Judge Rules Google Monopolized Ad Tech In 2nd Win For DOJ

By Bryan Koenig and Matthew Perlman

A Virginia federal judge on Thursday handed the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division its second seminal win against Google, ruling that the search giant has illegally monopolized markets for display advertising placement technology.

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Sandberg Says FTC Market View Makes No Sense In Meta Case

By Bryan Koenig

Meta Platforms' former longtime board member and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg pushed back Thursday on crucial Federal Trade Commission arguments trying to shape the market the social media giant is accused of monopolizing, criticizing a friends and family definition the FTC is using to exclude TikTok as a competitor.

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AstraZeneca Unit Hit With Antitrust Suit Over Soliris

By Adam Lidgett

Not-for-profit insurance company EmblemHealth Inc. has hit an AstraZeneca unit with a proposed class action claiming the subsidiary defrauded the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to delay generic competition of its blood disorder product Soliris.

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Lawmakers Probing Fire Truck Manufacturing For PE Harms

By Courtney Bublé

A bipartisan pair of senators has launched an investigation into the alleged adverse effects of private-equity driven consolidation in the multibillion dollar fire truck industry.

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Deals Rumor Mill

OpenAI Eyes Windsurf, Activist Targets HP, And More Rumors

By Tom Zanki

OpenAI is preparing to bid about $3 billion to acquire coding developer Windsurf, activist fund Elliot Investment Management has purchased a major stake in Hewlett Packard with an eye toward pushing changes at the information technology giant, and private equity giant KKR is considering selling Atlantic Aviation for $10 billion.

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Ga. Healthcare Providers Slap BCBS With Antitrust Suit

By Madeline Lyskawa

Georgia-based healthcare providers that opted out of a landmark $2.8 billion antitrust settlement have slapped Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and its affiliates with a complaint in Georgia federal court, accusing them of conspiring with one another to carve the country into exclusive service areas in violation of antitrust laws.

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NASCAR Fights Race Teams' Bid To Beat Cartel Claims

By Ryan Harroff

NASCAR urged a North Carolina federal judge not to let a racing team dodge its allegation in a counterclaim that the team conspired with other teams to harm the stock car racing league's business by forming an anti-competitive cartel during contract negotiations, asserting the team's dismissal bid "attacks a straw man."

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7-Eleven Parent Floats Refreshed Board With 4 New Nominees

By Al Barbarino

Japan's Seven & i Holdings Co. on Thursday proposed a refreshed slate of directors and reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing both internal reforms and a potential acquisition by Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.

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'Moonshine' Fudge Maker Must Pay Fees For Failed IP Claims

By Matthew Santoni

The maker of "Chocolate Moonshine" fudge may have won a trade secrets case against his ex-wife and her new chocolate company, but he must pay the defendants more than $174,000 in attorney fees and costs for his unsuccessful trademark and copyright infringement claims.

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Fla. Legal Consultant Says La. Atty Stole Info, Started Own Biz

By David Minsky

A Florida company that advises small law firms on how to run successful businesses has sued a lawyer and former manager for allegedly stealing confidential information, saying he quit and ran off to Louisiana to start a competing business using trade secrets he learned at his previous job.

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Music Rights Orgs. Trade Barbs In Copyright Office Inquiry

By Theresa Schliep

The organizations responsible for getting musical artists their royalty payments sparred with each other in comments to the U.S. Copyright Office, with one legacy organization accusing newer entrants of insufficient transparency, and one of those competitors in turn alleging "anticompetitive practices" by the established players.

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Addressing Antitrust Scrutiny Over AI-Powered Pricing Tools

Amid multiple recent civil complaints alleging antitrust violations by providers and users of algorithmic pricing tools, such as RealPage and Yardi, digital-era measures should feature prominently in corporate compliance programs, including documentation of pro-competitive benefits and when to use disclosures, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

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Series

Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

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PTAB Judge Heads To Boutique, Citing Return-To-Office Order

By Andrew Karpan

An outgoing Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge based in Austin, Texas, tells Law360 that President Donald Trump's return-to-office order was a "significant factor" in her decision to return to private practice, joining boutique patent firm Smith Baluch LLP as a partner.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Convicted In 1MDB Case Ordered Disbarred In NY

By Craig Clough

A New York appellate court ordered Wednesday that a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney be disbarred due to his felony conviction as part of a sprawling, billion-dollar fraud scandal connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad and Fugees founder Pras Michél.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Sunoco Accused Of Age Bias By Ex-Chief Counsel

By Gina Kim

A former chief counsel for Sunoco LP sued her ex-employer in Texas state court Wednesday, alleging she was denied promotional opportunities and later terminated due to her age, while also accusing the company of replacing attorneys older than 50 with significantly younger attorneys with less experience.

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PI Firm Sues Its Own Expert For Being 'Out Of Touch' At Depo

By Rae Ann Varona

A New Jersey personal injury law firm filed suit in state court against an expert witness it alleges had threatened to withdraw if he didn't receive an advance payment for preparing and attending his deposition, and then turned up to the deposition "confused, disoriented and out of touch."

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Google and its chief legal officer have now lost two major antitrust cases to DOJ prosecutors after a federal judge ruled Thursday the search engine monopolized markets and servers related to display advertising. Meanwhile, a new study shows companies are disclosing their business risks, and how they are trying to mitigate those risks, amid changing tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S.-China trade war. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC and the University of Virginia School of Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived a class action from Cornell University workers who said their retirement plans were saddled with excessive fees.

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Judiciary Faces Security Risks Amid Spending Freeze

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary is warning congressional appropriators that funding shortfalls could threaten courthouse security.

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

By Ryan Boysen

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.

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Joel Katz, Music Law's Longtime Power Broker, Dies At 80

By Chart Riggall

Joel Katz, the powerful music industry lawyer who co-founded Greenberg Traurig LLP's media and entertainment practice and helped bring the firm to the Atlanta market, has died at the age of 80, Law360 confirmed Friday.

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WilmerHale, Feds Dispute Reach Of Trump Order Against Firm

By Jack Karp

WilmerHale and the U.S. Department of Justice traded salvos in the BigLaw firm's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting it, with the firm and the government offering "starkly different" versions of what's at stake in the dispute.

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Wis. Sens. Renew Bipartisan Judicial Nomination Commission

By Courtney Bublé

The Republican and Democratic senators from Wisconsin announced Friday they are renewing their bipartisan commission to recommend U.S. attorney and judicial nominees to the president.

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