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Public Policy
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February 05, 2025
What Patent Attys Should Know About Trump's Commerce Pick
The CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, who has been tapped to lead the Commerce Department, is an inventor on hundreds of patents and has identified the patent application backlog as a key concern. Here's what to know about Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick.
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February 05, 2025
GOP Sens.' Bill Ups Penalty For Protesting Justices' Homes
Five Republican senators introduced a bill on Wednesday that would increase maximum prison sentences for individuals who illegally protest outside the homes of U.S. Supreme Court justices, from the current one-year limit up to five years.
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February 05, 2025
NJ Seeks Jury Trial In PFAS Cleanup Case Against 3M, DuPont
New Jersey officials are fighting back against 3M and DuPont's requests to have a federal bench trial on their environmental claims seeking remediation and restoration cost reimbursement over purported PFAS contamination, arguing that its legal claims are tied to legal remedies that a jury, not a judge, must decide.
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February 05, 2025
Cannabis Industry Frozen Out Of Banks, Senators Told
The cannabis industry's difficulty securing access to financial services was raised Wednesday during a Senate committee hearing focused on the issue of debanking, or excluding individuals and companies from financial services.
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February 05, 2025
Mass. US Atty Won't Ignore Local Immigration Pushback
President Donald Trump's newly appointed top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts said Wednesday that she hopes state and local officials won't obstruct immigration enforcement, explaining that "not helping is not obstruction" in the eyes of her office.
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February 05, 2025
Key IRS Workers Can't Do 'Resign' Deal Until After Tax Season
Internal Revenue Service workers were notified Wednesday that employees working in positions considered necessary to the tax filing season can't accept President Donald Trump's resignation offer until mid-May.
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February 05, 2025
Judge Sides With DC In Telecom's School Network Suit
A D.C. federal judge has ruled in favor of the Washington, D.C., government in a lawsuit accusing the district's public school system of improperly tapping one of its own agencies to provide network services over incumbent Allied Telecom's bid.
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February 05, 2025
Chicago's Climate Suit Belongs In Federal Court, Judge Hears
The city of Chicago should not be allowed to take environmental deception claims against the nation's largest oil producers back to state court because the city's suit targets conduct performed largely for the federal government, a judge heard during a Wednesday hearing.
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February 05, 2025
FCC To Launch Spectrum Sale, Eyes More C-Band Use
The FCC's new Republican chief said Wednesday the agency will kick off rules for a new spectrum sale authorized by Congress and consider a plan to eventually open more midband airwaves in the C-band for private sector use.
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February 05, 2025
RealPage Says Missing Market Power Dooms Antitrust Suit
RealPage Inc. is making another effort to dodge antitrust allegations after the government expanded its case to rope in half a dozen residential landlords, arguing the amended pleading still falls short of showing the property management software company has enough market power to influence rent prices.
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February 05, 2025
Trade Groups Urge PBM Crackdown By Trump, Congress
A coalition of industry trade groups sent letters Wednesday urging President Donald Trump and leaders in Congress to advance legislation reining in pharmacy benefit managers — which intermediate between drugmakers, insurers and pharmacies — in the next piece of federal government funding legislation.
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February 05, 2025
ACLU Warns Schools Should Hire Counsel Before ICE Raids
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has called on Ohio school districts to hire counsel now to develop procedures to respond to the Trump administration's rescission of policy that limited U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions at schools, while noting that all children have a constitutional right to attend public schools.
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February 05, 2025
'Dreamers' Tell 8th Circ. ND Can't Challenge Health Coverage
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients have urged the Eighth Circuit to reverse an order blocking a Biden administration rule expanding their rights to Affordable Care Act health insurance coverage, arguing that a lower court erred in finding that North Dakota has standing to sue in the state.
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February 05, 2025
Judge Found 'Vertical' Mattress Deal Won't Hurt Competition
U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge rejected the Federal Trade Commission's bid to pause Tempur Sealy's planned $5 billion purchase of Mattress Firm after finding a merger of the mattress supplier and retail chain would likely increase competition, if it has any impact at all.
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February 05, 2025
Feds Say Jury Should Decide If Message Was Threat To Judge
A federal prosecutor urged a Texas federal court Wednesday not to dismiss the indictment of a woman accused of threatening a federal judge by saying he should "watch his back," arguing her claim that the statement wasn't a "true threat" is a factual question for a jury to decide.
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February 05, 2025
Senate Panel Approves Car AM Radio, Rural Broadband Bills
A key Senate panel signed off on legislation Wednesday to require the continued installment of AM radio capability in cars, as well as to more thoroughly vet broadband providers that want to participate in federally funded deployment programs.
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February 05, 2025
Cuts To Medicaid Will Devastate Tribal Healthcare, Experts Say
As talks of big funding slashes to Medicaid loom among federal lawmakers, Indigenous communities say they will face devastating losses if any anticipated legislation passes, leading to cuts in Indian Country's healthcare workforce, a large gap in services for children and a rise in preventable illnesses.
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February 05, 2025
China Hits Trump Tariffs With Mostly Symbolic WTO Challenge
The Chinese government has challenged the Trump administration's new 10% tariff at the World Trade Organization, alleging violations of key global trade rules, even as years of U.S.-led gridlock has rendered the Geneva body mostly defunct as a dispute resolution forum.
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February 05, 2025
US Bill Aims To Ax Tax Incentives For Multinational Cos.
Congress should repeal and replace federal tax measures that allow multinational corporations to reduce taxable income in the United States, including by holding assets abroad, according to two Democratic lawmakers who reintroduced a bill to that effect Wednesday.
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February 05, 2025
6th Circ. Judge Unsure Of Jury Instruction In Bribery Case
A Sixth Circuit judge seemed skeptical Wednesday of the bribery and racketeering conspiracy standards a jury used to convict former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and Republican lobbyist Matthew Borges in connection with the FirstEnergy bailout scandal, suggesting that all campaign contributions could be called bribery.
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February 05, 2025
NJ Supreme Court Will Review Immigrant's Wage Case
The New Jersey Supreme Court said it will review rulings that denied a bid for unpaid wages by an immigrant living in the country without legal permission, which stemmed from an arrangement that had him performing tasks for a property management company in exchange for an apartment.
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February 05, 2025
SEC Moves Under Trump Risk 'Chilling' Staff, Grewal Says
The reported scaling-back of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's crypto enforcement unit by the new Republican SEC majority could make staff at the agency more fearful of doing their jobs and put investors in jeopardy, former SEC enforcement director Gurbir Grewal said Wednesday.
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February 05, 2025
Dems Seek Further Review Of Treasury And DOGE
Democrats are not satisfied with the answers they've received from the U.S. Department of Treasury on access granted to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to the federal payment system and are looking at other avenues to scrutinize his activity.
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February 05, 2025
US Trade Deficit Up To $918B In 2024, Gov't Says
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services spiked 24% month over month in December to $98.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said Wednesday, leading to the U.S. closing the year with a $918.4 billion deficit.
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February 05, 2025
11th Circ. Backs Navy Win In IT Worker's Promotion Bias Suit
The Eleventh Circuit upheld the U.S. Navy's defeat of a civilian tech employee's suit claiming he was passed over for several promotions because he was Hispanic and in his 50s, saying he failed to show that supervisors considered his age or race when making decisions.
Expert Analysis
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Patent Policy Changes To Track Under New Gov't Leadership
The new federal government will likely bring pivotal shifts in U.S. patent policy through legislation and initiatives that reflect a renewed focus on strengthening intellectual property rights, fostering innovation and enhancing the nation's competitive edge, says PK Chakrabarti at Butzel Long.
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How Trump Presidency May Influence NLRB's Next Phase
Attorneys at Paul Hastings discuss how last year’s key National Labor Relations Board developments may progress once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, including the wave of lawsuits challenging the board’s constitutionality and two landmark board decisions that upset decades of precedent.
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Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4
Douglas Thompson at Snell & Wilmer highlights a number of recent and pending issues, actions and potentially pivotal federal regulatory and legislative developments on deck that will affect California banks and financial institutions.
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Opinion
Congress Should Finally Add Clarity To Section 101
With both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate introducing bills to provide guidance on what qualifies as patentable subject matter under the Patent Act, Congress will hopefully put an end at last to 10 years of uncertainty surrounding the question, says David Carstens at Carstens Allen.
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Hydrogen Regs Will Provide More Certainty — If They Survive
Newly finalized regulations implementing the Section 45V clean hydrogen tax credit allow producers more flexibility, and should therefore help put the industry on more solid footing — but the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress will have multiple options for overturning or altering the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024
Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.
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5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond
In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.
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NY Plastic Pollution Verdict May Not Bode Well For Other Suits
The dismissal of New York state's public nuisance complaint against PepsiCo over pollution of the Buffalo River with the company's single use plastic bottles may not augur well for similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Los Angeles County, although tort law varies from state to state, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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Key Ethical Issues For Gov't Attys Moving To Private Practice
Transitioning from government service to private practice presents complex ethical challenges for attorneys, including navigating conflicts of interest, confidential information rules and post-employment restrictions, say attorneys at HWG.
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Climate Disclosure Spotlight Shifts To 2 Calif. Laws
With Donald Trump's election spelling the all-but-certain demise of the proposed federal climate disclosure rules, new laws in California currently stand as the nation's only broadly applicable climate disclosure requirements — and their brevity is both a blessing and a curse, say attorneys at Davis Polk.
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A Deep Dive Into DOJ's Proposed FARA Shake-Up
The U.S. Department of Justice's recently published and long-awaited proposed amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act's implementing regulations, if adopted, would mark dramatic changes to the commercial exemption and new requirements for labeling informational materials, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.
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Preparing For Mexican Drug Cartels' Terrorist Designation
In the event President-elect Donald Trump designates Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, businesses will need to consider how their particular industry is affected and evaluate previously legitimate practices given the cartels' involvement so many sectors of the economy, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Final Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs Add Flexibility For Producers
The recently released final regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act's clean hydrogen production tax credit offer taxpayers greater flexibility, reducing risk and creating more certainty for investments in the industry, thus diminishing — but not eliminating — the risk of legal challenges to the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Where Payments Law And Regulation Are Headed In 2025
The Trump administration will likely bring significant changes to payments regulations in 2025, but maintaining internal compliance efforts in the absence of robust federal oversight will remain key as state authorities and private plaintiffs step into the breach, say attorneys at Stinson.
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What To Expect From Federal Cybersecurity Policy In 2025
There are 12 cyber policy questions to keep an eye on as the new administration and Republican control of Congress present an opportunity to advance less regulatory approaches and revisit some choices from the prior administration, say attorneys at Wiley.