DA Eyes Type Of Weinstein Evidence That Sank 1st Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

Manhattan prosecutors preparing to retry Harvey Weinstein want a jury to hear about alleged sexual assaults by the jailed Hollywood mogul that are not part of his indictment — the same kind of testimony that doomed his original conviction on appeal.

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Roc Nation Aims To Get Out Of Buzbee Conspiracy Suit

By Ryan Boysen

Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's company Roc Nation has asked a Texas federal court to let it exit a lawsuit that claims Roc Nation conspired to "finance" malpractice suits against attorney Tony Buzbee in retaliation for an abortive lawsuit Buzbee filed accusing the rap star of rape.

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'Moana' IP Theft Accuser Forged Evidence, Jury Hears

By Rachel Scharf

Counsel for a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co. sought during cross-examination Friday to undercut the credibility of an artist claiming "Moana" ripped off his work, pointing out that the plaintiff doctored a key document in the case and offered money to potential witnesses.

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9th Circ. Says Risk Justified Firing Vax-Refusing Actor

By Grace Elletson

A split Ninth Circuit panel declined Friday to revive an actor's suit claiming she was illegally removed from a Starz Network show because she rejected its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds, ruling her immunization status posed too much of a risk to the production.

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Judge Refuses To Dismiss $500M Miss America Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

A Florida judge has denied the bulk of real estate developer Glenn Struab and two associates' attempt to escape a fraud and racketeering lawsuit that accuses them of conspiring to assert control and ownership of the company that runs the Miss America pageant and seeks $500 million in damages.

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Fla. Officials Can't Escape Authors' Suit Over Book Bans

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge Friday declined to dismiss a lawsuit by six publishing houses; two parents of schoolchildren; and five bestselling authors, including Jodi Picoult and Laurie Halse Anderson, challenging a state law that restricts books in school libraries.

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C Is For Counterfeit: Sesame Street Says Sellers Stealing IP

By Lauren Berg

Elmo, Cookie Monster and the rest of the "Sesame Street" gang are going after online merchants they say are selling counterfeit products depicting the iconic children's program, telling an Illinois federal court Friday that the unauthorized merchandise is deceiving fans and hurting the nonprofit's reputation and wallet.

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Judge Denies OpenAI's Bid For Discovery In Meta's IP Fight

By Andrea Keckley

A California federal judge rejected OpenAI's request to see discovery produced in Meta Platforms Inc.'s copyright battle with authors over its artificial intelligence tool, writing Thursday that the "broad swath of information" it requested is not proportional to the company's needs in its own case.

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Off The Bench

Off The Bench: Trans Ban Recusal Bid, Wemby Spat, Fox Suit

By Alex Lawson

In this week's Off The Bench, a Colorado federal judge won't recuse himself from a case centering on a transgender athlete over his pronoun use, the sale of a high-profile Victor Wembanyama jersey will go forward despite feverish litigation and a sprawling harassment suit against Fox Sports is shuffled from federal to state court.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen the billionaire Zakay brothers, founders of Topland Group, become embroiled in a legal dispute with each other, Unilever sue three major perfume companies over alleged illegal price-fixing, and the publisher of Vogue magazine file an intellectual property suit against Cornucopia Events. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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9th Circ. Keeps Mass Starz Privacy Arbitration Consolidated

By Allison Grande

The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to allow a consumer whose video privacy arbitration claims against Starz Entertainment LLC have been merged with more than 7,000 similar allegations to break off from the pack, finding that the television network couldn't be blamed for the current "procedural stalemate" in the consolidated arbitration proceedings. 

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Pa. Health System Can't Compel Arbitration In Meta Pixel Suit

By Gianna Ferrarin

A terms of service link on a Pennsylvania health system's website was not sufficient to bind a patient to arbitration in his suit over the alleged disclosure of his personal information to Meta Platforms, a federal judge has ruled.

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Del. Judge Orders Trial On AMC Stock Swap Coverage Fight

By Jeff Montgomery

A Delaware Superior Court judge ordered a jury trial Friday on an AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. insurer's claim that it never consented to cover part of a $99.3 million settlement with theater chain stockholders who challenged a preferred share conversion and reverse stock split.

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Brief

Calif. Man To Admit $1.2M Stan Lee Merch Tax Fraud

By Elliot Weld

A California man has agreed to plead guilty to filing false tax returns related to $1.2 million in income he made from selling memorabilia signed by late Marvel Comics writer and publisher Stan Lee.

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T-Mobile Touts Broadband Benefits Of US Cellular Deal

By Nadia Dreid

T-Mobile continues to make its case to the Federal Communications Commission in the hopes of earning the agency's blessing on the mobile behemoth's $4.4 billion plan to pick up rival UScellular's wireless business since it holds the key to the transfer of all the latter company's licenses.

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Brief

FCC Slaps Pirate Radio Stations With $400K In Fines

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission fined two people almost $400,000 Friday for running a pair of illegal radio stations, with the agency saying that it was putting "other pirate radio operators on notice."

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NFL Alums Say Vaccine Fund Misuse Claims Should Fail

By Chart Riggall

The National Football League's largest alumni organization has hit back at a lawsuit that accused it of forcing a biotechnology company out of a COVID-19 vaccine outreach program, arguing Thursday that no underlying contract exists on which to stake the suit.

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Michigan Justices Spurn Live Nation Campers' Death Case

By Carolyn Muyskens

Concert promoter Live Nation cemented its escape from allegations that lax oversight of a music festival campground led to three festival attendees dying of carbon monoxide poisoning, as Michigan's highest court rejected the families' appeal Friday.

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Insurer Says No Coverage For Lil Baby Video Shooting Suit

By Hope Patti

An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify a security contractor accused of failing to provide adequate services after a shooting broke out during the filming of a music video for rapper Lil Baby, telling a Georgia federal court a number of exclusions bar coverage.

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What Reuters Ruling Means For AI Fair Use And Copyright

A Delaware federal court's recent decision in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence is not likely to have lasting effect in view of the avalanche of artificial intelligence decisions to come, but the court made two points that will resonate with copyright owners who are disputing technology companies' unlicensed use of copyright-protected materials to train generative AI models, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law Group.

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Analysis

Presidents v. Courts: Lincoln, Trump & Judicial Power Limits

By Jeff Overley

Amid fears of President Donald Trump disobeying judges with impunity, debate has focused on famous instances of officials defying the U.S. Supreme Court. But some of the clearest insights into America's handling of White House disregard for courts exist in relatively obscure cases from the Civil War era, when unprecedented presidential actions provoked extraordinary responses from the judiciary — and underscored the limits of its powers.

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NYC Bar Slams Trump's Order On Covington Attys

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association has joined the chorus of legal groups decrying President Donald Trump's order suspending security clearances held by Covington & Burling LLP attorneys representing former special counsel Jack Smith, calling it an "improper use of government power."

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Ex-Commerce Official To Chair Gibson Dunn Sanctions Group

By James Mills

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP is creating a new sanctions and export enforcement practice group and bringing in a former U.S. Commerce Department official as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office to lead it.

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Ex-White House Cyber Pro Joins Sidley As DC Privacy Partner

By Tracey Read

The former chief of staff at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director has returned to the private sector as a Sidley Austin LLP privacy and cybersecurity practice partner in Washington, the firm said Thursday.

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WH Appeals After Watchdog Chief Is Permanently Reinstalled

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel was illegal, finding that the federal employment watchdog can only be ousted for cause.

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Dems Claim DOJ Atty's 'Quid Pro Quo' Violated Ethics Rules

By Dorothy Atkins

Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee senior members lodged ethics complaints against acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, accusing the recently appointed Bove of violating ethics rules by allegedly pushing prosecutors to drop criminal bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a "quid pro quo" deal with President Donald Trump.

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Group Blasts Judge's Call For Women In Contraception MDL

By Carolina Bolado

A judicial organization dedicated to fighting "leftist lawfare" filed a complaint Thursday against the Florida federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over the hormonal contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, claiming that her comments about women needing to be represented in the MDL leadership show an impermissible bias.

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GOP Rep. Reintroduces The JUDGES Act

By Courtney Bublé

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee's courts panel has reintroduced a bill to create 66 new and temporary federal judgeships, which former President Joe Biden vetoed at the end of last year.

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Up Next At High Court: Gun Violence Liability & Nuclear Waste

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday to consider Mexico's attempt to hold gun manufacturers and distributors liable for cartel-related gun violence and a nuclear waste site dispute that could determine who can challenge future agency actions.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

While many companies are removing diversity language from their public websites, a new survey shows that about half of its respondents do not plan on changing their DEI programs. And the general counsel for the new Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy golf league talked about his love of the sport and the legal work involved in the new venture.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP and Kontnik Cohen LLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court held that cases dismissed voluntarily can later be eligible for special judicial relief and reopening, even if a statute of limitations would typically block the lawsuit.

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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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