This week at SCOTUS …
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Boy Scouts of America‘s $2.46 billion settlement with sexual abuse victims to move forward … Conservative justices appeared sympathetic to a bid by three Republican-led states to block the EPA’s “Good Neighbor” regulation aimed at reducing ozone emissions … The Supreme Court also grappled with a North Dakota store’s challenge to a government regulation on debit card ‘swipe fees’ … Meanwhile, the top court declined to decide the legality of excluding jurors on the basis of religion and also rejected a chance to restrict efforts to promote diversity in education by turning away an appeal over a Virginia public school’s revised admissions policy … The justices declined to hear appeals from L. Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, attorneys aligned with Trump, who were sanctioned over their efforts to overturn the former Republican president’s 2020 election loss … The court declined to hear patent-licensing company VirnetX’s bid to revive a $502.8 million jury verdict it won against Apple … A bid by landlords to challenge rent stabilization laws in New York City was turned away by the court … And a legal fight between a Miami music producer and Warner Music over a song by rapper Flo Rida may be dumped by the Supreme Court.
IP battles …
Sony Music sued the makers of Whitney Houston’s biopic claiming they never paid to use her songs… Cox Communications convinced the 4th Circuit to throw out a $1 billion copyright verdict … Deere’s Wirtgen America won $12.9 million in damages against rival Caterpillar over violating road-building technology patents … Dish Network and fitness equipment maker iFit settled a patent lawsuit over streaming-video technology … United Therapeutics filed a case with the FDA over allowing rival Liquidia’s application for a blood pressure drug … NBCUniversal must face a trademark lawsuit over its use of the DeLorean from “Back to the Future” on merchandise.
Trump’s legal woes …
Former President Donald Trump asked a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges accusing him of illegally holding onto sensitive U.S. national security documents, arguing the prosecution is legally flawed … New York State Attorney General Letitia James said that she is prepared to seize Trump’s assets if he is unable to find the cash to pay off a $355 million fine from his fraud trial … Trump must pay $355 million in penalties for fraudulently overstating his net worth to dupe lenders, a New York judge ruled, handing the former president another legal setback in a civil case that imperils his real estate empire … WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was targeted by the U.S. over his exposure of state-level crimes, and Donald Trump had requested options on how to deal with him, his lawyers said … Also read more about how would Trump crackdown on immigration in a second term.
AI …
A New York judge chided Cuddy Law Firm for citing results generated by an artificial intelligence program to help justify its bid for attorney fees in a case against New York City’s Department of Education … The U.S. Justice Department named Jonathan Mayer, a professor at Princeton University, as its first official focused on AI… Workday is facing renewed claims that it uses AI tools that discriminate against job applicants at many major companies it contracts with … Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives said they are forming a bipartisan task force to explore potential legislation to address concerns around AI.
