Litigation

It’s been an active season for the federal appeals courts on the copyright law front. This article summarizes three of these recent circuit court decisions.

In a recent case, a Chapter 11 debtor sought to employ an accounting firm under section 327(a), the principal of which was the first cousin of the owner of the debtor corporation. The U.S. Trustee objected to the retention, arguing that the debtor’s cousin was an insider. But the bankruptcy judge disagreed.

As the costs of U.S. bankruptcy cases have increased, and relief such as obtaining nonconsensual third-party releases has been limited by court rulings, restructuring specialists have begun to look to foreign restructurings’ use of Chapter 15 as an ancillary proceeding to implement certain corporate restructurings.

Notable recent court filings in entertainment law.

A trademark infringement dispute between the outdoor apparel brand Patagonia and the drag queen Pattie Gonia may not make it to a jury after the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California referred the matter to mediation, but experts say there’s still a lot to learn from what the filing has to say about current trends in trademark enforcement.

Part Two of a Multipart Article. Part One is here.Litigation involving AI rarely turns on abstract questions about the technology itself. Instead, disputes typically focus on how AI was deployed, what contractual promises govern its use and how responsibility for AI-driven outcomes is allocated between providers and customers.

In the case of In re Black Diamond Energy of Delaware, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania provided insight regarding the “police and regulatory power” exception to the automatic stay set forth in 11 U.S.C. Section 362(b)(4).

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court revived a personal injury lawsuit against a construction company, saying a federal appeals court was “too rigid” in applying a legal rule meant to ensure fairness in the judicial system.