Telecommunications

  • January 16, 2025

    FCC Rejects TV License Attacks As Leadership Switch Nears

    The Federal Communications Commission rejected four controversial petitions targeting major news broadcasters Thursday, dispensing with the cases just days before Donald Trump reclaims the White House and installs a Republican majority on the commission.

  • January 16, 2025

    Biden Makes Final Push To Fortify US Cybersecurity Posture

    President Joe Biden took the latest step toward boosting the nation's cybersecurity Thursday, issuing an executive order that requires software vendors that work with the government to prove they're meeting certain security standards and promote the use of artificial intelligence for cyberdefense.

  • January 16, 2025

    DC Circ. Mulls 'Colorability' In India's Test Of $156M Award

    A D.C. Circuit panel wrestled Thursday with what constitutes a "colorable" assertion of sovereign immunity in arbitration enforcement proceedings as India seeks to undo a $155.8 million judgment against it stemming from an arbitration over a soured satellite licensing deal.

  • January 16, 2025

    Gov't Wants Time During Epic, Google's 9th Circ. Face-Off

    When Epic Games and Google face off next month at the Ninth Circuit, the federal government is hoping it will get a few minutes to state its case for why the appellate court shouldn't overturn an order forcing Google to allow alternative app stores on its platform, the government said in a recent motion.

  • January 16, 2025

    Allstate Hit With Class Action Over Driver Data Collection

    Allstate illegally obtained the personal driving data of millions of policyholders via software embedded in third-party apps and secretly used that data to hike premiums, deny claims or drop policyholders from coverage altogether, according to a proposed class action filed in Illinois federal court.

  • January 16, 2025

    Initial Green Light Given to UnitedHealth's Deal In TCPA Suit

    A Washington federal judge gave a $2.5 million settlement between UnitedHealthcare and a class of Telephone Consumer Protection Act claimants preliminary approval, signing off on a deal that class counsel says would net each class member over $90, if all applied.

  • January 16, 2025

    FTC Elevates Snap AI Chatbot Case To DOJ

    The Federal Trade Commission took the rare step Thursday of revealing its referral to the U.S. Department of Justice of its complaint alleging Snap Inc. deployed an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot that harmed young users, prompting incoming Republican Chair Andrew Ferguson to slam the allegations as an "affront to the Constitution and the rule of law."

  • January 16, 2025

    Lawmakers Ask Biden To Pause TikTok Sale-Or-Ban Law

    A group of lawmakers has urged President Joe Biden to extend a Sunday deadline for TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company over national security concerns or face a nationwide ban, saying presidential action is needed to avoid "catastrophic" effects of the wildly popular social media platform going dark.

  • January 16, 2025

    Trump Names Senate Commerce Aide As FCC Commissioner

    President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Olivia Trusty, a top Republican aide on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, as his pick for the next GOP commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission.

  • January 16, 2025

    1st Circ. Vacates Most Of Atty's Marijuana Bribe Conviction

    The First Circuit vacated a pair of fraud convictions for a Massachusetts attorney charged in a marijuana bribery scheme, finding that sending an iMessage through an Apple cellphone is not enough to satisfy the wire fraud element requiring interstate communication.

  • January 16, 2025

    UK Probes Keysight's £1.2B Offer For Telecoms Biz Spirent

    Britain's antitrust authority said Thursday that it has launched a formal probe into the £1.16 billion ($1.42 billion) takeover offer made by U.S. technology company Keysight Technologies for Spirent Communications, a U.K. telecoms testing specialist.

  • January 15, 2025

    Amazon Sr. Counsel Moves To Mintz's Tech, Telecom Practice

    Mintz has tapped a former senior counsel at Amazon to join its Washington, D.C., office as a member and boost Mintz's decades-old technology, communications, and media practice, the global law firm announced Wednesday.

  • January 15, 2025

    Alaska Says Death Of USF Would Be 'Devastating' For State

    The people of Alaska will suffer if the U.S. Supreme Court does not undo a Fifth Circuit decision demolishing the Federal Communications Commission's multibillion-dollar subsidy fund, which reduces phone and internet costs for schools, libraries and low-income households, the state has told the justices.

  • January 15, 2025

    Colo. Panel Mulls If Atty Violations Can Nix Gov't Immunity

    A Colorado appellate panel on Wednesday pressed a utility regulator staffer who accused state lawyers of smearing her at work, questioning whether nixing the lawyers' governmental immunity based on alleged professional misconduct would go too far.

  • January 15, 2025

    Incoming FCC Chair Blasts Agency's Salt Typhoon Response

    The Federal Communications Commission's incoming chair on Wednesday blasted an as-yet-unreleased agency decision meant to address network vulnerabilities in the wake of the Salt Typhoon cyberattack that he said misreads federal law.

  • January 15, 2025

    Outgoing FCC Chair Touts 'Wins On The Board'

    With less than a week left in office, the chief of the Biden-era Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday highlighted the accomplishments of her tenure, including efforts to connect more Americans and advance space-based communications, but warned that a number of problems ranging from cybersecurity threats to the digital divide persist.

  • January 15, 2025

    FTC Defends Authority To Bring Amazon Antitrust Case

    The Federal Trade Commission is pushing back on Amazon's claims that the commission can't bring an antitrust case in federal court without first launching an administrative complaint, telling the Washington federal judge overseeing its case against the e-commerce giant that the Ninth Circuit has already cleared such a move.

  • January 15, 2025

    Samsung Slams Epic's Antitrust Suit Over Google Play Store

    Samsung moved to end Epic Games' suit alleging it colluded with Google to skirt an impending injunction forcing Google to permit competition with its Play Store by installing an auto blocker feature on Samsung devices, telling a California federal judge Wednesday the feature is a product improvement shielded from antitrust scrutiny.

  • January 15, 2025

    Fubo Subscriber Sues Disney For Alleged Antitrust Practices

    A Fubo subscriber has filed an antitrust lawsuit in New York federal court alleging the Walt Disney Co.'s ownership of ESPN allows it to dominate the broadcasting licenses for professional sports, enabling Disney to monopolize and inflate prices within the paid, live-streaming television market.

  • January 15, 2025

    FCC Warns Convincing Mortgage Lender Scam Afoot

    The Federal Communications Commission is putting the word out about a new scheme aimed at tricking people into thinking their homes will be foreclosed on unless they make emergency payments into an account controlled by the scammers.

  • January 14, 2025

    FCC Reverses Judge, Rejects Disputed C-Band Payment

    Reversing an in-house judge's decision, the Federal Communications Commission has denied a further payment of nearly $70,000 to a company that claimed it was owed more for relocating from the C-band airwaves to make way for 5G wireless.

  • January 14, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Judge Chides Attys For Omitting Key Argument

    The Federal Circuit's chief judge got frustrated Tuesday when neither party in a dispute over a 3G messaging patent had addressed what she considered to be the analysis' starting point.

  • January 14, 2025

    Texas Porn Law Unlikely To Alter Justices' Free Speech Views

    Texas' push before the U.S. Supreme Court for a relaxed standard of judicial review in First Amendment cases is unlikely to come to fruition, as decades of precedent work against the state's law requiring age verification on pornography sites.

  • January 14, 2025

    Biden Finalizes Ban On Chinese, Russian Connected Car Tech

    The Biden administration on Tuesday finalized a rule banning the import and sale in the U.S. of passenger vehicles with certain connectivity components made in China or Russia that the administration says could pose national security risks to American infrastructure and consumers.

  • January 14, 2025

    Fuse Says Skydance Deal Poses Harms To Ad-Based Streaming

    Fuse Media has told the Federal Communications Commission that the planned $8.4 billion merger of Skydance Media with Paramount Global would harm some of their market competitors, including free advertising-based streaming.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Data Breach Reporting Requirements Must Change In AI Age

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    Outdated data breach reporting laws are inadequate to protect consumers in the age of artificial intelligence, as AI’s ability to determine relationships coupled with its improvements to deepfake technology mean that the very definitions used in breach reporting laws are no longer sufficient, says Collin Walke at Hall Estill.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Recent Settlement Shows 'China Initiative' Has Life After Death

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    Though the U.S. Department of Justice shuttered its controversial China Initiative two years ago, its recent False Claims Act settlement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation demonstrates that prosecutors are more than willing to civilly pursue research institutions whose employees were previously targeted, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Calif. Ruling Alters Worker Arb. Agreement Enforcement

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ramirez v. Charter Communications should caution employers that while workers’ arbitration agreements will no longer be deemed unenforceable based on their number of unconscionable provisions, they must still be fair and balanced, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Nat'l Security Considerations For Telecom Products Counsel

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    An increase in federal national security measures in the telecommunications space, particularly from the Federal Communications Commission, means that products counsel need to broaden their considerations as they advise on new products and services, says Laura Stefani at Venable.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers cases touching on pre- and post-conviction detainment conditions, communications with class representatives, when the American Pipe tolling doctrine stops applying to modified classes, and more.

  • 7th Circ. Motorola Ruling Raises Stakes Of DTSA Litigation

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera gives plaintiffs a powerful tool to recover damages, greatly increasing the incentive to bring Defend Trade Secrets Act claims against defendants with large global sales because those sales could generate large settlements, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Challenging Prosecutors' Use Of Defendants' Jail Phone Calls

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    Although it’s an uphill battle under current case law, counsel for pretrial detainees may be able to challenge prosecutors’ use of jail-recorded phone calls between the defendant and their attorney by taking certain advance measures, say Jim McLoughlin and Fielding Huseth at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • A Refresher On Calculating Political Advertising Costs

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    With election season well underway, it is important for broadcasters, political candidates, time buyers and others concerned with how the cost of broadcast political advertising is determined to know what the Federal Communications Commission factors into lowest unit calculations, and how the commission has defined "commercial advertisers," says Gregg Skall at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

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