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Telecommunications
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July 24, 2024
Senate Dems Demand Scrutiny Of T-Mobile, UScellular Deal
T-Mobile's plan to buy the wireless operations of yet another mobile network operator — this time, United States Cellular Corp. — several years after it was allowed to merge with Sprint to become the third biggest carrier in the country is a bad idea, a handful of Democratic senators have told the U.S. Department of Justice and FCC.
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July 24, 2024
Ex-AT&T Exec Wants Madigan Bribery Charges Dropped
A former AT&T executive who's accused of scheming to illegally influence former Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan's policy decisions argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent bribery ruling warrants chopping a conspiracy and bribery charge from his case.
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July 24, 2024
5th Circ. Strikes Down FCC's Universal Service Fund
The full Fifth Circuit struck down the Federal Communications Commission's system for subsidizing telecommunications service for rural and low-income users as unconstitutional Wednesday, reversing a panel decision and triggering a circuit split with three other appeals courts that upheld the fee regime.
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July 24, 2024
T-Mobile Plugs $4.9B Into JV With KKR To Buy Metronet
T-Mobile announced Wednesday that it has partnered up with private equity giant KKR to acquire pure-play fiber company Metronet in a joint venture that sees T-Mobile investing roughly $4.9 billion at deal close, in a transaction built by eight law firms.
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July 23, 2024
Knives Out For Another Pro-Agency Landmark After Chevron
Only weeks after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives took a hatchet to the judicial deference shown to federal agencies, right-leaning lawyers are imploring the justices to rock the administrative law realm again by gutting a New Deal-era precedent at the heart of the modern regulatory system.
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July 23, 2024
Nigeria Fines Meta $220M Over WhatsApp Privacy Policy
Nigerian regulators have hit Meta with a $220 million fine over alleged privacy and antitrust violations and ordered the company to stop sharing WhatsApp users' data with advertisers without express permission, the culmination of a nearly three-year-long investigative process.
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July 23, 2024
Microsoft Calls FTC Price Hike Claims 'Misleading' At 9th Circ
Microsoft pushed back against the Federal Trade Commission's contention that an increase in the company's gaming subscription pricing is evidence of the anticompetitive effects of the software giant's $68.7 billion acquisition of game developer Activision Blizzard Inc., calling the commission out for trying to "reinvent" its case against the merger on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
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July 23, 2024
US, UK, EU Antitrust Enforcers Outline AI Principles
The top antitrust officials from the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission and the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority presented a unified international commitment Tuesday to closely monitor artificial intelligence technology and the companies that they warned could wield AI anticompetitively.
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July 23, 2024
FTC Attys On Kroger Case Get Extensions After IT Outage
The administrative law judge overseeing the Federal Trade Commission's in-house challenge to Kroger and Albertsons' $25 billion merger has given the agency and the grocery behemoths two extra days on a couple of filing deadlines after the FTC said the worldwide Microsoft outage left several counsel laptops unusable.
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July 23, 2024
Judge Doubts CenturyLink Can Block Borrowed Allegations
A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Tuesday pressed an attorney for CenturyLink on why a shareholder can't use allegations borrowed from other cases in his own securities suit against the telecommunications company, with one judge saying that requiring plaintiff's counsel to speak to every witness would be going overboard.
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July 23, 2024
Biz Groups Form Lobby Effort To Fight FCC Bulk Billing Rules
Bulk billing agreements are often a boon for people living in apartment buildings and condos, according to a new coalition made up of multifamily housing organizations and a cable trade group, which was formed to push the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider banning such arrangements.
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July 23, 2024
Tech Firm Mobileum Enters Ch. 11 To Trim Over $500M Debt
Global telecom analytics group Mobileum Inc. sought Chapter 11 protection in Texas on Tuesday, with plans to trim $529 million from its books through a debt-for-equity swap after falsified time records uncovered last year backlogged operations and spurred litigation.
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July 23, 2024
Senate Dems Roll Out Bill To Codify Chevron Deference
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led a group of Democratic senators Tuesday in introducing a bill to codify the now-defunct doctrine of Chevron deference after it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.
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July 23, 2024
FCC Urged To Protect Public Safety In 5.9 GHz Band
A public interest group urged the Federal Communications Commission to keep public safety as the top priority for licensees of the 5.9 gigahertz airwaves as the FCC considers rules to allow advanced car connectivity uses in the band.
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July 23, 2024
Chase, McKinsey Get FTC Inquiry Over 'Surveillance Pricing'
The Federal Trade Commission has issued orders to eight companies — including Mastercard, Chase, Accenture and McKinsey & Co. — seeking more information about the potential impact their practices of "surveillance pricing" products and services have on privacy, competition and consumer protection, the FTC said Tuesday.
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July 22, 2024
Verizon's TracFone Hit With $16M FCC Data Breach Penalty
Verizon's prepaid service subsidiary TracFone Wireless has agreed to shell out a $16 million civil penalty to resolve Federal Communications Commission probes into whether it failed to protect customer information during three data breaches, the agency announced Monday.
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July 22, 2024
FCC, Industry Debate If Brand X Case Set Broadband In Stone
Industry groups are pushing their case to the Sixth Circuit that the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules should be tossed because the demise of the Chevron doctrine trimmed agency's legal authority, but the FCC argues that the recent paring back of federal regulators' discretion means nothing for the agency's restrictions on broadband providers.
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July 22, 2024
FCC Blames AT&T Network Change For 'Sunny Day' Outage
The Federal Communications Commission said Monday it will consider enforcement action after finding that an AT&T network change triggered a massive service outage in February, which blocked more than 92 million calls and 25,000 attempts to reach 911.
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July 22, 2024
Rail Biz Asks 4th Circ. To Revive Va. Broadband Law Fight
The Association of American Railroads is asking the Fourth Circuit to step in and put a stop to a Virginia law that allows broadband providers easier access to railroad property, calling it a "supercharged eminent-domain scheme."
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July 22, 2024
IDT, Founder Say Straight Path Suit Fizzle Warrants No Fee
Pointing to a Chancery Court finding of no damages after seven years of class litigation over a nearly $1.2 billion alleged liability, attorneys for IDT Corp. founder Howard Jonas on Monday urged a Delaware vice chancellor to reject a class attorney bid for a $9.5 million fee award.
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July 22, 2024
Native Villages Push For Injunction In Fed Broadband Row
Two Alaskan tribes are urging a federal judge to step in and yank back $70 million in broadband infrastructure funds that they say the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave away to someone else after falsely marking them served.
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July 22, 2024
FCC Waives 5.9 GHz Rules To Allow For Smart Car Tech
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to waive certain restrictive connectivity rules for cars, allowing automobile equipment manufacturers to make use of the 5.9 gigahertz band for Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything technology.
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July 19, 2024
Platform Sciences Hit With $19M Omnitracs Patent Verdict
A California federal jury on Friday determined that Qualcomm spin-off Omnitracs is entitled to $19.3 million in lost profits and a $140,000 royalty after a former executive's new company willfully infringed one of its fleet management software patents, but cleared it of infringing two other patents.
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July 19, 2024
9th Circ. Judge Open To Reversing Google's Privacy Win
A Ninth Circuit judge appeared receptive Friday to reversing Google's summary judgment win in Chrome users' proposed privacy class action, telling Google's counsel that the standard is what a reasonable consumer would expect and "you have a much higher opinion of the average intelligence of the computer user than I."
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July 19, 2024
House Republican Rips FCC's School Wi-Fi Subsidy
A key House Republican with oversight of the Federal Communications Commission attacked the agency's new subsidy providing Wi-Fi services for school and library patrons, saying it will make consumer costs soar without helping education.
Expert Analysis
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Considering A Practical FRAND Rate Assessment Procedure
As the debate over a fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory rate continues inside and outside courtrooms, a practical method may assess whether the proposed FRAND rate deviates significantly from what is reasonable, and ensure an optimal mix of assets for managers of standard-essential patent portfolios, says consultant Gordon Huang.
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A Close Look At The FCC's Revised SIM Card Fraud Rules
Carolyn Mahoney and John Seiver at Davis Wright break down recently proposed revisions to the Federal Communications Commission's customer proprietary network information and local number portability rules for wireless providers, discuss the revisions' implications on artificial intelligence regulation, and provide tips to prevent SIM swap and port-out fraud.
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What Retailers Should Note In Calif. Web Tracking Suits
As retailers face a deluge of class actions alleging the use of conventional web analytic tools violate wiretapping and eavesdropping provisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, uncovering the path toward a narrow interpretation of the law will largely depend on how these cases proceed, say Matthew Pearson and Kareem Salem at BakerHostetler.
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The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift
As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.
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5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money
As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.
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Employee Experience Strategy Can Boost Law Firm Success
Amid continuing business uncertainty, law firms should consider adopting a holistic employee experience strategy — prioritizing consistency, targeting signature moments and leveraging measurement tools — to maximize productivity and profitability, says Haley Revel at Calibrate Consulting.
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What Cos. Can Learn From 2023 Export Enforcement Report
A January report summarizing key actions and policy changes undertaken at the Office of Export Enforcement in 2023 is a valuable indicator of future government priorities and the factors companies should consider as they conduct export operations amid what may be a turbulent international trading environment in 2024, says Thaddeus McBride at Bass Berry.
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How Consumer Product Cos. Can Keep Up With Class Actions
Recent cases show California's federal courts and the Ninth Circuit remain the preferred arena for consumers pursuing false advertising and trade deception claims against companies — so manufacturers, distributors and retailers of consumer products should continue to watch these courts for guidance on how to fight class actions, say attorneys at Dechert.
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Series
Competing In Triathlons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While practicing law and competing in long-distance triathlons can make work and life feel unbalanced at times, participating in the sport has revealed important lessons about versatility, self-care and perseverance that apply to the office as much as they do the racecourse, says Laura Heusel at Butler Snow.
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Mitigating Compliance And Litigation Risks Of Evolving Tech
Amid artificial intelligence and other technological advances, companies must prepare for the associated risks, including a growing suite of privacy regulations, enterprising class action theories and consumer protection challenges, and proliferating disclosure obligations, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Where Justices Stand On Chevron Doctrine Post-Argument
Following recent oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court, at least four justices appear to be in favor of overturning the long-standing Chevron deference, and three justices seem ready to uphold it, which means the ultimate decision may rest on Chief Justice John Roberts' vote, say Wayne D'Angelo and Zachary Lee at Kelley Drye.
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Perspectives
6 Practice Pointers For Pro Bono Immigration Practice
An attorney taking on their first pro bono immigration matter may find the law and procedures beguiling, but understanding key deadlines, the significance of individual immigration judges' rules and specialized aspects of the practice can help avoid common missteps, says Steven Malm at Haynes Boone.
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Series
ESG Around The World: Canada
In Canada, multiple statutes, regulations, common law and industry guidance address environmental, social and governance considerations, with debate over ESG in the business realm potentially growing on the horizon, say attorneys at Blakes.