Trump’s legal woes …
A New York state judge is expected to rule today in a $370 million civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump, who is accused of inflating his net worth to dupe bankers into giving him better loan terms … Also this week, lawyers for Trump told the U.S. Supreme Court that the former president’s criminal trial on charges of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss should be delayed because the justices will hear a separate case in the coming months that could affect two of the counts against him … The Supreme Court directed Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting Trump in the case, to respond by Feb. 20 to the former president’s bid to freeze a judicial decision rejecting his immunity claim … Trump will become the first former U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges after a New York judge set a March 25 trial date and denied his request to dismiss the case, which stems from hush money paid to a porn star … The SEC allowed Trump’s media and technology company to merge with a blank-check acquisition vehicle in a deal that currently values the parent of his social media app Truth Social at as much as $10 billion.
IP …
Sony Music Entertainment sued four companies involved in making the 2022 biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” claiming they never paid to use the superstar’s music in the film … Meta will face a Dutch software company’s lawsuit claiming it infringed patents related to a system for auto-completing search prompts … Music publishers including Universal Music have told a court that Anthropic is relying on falsehoods to defend against a copyright lawsuit … Diageo defended its trademark victory against a liquor company accused of ripping off its Bulleit whiskey bottles … Epic Games resolved a lawsuit that accused it of purloining dance moves created by pop choreographer Kyle Hanagami in its video game “Fortnite” … The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office clarified when it will grant patents for inventions created with the aid of artificial intelligence … Jazwares, the maker of the popular Squishmallows plush toys, sued Build-A-Bear Workshop calling its new Skoosherz plush toy line “knockoffs.”
The judiciary …
Serious threats to federal judges have more than doubled since 2021 … More than 70% of federal judges have opted into the U.S. Marshals’ home security program … The ABA asked the federal judiciary to drop the term “court-appointed master,” arguing that “master” has negative connotations … Delaware’s nationally important Court of Chancery is losing its second-longest-serving judge … A federal court dismissed most of a lawsuit brought by Judge Pauline Newman, country’s oldest federal judge, over her suspension from the Federal Circuit.
Musk in court …
Elon Musk plans to ask a district court to review a magistrate judge’s order siding with the SEC as it seeks to compel him to testify for its investigation of his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, now called X … A Texas federal judge ruled that a lawsuit by SpaceX claiming the structure of the NLRB is unconstitutional must be transferred to a federal court in Los Angeles … Musk and the Tesla shareholder who won a verdict last month voiding the CEO’s $56-billion pay package will ask a judge to pause her ruling until an appeal is resolved … Musk claimed that Delaware is trying to prevent businesses from heeding his call to leave the state, where a court invalidated his $56 billion Tesla pay package … And finally, Musk asked a judge to block a bid to question him in a lawsuit that claims he spread lies on X.
Unions …
Amazon joined SpaceX and Trader Joe’s in claiming that the NLRB’s enforcement proceedings violate the U.S. Constitution, as the retail giant faces cases claiming it interfered with workers’ rights to organize … Business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged a judge to strike down a NLRB rule that requires companies to treat many contract and franchise workers as employees and to bargain with their unions … Alaska Air flight attendants authorized a strike mandate for the first time in three decades … U.S. lawmakers urged Delta Air Lines to remain neutral in ongoing efforts by employees to organize a union … Drivers for Uber, Lyft and delivery workers for DoorDash staged a strike on Valentine’s Day … Performers of Disney’s cartoon characters such as Mickey and Donald at its Disneyland theme park are looking to join Actors’ Equity Association … A Starbucks labor group’s letter to the SEC estimates the costs arising from anti-union campaigns to be at least $240 million.
