Intellectual Property Law

Supreme Court rejects appeal from computer scientist seeking copyright for AI-created artwork

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined an appeal from a computer scientist who was denied a copyright for artwork created by an artificial intelligence system.

Mar 3, 2026 9:04 AM CST

Record number of trade secret case filed in 2025, new report says

An all-time high of 1,500 federal cases regarding trade secrets were filed in 2025, nine years after the enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act in 2016, according to a new report.

Jan 29, 2026 9:53 AM CST

Let’s Talk About Copyrights: Salt-N-Pepa suit over ownership of master recordings dismissed

Hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa’s case against UMG Recordings was dismissed Thursday by a New York federal judge who said relevant agreements between the parties fail to show that the rap icons ever owned the copyrights for several of the group's most popular songs.

Jan 9, 2026 11:23 AM CST

ChatGPT creator must turn over 20M chat logs in copyright litigation, federal judge says

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, must turn over 20 million chat logs in its copyright litigation with the New York Times and other news media, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Jan 8, 2026 11:13 AM CST

Lawyer for Elon Musk likes to clown around outside the courtroom

While Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s legal battles with OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman are no laughing matter, one of Musk’s lawyers does a lot of clowning around outside the courtroom.

Jan 5, 2026 11:22 AM CST

These boutique firms top bonuses given to associates by BigLaw firms

Several elite boutique law firms are offering above-market bonuses to their associates this year.

Dec 22, 2025 11:31 AM CST

Judge orders patent attorneys to explain incorrect legal citations hallucinated by AI

A Kansas federal judge ordered attorneys representing a patent licensing company to explain why they shouldn’t be sanctioned for submitting briefs that contained nonexistent and incorrect legal citations hallucinated by generative artificial intelligence, according to Law360.

Dec 17, 2025 12:25 PM CST

University of New Hampshire law students slam hybrid JD program as dean steps down

As the dean of the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law steps down Dec. 31, students and faculty are expressing concerns over the hybrid JD program that she helped launch in 2019.

Dec 9, 2025 12:30 PM CST

Companies use ‘deceitful tactics’ to market harmful ultra-processed products with ‘addictive nature,’ city’s suit alleges

A lawsuit filed Tuesday by the city of San Francisco alleges that several major food companies used “deceitful tactics it inherited from the Big Tobacco industry” to market harmful ultra-processed foods and to "aggressively sell those products to children.”

Dec 4, 2025 11:20 AM CST

Buchalter escapes sanctions after associate who used AI for ‘wordsmithing’ takes blame for hallucinations

Buchalter has escaped sanctions for a case filing with “hallucinated" cases after one of its attorneys took responsibility for the errors and the law firm pledged to educate its attorneys on the misuse of generative artificial intelligence.

Nov 20, 2025 9:34 AM CST

Apparent AI errors snag BigLaw firm; 1 case ‘is totally fake,’ another ‘is almost real,’ federal judge says

A federal judge in Oregon is threatening sanctions against a corporate litigant and its BigLaw attorneys for “fake citations” that appear to be the product of generative artificial intelligence.

Oct 29, 2025 3:06 PM CDT

Intellectual property team of 21 lawyers jumps to Sheppard Mullin

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton has acquired a 21-lawyer team of intellectual property lawyers from Ropes & Gray that includes five partners.

Sep 18, 2025 1:43 PM CDT

Judge tosses fired associate’s suit alleging WilmerHale discriminated based on his Cameroonian origin

A fired associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr won’t be able to pursue his October 2023 lawsuit against the law firm and a former counsel who worked there.

Aug 7, 2025 2:47 PM CDT

Intellectual property and pop culture collide over the Labubu, this summer’s hottest collectible

The Labubus are so popular that the elflike plush dolls produced by Chinese toy company Pop Mart have inspired a surge in knockoffs. While the intellectual property issues involving the Labubus aren’t exactly novel, the increasing acceptance of “dupes” is a new trend.

Aug 4, 2025 9:16 AM CDT

SCOTUS will consider liability of internet company for known music piracy by its users

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether an internet service provider can be liable for materially contributing to copyright infringement if it failed to terminate internet access for customers known to be pirating music.

Jul 1, 2025 11:06 AM CDT