The Second Circuit on Thursday revived a dispute between motorcycle helmet designers as it clarified a key legal standard in trade dress infringement cases.
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Appellate
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

2nd Circ. Clears Up 'Blurry' Trade Dress Standard

By Elliot Weld

The Second Circuit on Thursday revived a dispute between motorcycle helmet designers as it clarified a key legal standard in trade dress infringement cases.

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4th Circ. Sides With Credit Rater In Developers' Libel Lawsuit

By Hayley Fowler

A group of developers won't get a second shot at their libel suit alleging credit rating firm Dun & Bradstreet published misleading credit reports about them after the Fourth Circuit said they failed to show the statements in those reports were defamatory.

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US To Appeal Block On Corporate Transparency Act

By Anna Scott Farrell

The federal government plans to challenge an order preventing it from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements for businesses, following the U.S. Supreme Court's pause of another nationwide block on the law in a separate case, according to a notice filed in a Texas federal court.

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'Novel' Kia, Hyundai Theft Liability Theory Faces 6th Circ. Test

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Sixth Circuit panel wrestled Thursday with whether to endorse a theory that automakers Kia and Hyundai could be liable for victims' injuries from crashes involving vehicles stolen during a TikTok-spurred wave of car thefts.

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Insurance Co. Must Cover Truck Driver Injury, 11th Circ. Rules

By Chart Riggall

The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a Georgia federal judge's decision to hand a win to a transport company in a coverage dispute with Crum & Forster Insurance, ruling the insurer must cover a workers' compensation claim brought by a trucker maimed in an accident.

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Tort Report: Kiss Death Suit Must Be Axed, Band Says

By Y. Peter Kang

A bid to escape a suit accusing legendary rock band Kiss of causing a guitar technician's coronavirus death and the $8.5 million settlement of a convoluted medical malpractice case lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2025 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2025 editorial advisory boards.

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PRACTICE GROUP OF THE YEAR

Appellate Group Of The Year: Gibson Dunn

By Christopher Cole

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP notched critical wins as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an Eighth Amendment challenge to a city's public camping law and gave insurers a voice in mass tort bankruptcies, making it one of the 2024 Law360 Appellate Groups of the Year.

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SUPREME COURT

Courts Are Getting Alice Wrong, Google Foe Tells Justices

By Andrew Karpan

A tech startup that lost an advertising technology patent case against Google is the latest party to tell the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its legal precedent covering patent eligibility.

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DC CIRCUIT

FERC Tells DC Circ. Revised Grid Hookup Policy Is Sound

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission defended the penalty framework in its revised policy on hooking up new power projects to the grid, telling the D.C. Circuit it reasonably balanced competing interests and imposed a variety of safeguards. 

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FEDERAL CIRCUIT

In Microchip Feud, Fed. Circ. Says PTAB Error Was 'Harmless'

By Andrew Karpan

The Federal Circuit handed down a precedential decision Thursday finding that a claim construction error made by patent board judges was "harmless," declining to breathe new life into claims asserted against Microchip Technology.

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Drug Cos. Urge Full Fed. Circ. To Hear Teva Orange Book Row

By Andrew Karpan

The branded pharmaceutical industry is lining up behind a legal effort from Israeli drugmaker Teva that wants the full Federal Circuit to hear a dispute over delisting patents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book.

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FOURTH CIRCUIT

Jeld-Wen Appealing Forced Factory Sale To 4th Circ., Again

By Bryan Koenig

Jeld-Wen Inc. is taking another trip to the Fourth Circuit to fight an order forcing it to sell a door skin factory, filing a notice of appeal Thursday after a Virginia federal judge said a $115 million price is fair.

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Farm Can't Unravel $2.5M Severed-Foot Verdict, 4th Circ. Told

By Hayley Fowler

A North Carolina farmworker who lost his foot in an auger accident and won $2.5 million at trial said he gave the Fourth Circuit a reliable recitation of the case in his opening brief, arguing his former employer is "picking apart" his statement in a "misguided attempt to discredit" him and have the verdict thrown out.

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EIGHTH CIRCUIT

SEC's Dealer Suit May Criminalize Major Investors, Funds Say

By Jessica Corso

The hedge fund industry has urged the Eighth Circuit on to overturn a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission victory against a penny stock trader, arguing that the SEC's case threatens to "make a felon of every institutional investor" by declaring them unregistered securities dealers.

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TENTH CIRCUIT

Devon Urges 10th Circ. To Undo $2.8M Drilling Royalty Order

By Tom Lotshaw

A Devon Energy Corp. unit has asked the Tenth Circuit to reverse an Oklahoma federal judge's decision to affirm a $2.8 million drilling royalty order the U.S. Department of the Interior issued against it, saying its actions were in line with a settlement it sealed with the federal government.

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NEW YORK

NY Court Puts A Limit On Child Welfare Agency Surveillance

By Marco Poggio

A New York appellate court ruled that child welfare agencies lack the authority to surveil a parent just because their child's other parent was charged with abuse or neglect, banning a statewide practice that lasted for decades, an attorney told Law360 on Thursday.

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SL Green, RXR To Appeal NYC Office Renovation Funds Fight

By Grace Dixon

A joint venture between SL Green Realty Corp. and RXR Realty plans to appeal a New York state court finding that an affiliate of the mostly defunct New York REIT can do what it wants with a $90.7 million pot set aside for major renovations of the jointly owned Worldwide Plaza.

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FLORIDA

Fla. Panel Rules Atty Imposter Scam Suit Had Invalid Service

By David Minsky

A Florida appellate court has reversed a judgment against a New Jersey real estate agent who was accused in a lawsuit of posing as an attorney and intercepting a $930,000 wire transfer meant to close on a Miami-area property, saying service was invalid.

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NEW JERSEY

Convicted Atty Disbarred In NJ Over LA Utility Billing Scandal

By Jake Maher

The New Jersey Supreme Court disbarred an attorney this week who orchestrated a sham lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles on behalf of plaintiffs suing the local water utility and who later made $24 million off contracts with the city reached through a number of bribery schemes.

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GEORGIA

Ga. Judge Resigns Amid Ethics Probe Over Communications

By Rose Krebs

The chief magistrate of the Haralson County Magistrate Court in Georgia has resigned amid an ethics investigation involving his ex parte communications, telling an official in a letter that he will not "seek appointment or election to any judiciary position in the future."

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COLORADO

Colo. Panel Upholds State Attys' Immunity In Defamation Row

By Emily Sawicki

A Colorado appeals panel on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a state economist's defamation claims against two government lawyers, finding that nothing in the state's government immunity statute carves out an exception for lawyers and that professional misconduct does not automatically cancel lawyers' immunity.

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PEOPLE

Former US Atty Leigha Simonton To Join Dykema In Dallas

By Lynn LaRowe

After nearly two decades of government service and over two years as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Leigha Simonton is entering private practice with Dykema Gossett PLLC, where she will help launch a Dallas-based white collar defense and investigations practice to serve the Texas region.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Perspectives

DC Circ. Cellphone Ruling Upends Law Enforcement Protocol

The D.C. Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Brown decision, holding that forcibly requiring a defendant to unlock his cellphone with his fingerprint violated the Fifth Amendment, has significant implications for law enforcement, and may provide an opportunity for defense lawyers to suppress electronic evidence, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.

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The Post-Macquarie Securities Fraud-By-Omission Landscape

While the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 opinion in Macquarie v. Moab distinguished inactionable "pure omissions" from actionable "half-truths," the line between the two concepts in practice is still unclear, presenting challenges for lower courts parsing statements that often fall within the gray area of "misleading by omission," say attorneys at Katten.

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AI Will Soon Transform The E-Discovery Industrial Complex

Todd Itami at Covington discusses how generative artificial intelligence will reshape the current e-discovery paradigm, replacing the blunt instrument of data handling with a laser scalpel of fully integrated enterprise solutions — after first making e-discovery processes technically and legally harder.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

BigLaw Firms Saw Double-Digit Profit Growth In 2024

By Aebra Coe

Last year was "one of the strongest years on record" for U.S. law firm financial results, according to Citi Global Wealth at Work Law Firm Group head Gretta Rusanow, with a survey by the bank of mostly large law firms showing a 16.6% increase in profits and a 12.3% increase in revenue over 2023.

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Legal Sector Gains 900 Jobs In January Amid Data Revisions

By Xiumei Dong

The U.S. legal sector started the year with a modest boost, adding 900 jobs in January, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday following the agency's annual employment data revision that also lifted earlier job figures from the past year. 

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Dentons US Names Capital Markets Leader Managing Partner

By Anna Sanders

Dentons tapped capital markets partner and regulatory team leader John Holahan to serve as U.S. managing partner, the firm announced Friday.

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Injury Attys In Hot Water Over Possible AI-Hallucinated Cites

By Lauren Berg

Morgan & Morgan PA and the Goody Law Group on Friday withdrew pretrial motions in a personal injury lawsuit against Walmart over an allegedly defective hoverboard after a Florida federal court ordered the firms to explain why the filings contained what appears to be case law hallucinated by generative artificial intelligence.

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Plaintiffs Lawyers Swarm Los Angeles Post-Fires

By Brandon Lowrey

A deadly wildfire may be among the first covered by a new state fund that reimburses at-fault utility companies. This could mean billions of dollars for plaintiffs lawyers, and, if past fires are any indication, frustration and confusion for some victims.

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4th Circ. Says LeClairRyan Founder May Duck Tax Liability

By Jack Karp

Defunct law firm LeClairRyan PLLC's operating agreement did not bar founder Gary LeClair from jumping ship in time to potentially dodge massive tax bills tied to the firm's collapse, the Fourth Circuit ruled Friday.

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Goldstein's Pro Se Filing Irks Feds Amid Murky Atty Situation

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors have asked a Maryland federal judge to strike a pro se motion from Tom Goldstein in his tax evasion case, saying the U.S. Supreme Court attorney and SCOTUSblog publisher shouldn't be allowed to personally make arguments to the court when he is represented by several experienced lawyers.

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2nd Circ. Orders In-House Counsel Docs In Grand Jury Case

By Parker Quinlan

The Second Circuit on Friday ruled that an in-house attorney for a publicly traded company under federal investigation in New York must turn over communications as part of a grand jury investigation under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.

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Analysis

Del.'s Quiet Ambition To Tweak Chancery, Stem Feared DExit

By Jeff Montgomery

Anxious over claims that stockholder-tilted decisions by Delaware's Court of Chancery will trigger more companies to follow Tesla, SpaceX, Meta and Dropbox to other states, Delaware policymakers are taking a hard look at the venerable business court's processes, hoping to slow a feared rush to DExit.

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DC Prosecutor Axed Jan. 6 Case Against Client, Group Says

By Lauren Berg

A legal group filed a bar complaint in Missouri Thursday against President Donald Trump's top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., saying the attorney violated rules of professional conduct when, in his new government role, he moved to dismiss charges related to the U.S. Capitol attack against his own client.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Aebra Coe and Kevin Penton

Lawyers from Latham & Watkins LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP kick off this week's Law360 Legal Lions, with a jury decision ending a $500 million antitrust lawsuit against their clients, U.S. Soccer and Major League Soccer.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

General counsel will be scrutinizing their companies' DEI policies after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the U.S. Department of Justice to probe and penalize illegal diversity policies in the private and public sectors. Outside the DOJ, legal professionals, including in-house attorneys, reported high job satisfaction in a recent survey, likely leading to lower turnover. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Investec Bank PLC sue two diamond tycoons, London florist Nikki Tibbles file a claim against an "imitator company," a direct descendant of the Cartier family launch a claim, and a Coronation Street actor hit footballer Joe Bunney with a defamation claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Promo that reads 2024 Practice Groups of the Year Promo that reads Law360 Pulse In-House Counsel Satisfaction Survey

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Addleshaw Goddard

Baker & Hostetler

Ballard Spahr

Bernstein Litowitz

Bird & Bird

Bivonas Law LLP

Brooks Pierce

Bryan Cave

Cahill Gordon

Carpmaels & Ransford

Caudle & Spears

Clyde & Co

Continental PLLC

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

Crowley Fleck

DLA Piper

Debevoise & Plimpton

Dentons

Dykema

Fieldfisher

Fox Williams

Gelber & Santillo

Gentry Locke

Gibson Dunn

Goodwin Procter

Goody Law Group

Guerra LLP

Guttman Buschner

Hall & Evans

Handal & Morofsky

Haynes Boone

Herbert Smith Freehills

Hicks Johnson

Hill Dickinson

Holland & Knight

Hueston Hennigan

Hunter & Chandler

Hunton Andrews

Irwin Mitchell

James McElroy & Diehl

Jones Day

Kasowitz Benson

Katten Muchin

Kennedys Law LLP

Keoghs LLP

Kirkland & Ellis

Kline & Specter

Kluger Kaplan

Latham & Watkins

Lauro & Singer

Lerch Early

Lewis Kohn

Lewis Silkin

Littler Mendelson

McCoy Leavitt

McGuire Law PC

McGuireWoods

Morgan & Morgan

Morgan Lewis

Morvillo Abramowitz

Munger Tolles

Murphy Anderson PLLC

O'Melveny & Myers

Offit Kurman

Orrick Herrington

Paul Weiss

Penningtons Manches

Perkins Coie

Procopio Cory

Proskauer Rose

Quinn Emanuel

Quintairos Prieto

RBG Legal Services Ltd.

RWK Goodman

Reed Smith

Reinhardt Savic

Reynolds Porter

Ropes & Gray

Ruggeri Parks

Sheppard Mullin

Sidley Austin

Simmons & Simmons

Skadden Arps

Speed Seta

Stevens & Bolton

Tavenner & Beran PLC

Theodora Oringher

Troutman

Umberg & Zipser

Venable LLP

Walker Morris LLP

Wicker Smith

Willenken LLP

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

Withersworldwide

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Acadia Pharmaceuticals

AccuWeather Inc.

Advanced Energy United

American Airlines Group Inc.

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees

Amgen Inc.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Apple Inc.

Argo Group International Holdings Ltd.

AstraZeneca PLC

Atos SE

Avangrid Inc.

Barclays PLC

Bibby Financial Services Ltd.

Biotechnology Innovation Organization

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Broadband iTV Inc.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

CLS Bank International

California Earthquake Authority

Canon Inc.

Cartier SA

Costco Wholesale Corp.

Credit Suisse Group AG

Crum & Forster Holdings Corp.

Democracy Forward Foundation

Devon Energy Corp.

DraftKings Inc.

Dun & Bradstreet Corp.

E-House (China) Holdings Ltd.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Fordham University

Gemini Trust Co. LLC

Globant SA

Google LLC

Hatch Henderson Fivel LLC

Howden Broking Group Ltd.

Hyundai Motor Co.

IDEX Corp.

Instagram Inc.

Investec PLC

JELD-WEN Inc.

Jetson Electric Bikes LLC

Kia Corp.

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

London Stock Exchange Group PLC

Longford Capital Management LP

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

MGA Entertainment Inc.

Macquarie Group Ltd.

Macquarie Infrastructure Corp.

Major League Soccer LLC

Major Lindsey & Africa LLC

Managed Funds Association

Marriott International Inc.

McKinsey & Co. Inc.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

Meta Platforms Inc.

Michigan State University

Microchip Technology Inc.

Moelis & Co.

MoneyGram International Inc.

NICE Ltd.

NICE inContact

National Association of Government Employees

Netflix Inc.

Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.

New York Law School

PG&E Corp.

Palantir Technologies Inc.

Perlson LLP

Pershing Square Capital Management LP

Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Public Citizen Inc.

Purdue Pharma LP

RELX PLC

RXR Realty LLC

Robert Half Inc.

Rutter's Holdings Inc.

SL Green Realty Corp.

Sanofi

Solar Energy Industries Association

Southern California Edison Co.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

State Bar of California

Station Casinos LLC

Steves & Sons Inc.

TUI AG

Tempur Sealy International Inc.

Tesla Inc.

Texas Public Policy Foundation

The Florida Bar

The Legal Aid Society

The New York Independent System Operator Inc.

The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

TikTok Inc.

Toronto-Dominion Bank

Toyota Motor Corp.

TripAdvisor Inc.

United Policyholders

UnitedLex Corp.

University of Virginia

Walmart Inc.

Wells Fargo & Co.

Winthrop Realty Trust

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Bureau of Labor Statistics

California Supreme Court

Colorado Public Utilities Commission

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

Food and Drug Administration

Information Commissioner's Office

Internal Revenue Service

Los Angeles Superior Court

National Labor Relations Board

New Jersey Supreme Court

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Ohio Supreme Court

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

U.S. Army

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

United States District Court for the District of Wyoming