghman at Troutman Pepper.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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How Real Estate Cos. Can Protect Their IP In The Metaverse
The rise of virtual and augmented reality creates new intellectual property challenges and opportunities for real estate owners, but certain steps, including conducting a diligence investigation to develop an understanding of current obligations, can help companies mitigate IP issues in the metaverse, says George Pavlik at Levenfeld Pearlstein.