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Telecommunications
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July 31, 2024
Bill To Revive FCC's Broadband Subsidy Clears Senate Panel
A Democratic bill to restart the Federal Communications Commission's defunct broadband subsidy passed a Senate committee Wednesday after a debate over how to pay for FCC-related spending priorities, as well as agency authority to start new spectrum auctions.
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July 31, 2024
NFL Finds Judge Open To Tossing $4.7B Sunday Ticket Award
A California federal judge appeared open Wednesday to the NFL's argument that he should throw out a jury's stunning $4.7 billion antitrust verdict over the league's Sunday Ticket television package, saying he has "trouble" with the jury's damages award and suggesting that jurors may have disregarded his instructions.
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July 31, 2024
GoDaddy Asks To Have Tech Co.'s Antitrust Suit Culled
Domain registrar GoDaddy is asking a Virginia federal court to knock out half of a lawsuit accusing it of blackballing a tech company from its platform, saying that after failing to secure a licensing deal, the suing company "has now turned to antitrust law to try to compel a result it could not obtain through arms-length negotiation."
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July 31, 2024
Trade Secrets Cases To Watch In 2024: A Midyear Report
A Virginia appellate court reversed a historic $2 billion trade secrets verdict in a closely watched case, and the Seventh Circuit emphasized that the federal trade secrets law applies to conduct abroad, expanding the damages landscape. Here are some of the most notable trade secrets cases to watch for the rest of 2024.
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July 31, 2024
GAO Says Navy Tactical Radio Contract Protest Is Untimely
The U.S. Government Accountability Office rejected a Las Vegas-based contractor's challenge to U.S. Navy deals awarded to L3Harris Technologies Inc. and Data Link Solutions, finding that the protest was four months too late.
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July 31, 2024
Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Launches And Submarines
The U.S. Space Force paid billions of dollars in July to SpaceX and United Launch Services LLC for national security launches, while the U.S. General Services Administration hired Deloitte Consulting LLP to consult on the nation's efforts to field next-generation nuclear submarines. Here, Law360 looks at some of the most noteworthy government contracts over the last month.
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July 31, 2024
Include Satellites In Broadband Updates, SpaceX Tells FCC
SpaceX urged the Federal Communications Commission to include provisions for gateway earth station satellite hubs like its own in proposed regulations to expand broadband access within certain spectrum bands, telling the regulator that doing so would be a "win-win-win" for stakeholders.
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July 31, 2024
Telecom Trespassing On Reservation Land, Oregon Tribes Say
Lumen Technologies Inc. is trespassing on territory that belongs to the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation and has been for years, according to a lawsuit accusing the telecom of continuing to operate on an expired lease instead of striking a new deal for miles of laid fiber.
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July 31, 2024
GOP Senate Bill To Bar FCC's AI Disclosure Rule Blocked
A Republican effort in the U.S. Senate aiming to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from requiring broadcasters to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in political ads lost traction at the committee level Wednesday.
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July 30, 2024
11th Circ. Upholds Geofence Warrant In Carjacking Case
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday rejected a convicted carjacker's attempt to quash a geofence warrant that allowed law enforcement to obtain information from cellphones within a certain geographic area, finding that the man lacked standing to challenge a search that revealed no information from his own electronic device.
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July 30, 2024
Pa. House Majority Leader Fights Robocall Suit At 3rd Circ.
The Democratic majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Third Circuit to undo a ruling that his automated calls informing constituents about government programs violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
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July 30, 2024
Judge Asks Dish If Circuits Truly Split On Data Breach Claims
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday pressed Dish Network Corp. and a group of current and former Dish employees who are suing the company in a putative class action about a ransomware attack last year to address whether there is a split among federal circuits on what allegations are needed to support claims in data breach cases.
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July 30, 2024
SEC Ruling Calls For FCC Revamp, Ex-Agency Lawyer Says
Although the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that civil defendants must be allowed jury trials to contest government fines was focused on securities law, the ruling will also upend the Federal Communications Commission's in-house enforcement and require new legislation, warns an appellate lawyer and former FCC attorney.
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July 30, 2024
Prosecutors Say Bribery Ruling Won't Disrupt Madigan Trial
Prosecutors accusing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan of corruption said Monday night his case is unaffected by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling limiting the reach of a bribery statute that once criminalized gratuities, saying the government's allegations do not rely on gratuities, so "this dog will not hunt."
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July 30, 2024
Sens. Look To Break Down Federal Barriers To Broadband
Three senators think they have the solution for speeding up the broadband permitting process in the form of a bill that they say will cut red tape and ensure applications are dealt with within the nine-month window the federal government has to do so.
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July 30, 2024
Senate Sends Kids' Online Safety, Privacy Bills To House
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday easily approved a pair of bipartisan bills claiming to put more responsibility on social media platforms to ensure children's safety online and enhance data privacy protections for teens, although one of the proposals continues to face First Amendment opposition from consumer advocates as the measures move to the House.
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July 30, 2024
Low-Power TV Stations Seek More Latitude From FCC
Low-power television stations believe it's time for the Federal Communications Commission to allow them to start operating at higher levels of power as long as they remain in their service contours.
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July 30, 2024
Hytera Radio Redesign 'Infected' With Stolen IP, Motorola Says
Hytera Communications should be held in contempt for shirking royalty obligations on its latest line of digital mobile radio products because evidence shows the company's entire redesign process was "infected" with stolen trade secrets, Motorola Solutions argued Monday.
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July 30, 2024
PTAB Scraps 4 Patents At Heart Of $12M Google Trial Loss
A Texas app developer fighting Google over its calling patents has suffered a series of blows at the patent board after judges there ruled that language in most of those patents were not very new, putting a $12 million jury verdict for the app-maker in jeopardy.
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July 30, 2024
Justices Urged To Certify Class Over Firm's Illegal Faxes
A Georgia-based recruiting agency is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to toss a Fourth Circuit ruling that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's fax machine definition is limited to standalone fax machines and does not include online fax services, saying the January decision creates a circuit split that needs settling.
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July 29, 2024
8th Circ. Tosses 'Windfall' $79M Legal Fee In T-Mobile Suit
The Eighth Circuit on Monday threw out a $78.7 million attorney fee award for plaintiffs' attorneys who negotiated a $350 million settlement with T-Mobile over a massive data breach in 2021, saying the award amounts to a "windfall" for class counsel.
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July 29, 2024
Comcast Reaches Deal To Bring Bally Sports Back To Xfinity
Comcast has reached an agreement with the bankrupt owner of Bally Sports to again distribute its regional sports networks to Xfinity TV customers, according to an announcement made Monday.
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July 29, 2024
NIST Lays Out 200+ Ways To Tackle Generative AI Risks
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has recommended hundreds of actions that can be taken to address issues of data privacy, intellectual property, environmental impact and more raised by generative artificial intelligence.
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July 29, 2024
Making Broadcasters File Disaster Reports Not Wise, FCC Told
Broadcasters say it's a bad idea for the Federal Communications Commission to force them to start reporting disaster-related outages to the agency like other communications companies are required to because it would distract them from reporting about whatever disaster is happening.
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July 29, 2024
Albright Grants Verizon, T-Mobile Wins Over VoIP-Pal
A sealed ruling from U.S. District Judge Alan Albright on Monday might have put an end to patent lawsuits facing Verizon and T-Mobile that were, at one point, potentially worth over $5 billion.
Expert Analysis
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Challenging Prosecutors' Use Of Defendants' Jail Phone Calls
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.
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
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.
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A Refresher On Calculating Political Advertising Costs
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.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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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Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State
Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Opinion
Cell Tech Patent Holdup Is Stalling Automaker Innovation
Courts and Congress should seek to stem anticompetitive harm caused by standard-essential patent holders squeezing automakers with unfairly high royalties for cellular connectivity technology, says Charles Haake at Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
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Mitigating Risks Amid 10-Year Sanctions Enforcement Window
In response to recent legislation, which doubles the statute of limitations for actions related to certain U.S. sanctions and provides regulators greater opportunity to investigate possible violations, companies should take specific steps to account for the increased civil and criminal enforcement risk, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Series
After Chevron: FCC And Industry Must Prepare For Change
The Chevron doctrine was especially significant in the communications sector because of the indeterminacy of federal communications statutes, so the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the doctrine could have big implications for those regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, bringing both opportunities and risks for companies, say Thomas Johnson and Michael Showalter at Wiley.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated
In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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Series
After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.