Telecommunications

July 14, 2025
FCC Greenlights Bell Canada's $3.65B Ziply Fiber Deal

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday granted its approval to Canadian communications company BCE Inc.'s planned acquisition of U.S. internet provider Ziply Fiber for about CA$5 billion ($3.65 billion).
July 14, 2025
Sirius XM Can't Escape WCPA Suit Over Music Royalty Fees

A Washington federal judge allowed Sirius XM subscribers to proceed with their proposed class action alleging the company tricks them into paying a 21.4% per month "U.S. Music Royalty Fee" without describing the charges, ruling Monday they sufficiently allege a claim under the state's consumer protection statute.
July 14, 2025
Split 2nd Circ. Denies Rehearing In Fox Threats Case

A split Second Circuit on Monday declined to grant an en banc rehearing to a man convicted of sending threatening messages to two Fox News hosts and two members of Congress, saying the 11-member jury that found him guilty did not violate his constitutional rights.
July 14, 2025
WilmerHale DQed From Representing Verizon In Patent Row

A federal magistrate judge in Texas has disqualified WilmerHale from representing Verizon on the eve of a trial over allegations that the telecommunications company infringed wireless communications patents owned by Headwater Research.
July 14, 2025
House Passes Bills Aimed At Telecom Sector Security, Growth

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed half a dozen bills designed improve U.S. network security and spur the growth of communications industries.
July 14, 2025
FCC To Hear Anuvu's Claim It Got Shorted In Spectrum Move

Anuvu Licensing Holdings will get a hearing before an administrative law judge at the Federal Communications Commission to determine if the agency owes it money for clearing out part of the C-band to repurpose the spectrum.
July 14, 2025
Google Ads Rival Wants Search Fix To Include It, AI Cos.

If a D.C. federal judge agrees with the Justice Department and orders Google to syndicate its search and search advertising results, he should do so in a way that permits expansive access, a search advertising rival said Friday in an 11th-hour intervention bid.
July 14, 2025
Jury Says T-Mobile Owes $2M In 5G Equipment Case

A Texas federal jury has awarded an Irish company $2 million after finding that T-Mobile's use of Ericsson base stations infringed its patent, which T-Mobile's attorneys argued was worth far less than the $245 million the plaintiff was seeking.
July 14, 2025
Judge Sets Hearing In $70M Alaskan Broadband Grant Row

After over a year of battling it out in Alaska federal court, two Native Alaskan villages will have their chance to go before the judge and argue for summary judgment against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in their suit over $70 million in broadband funds.
July 14, 2025
Calif. Panel Keeps Charter PAGA Case Out Of Arbitration

Charter Communications can't arbitrate an employee's Private Attorneys General Act suit because parts of the arbitration agreement are "unconscionable," a California appeals panel ruled, relying on the state Supreme Court's decisions addressing the same pact.
July 14, 2025
Calif. Panel Upends Arbitration Pact In Worker's Firing Suit

A Charter Communications worker's wrongful termination suit should not have been sent to arbitration, a California appeals court said, after finding the company's alternative dispute resolution pact held one-sided provisions and made it difficult for employees to opt out.
July 11, 2025
Catching Up On Stewart's Discretionary Denial Decisions

Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart and a top administrative patent judge issued 15 discretionary denial decisions on Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions over the past week, across nearly 40 cases. Here's what they decided.
July 11, 2025
Courts Face Early Push To Expand Justices' Injunction Ruling

In the two weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed federal judges' ability to issue universal injunctions, Trump administration attorneys have begun pushing to expand the decision's limits to other forms of relief used in regulatory challenges and class actions. So far, judges don't appear receptive to those efforts.
July 11, 2025
NPE Drops Injunction Bid In Samsung IP Suit Eyed By Feds

A nonpracticing entity has dropped its bid for a preliminary injunction in its patent infringement case against Samsung in eastern Texas federal court, shortly after the federal government made the rare move of expressing interest in the case.
July 11, 2025
Census Didn't Change Rural Carrier Definition, FCC Says

The Federal Communications Commission hasn't changed its definition of a "rural competitive local exchange carrier," the agency assured companies after the U.S. Census Bureau's shift in terminology for urban areas threw the definition into doubt.
July 11, 2025
Google Won't Have To Turn Over EU Ad Tech Settlement Docs

A Virginia federal judge refused a request from the U.S. Department of Justice Friday to force Google to hand over submissions it made to European enforcers when trying to settle their investigation as the sides ready for a remedies trial in the ad tech monopolization case.
July 11, 2025
FCC Approves T-Mobile's $4.4B UScellular Deal

Federal Communications Commission staff late Friday approved the license transfers needed for T-Mobile to complete its $4.4 billion acquisition of UScellular wireless operations.
July 11, 2025
FCC Cuts 'Utility-Style' Internet Regs After Net Neutrality's Fall

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday slashed 41 "utility-style" regulations on broadband service and network interconnection, following a Sixth Circuit ruling in January that sank Biden-era net neutrality rules.
July 11, 2025
Sales Org. Hits Texas Payment Co. With Contract Suit

A Texas-based provider of prepaid mobile recharge and payment solutions was sued in Georgia federal court by Boom Commerce, an independent sales organization, over alleged violations of a merchant processing application and agreement for payment processing services.
July 11, 2025
AT&T Can't Escape Suit Over Pension Plan's Mortality Data

AT&T must face a proposed class action claiming it miscalculated married couples' pension benefits, a California federal judge ruled, saying workers leading the suit provided evidence that the telecommunications company's use of decades-old mortality data and interest rates was unreasonable.
July 11, 2025
Suppressing Rival Views Can Break Antitrust Laws, DOJ Says

The anti-vaccine group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got a boost Friday in its D.C. federal court suit alleging that the Associated Press, The Washington Post, Reuters and the BBC colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals, drawing a Justice Department brief assailing news organization assertions that viewpoint competition can't be illegally suppressed.
July 11, 2025
Conservative Groups Bash Idea Of Next-Gen TV Mandate

The growing battle over potential federal rules to move the U.S. toward next-generation TV continued this week as several right-leaning groups came out swinging against government mandates forcing the switchover.
July 11, 2025
Ramey IP Atty Sanctioned But Beats Netflix's Contempt Bid

A California federal judge sanctioned a prolific patent plaintiff's former counsel William Ramey and the Ramey LLP law firm for sharing Netflix's confidential information with a third party while pursuing patent infringement claims against Netflix, but he declined to review whether Ramey should be held in civil contempt.
July 11, 2025
Charter's Cox Acquisition Vote Should Be Blocked, Suit Says

A Charter Communications Inc. shareholder has asked a Connecticut state court judge to block a July 31 vote on the Stamford-based company's proposed $37.9 billion acquisition of Cox Communications Inc., claiming the deal will enrich executives and their financial advisers but provide few benefits to shareholders.
July 11, 2025
Phones4u Can't Revive Collusion Case Against UK Networks

The Court of Appeal dismissed Phones 4u's claims Friday that the U.K.'s biggest phone operators colluded to drive the retailer out of business, upholding findings that there was no evidence of anticompetitive behavior between the networks.

Expert Analysis

4 Consumer Class Action Trends To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

The first half of 2025 has seen a surge of consumer class action trends related to online tools, websites and marketing messages, creating a new legal risk landscape for companies of all sizes, says Scott Shaffer at Olshan Frome.
8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.
Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.
3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
Trending At The PTAB: Shifts In Parallel Proceedings Strategy

Dynamics are changing between the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts, with two recent discretionary denials and one Federal Circuit decision offering takeaways for both patent owners and challengers navigating parallel proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.
Series

Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.
2025's First Half Brings Regulatory Detours For Fintechs

The first half of the year has resulted in a bifurcated regulatory environment for fintechs, featuring narrowed enforcement in some areas, heightened scrutiny in others and a policy window that, with proper compliance, offers meaningful opportunities for innovation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
Opinion

Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.
Series

Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.
Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Rejecting Biz Dev Myths

Law schools don’t spend sufficient time dispelling certain myths that prevent young lawyers from exploring new business opportunities, but by dismissing these misguided beliefs, even an introverted first-year associate with a small network of contacts can find long-term success, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
Move Beyond Surface-Level Edits To Master Legal Writing

Recent instances in which attorneys filed briefs containing artificial intelligence hallucinations offer a stark reminder that effective revision isn’t just about superficial details like grammar — it requires attorneys to critically engage with their writing and analyze their rhetorical choices, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
9th Circ. Has Muddied Waters Of Article III Pleading Standard

District courts in the Ninth Circuit continue to apply a defunct and especially forgiving pleading standard to questions of Article III standing, and the circuit court itself has only perpetuated this confusion — making it an attractive forum for disputes that have no rightful place in federal court, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
Series

Competing In Modern Pentathlon Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Opening myself up to new experiences through competing in modern Olympic pentathlon has shrunk the appearance of my daily work annoyances and helps me improve my patience, manage crises better and remember that acquiring new skills requires working through your early mistakes, says attorney Mary Zoldak.
Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Teaching Yourself Legal Tech

New graduates often enter practice unfamiliar with even basic professional software, but budding lawyers can use on-the-job opportunities to both catch up on technological skills and explore the advanced legal and artificial intelligence tools that will open doors, says Alyssa Sones at Sheppard Mullin.
How AI May Reshape The Future Of Adjudication

As discussed at a recent panel at Texas A&M, artificial intelligence will not erase the human element of adjudication in the next 10 to 20 years, but it will drive efficiencies that spur private arbiters to experiment, lead public courts to evolve and force attorneys to adapt, says Christopher Seck at Squire Patton.