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Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Granted a new trial in a copyright case involving a claim that Led Zeppelin copied key portions of its hit Stairway to Heaven from a song written by a musician named Randy Wolfe. Held that several jury instructions were erroneous and prejudicial, including the instructions on originality, and thus vacated the jury's verdict of no infringement.




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Bell v. Vacuforce, LLC

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed sanctions imposed against a defense attorney for filing a frivolous motion seeking prevailing party attorney fees. Held that it was baseless for the attorney to argue that his client was the prevailing party under the Copyright Act, in a case where his client had agreed to pay a monetary settlement to resolve a copyright infringement claim.




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Malibu Textiles, Inc. v. Label Lane International, Inc.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Revived a textile company's copyright infringement claims accusing certain competitors of illegally copying its floral lace designs. Reversed dismissals.




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Shell Oil Co. v. US

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirmed that the U.S. government had breached certain World War II-era contracts with several oil companies. In this long-running litigation, the oil companies claimed that the federal government, which had sued them for hazardous waste cleanup, was partly liable for the cleanup costs due to language in their 1940s government contracts to produce aviation fuel for the war effort. The Court of Federal Claims agreed with the oil companies and awarded them nearly $100 million in contract damages, collectively. The federal government appealed, but the Federal Circuit affirmed.




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Berkley v. Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Affirmed that the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over a constitutional challenge to the Natural Gas Act. Landowners along the path of a proposed natural gas pipeline brought this action disputing the constitutionality of various provisions of the Natural Gas Act. Agreeing with the district court, the Fourth Circuit held that the suit must be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on the grounds that the landowners ought to have brought their claims through the agency review process laid out in the Natural Gas Act.



  • Oil and Gas Law
  • Property Law & Real Estate

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Arandell Corp. v. CenterPoint Energy Services, Inc.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reinstated an antitrust claim against a wholly owned natural gas subsidiary that said it had no knowledge of its parent company's alleged price-fixing scheme that had pumped up the price of gas. The subsidiary argued that it could not be held liable for violating Wisconsin antitrust law because it was not involved in anything unlawful that its parent company may have done. Unpersuaded, the Ninth Circuit emphasized that a parent and a wholly owned subsidiary always act as a single enterprise whenever they engage in coordinated activity, and thus reversed the grant of summary judgment to the subsidiary.



  • Oil and Gas Law
  • Antitrust & Trade Regulation

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Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

(United States Third Circuit) - Denied a petition for review of a Pennsylvania state regulators' decision to grant a Clean Water Act certification to a natural gas pipeline project. An environmental organization raised various procedural and substantive arguments against the environmental regulators' issuance of a water quality certification. On judicial review, the Third Circuit held that the environmentalists' challenge failed on the merits. Prior to reaching the merits, the panel discussed in detail questions regarding its jurisdiction under the Natural Gas Act.




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American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers v. O'Keeffe

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirmed the dismissal of a complaint challenging Oregon's Clean Fuels Program, which regulates the production and sale of transportation fuels based on greenhouse gas emissions. Industry trade groups filed this suit alleging that the Oregon program violates the Commerce Clause and is preempted by the Clean Air Act. Finding the allegations not plausible, the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the trade groups' complaint.




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Shell Offshore, Inc. v. Tesla Offshore, LLC

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that a company surveying the ocean floor was properly apportioned 75 percent of the liability for an accident in which its underwater sonar device struck an offshore drilling rig's mooring line. The remaining 25 percent of the liability was allocated to the operator of the chartered vessel that was pulling the sonar device. Affirmed a judgment after a jury trial.



  • Admiralty
  • Oil and Gas Law
  • Injury & Tort Law

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Glassell Non-Operated Interests Ltd. v. Enerquest Oil and Gas LLC

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that an oil company did not breach its contract with several other oil companies. The dispute arose out of a joint agreement to cooperatively develop oil prospects in Texas. Reversed the judgment below.




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Retail Digital Network v. Appelsmith

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an action in which plaintiff challenged, on First Amendment grounds, California Business and Professions Code Section 25503(f)-(h), which forbids manufacturers and wholesalers of alcoholic beverages from giving anything of value to retailers for advertising their alcoholic products, the district court's summary judgment to agency-defendant is reversed where plaintiff, a middleman involved in the advertising industry, had standing to challenge section 25503, because the Supreme Court's opinion in Sorrell v. IMS Health, Inc., 131 S. Ct. 2653 (2011), requires heightened judicial scrutiny of content-based restrictions on non-misleading commercial speech regarding lawful products, rather than the intermediate scrutiny previously applied to section 25503 by the Ninth Circuit in Actmedia, Inc. v. Stroh, 830 F.2d 957 (9th Cir.1986).




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In re: Nickelodeon Cons. Privacy Litig.

(United States Third Circuit) - In a consolidated multi-district class action against Google and Viacom raising concerns over online privacy, the district court's dismissal of most of plaintiffs' claims are affirmed in part and reversed in part. The court held that: 1) The Video Privacy Protection Act permits plaintiffs to sue a person who discloses, not who receives, information related to viewers' consumption of video-related services; 2) plaintiffs have adequately alleged a claim for intrusion upon seclusion against Viacom; and 3) the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 does not preempt plaintiffs' state-law privacy claim.




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Medina & Medina, Inc. v. Hormel Foods Corp.

(United States First Circuit) - In a case involving a dispute over an unwritten and allegedly exclusive distributorship agreement between plaintiff and Hormel Foods Corp. under Puerto Rico's Dealer's Contracts Act (Law 75), P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 10 sections 278-278e, the district court's judgment is: 1) affirmed in part where plaintiff's exclusivity claim as presented is time-barred; and 2) reversed in part where the statute of limitations bar to recovery extends to plaintiff's Costco-related claim as well.




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Goethel v. US Dep't of Commerce

(United States First Circuit) - In a commercial action, brought by a commercial fisherman challenging various provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the district court's grant of summary judgment to the government is affirmed where plaintiff's suit was not filed within the thirty-day statute of limitations.




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Campbell v. Kallas

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Reversed. Prison officials sued for Eighth Amendment violations over their refusal to provide gender reassignment surgery to a prisoner were entitled to qualified immunity because caselaw did not clearly put them on notice their action was unconstitutional.




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Stopthemillenniumhollywood.com v. City of Los Angeles

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Plaintiff challenged a trial court ruling that a proposed development failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. The appeals court found that the trial court did not err in concluding that that the project failed to comply with the CEQA requirement of an accurate, stable, and finite project description.




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Fidelity National Financial, Inc. v. Friedman

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reversed and remanded. The district court’s order vacating a registered judgement is reversed, holding that a court need not have personal jurisdiction over a judgment debtor in order to “merely register” a previously obtained judgment.




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Driveline Systems LLC v. Arctic Cat, Inc.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Vacated and remanded. The summary judgment in a contract lawsuit over a supply contract for manufactured goods was improper because there were genuine issues of material fact.




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Moore v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

(California Court of Appeal) - Reversed judgment and reinstated jury verdict in favor of Plaintiff. The trial court granted Defendant, Wells Fargo’s motions including a motion for judgment notwithstanding the jury verdict that found Wells Fargo committed fraud in a Home Affordable Mortgage Program case. The appeals court reversed the rulings and the judgment that it found in favor of Wells Fargo and remanded for further proceedings consistent with appeals court ruling.




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Alternate Fuels, Inc. v. Cabanas

(United States Eighth Circuit) - In an action against Missouri Department of Natural Resources officials claiming denial of equal protection, tortious interference with contract, and First Amendment retaliation, partial summary judgment for defendant on the First Amendment claim and judgment pursuant to jury verdict for plaintiff on the tortious-interference claim are affirmed where: 1) plaintiff had no standing to assert the First Amendment claim; 2) defendant's motions for judgment as a matter of law could not be the basis of an appeal; 3) the district court properly refused defendant's "official duties" and "official immunity" instructions; and 4) the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the tortious-interference claim.




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Zanelli v. McGrath

(California Court of Appeal) - In a property matter, judgment quieting title to an adjacent property owned by defendant is affirmed where the easement benefiting plaintiff and burdening defendant was extinguished by merger.




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Zanelli v. McGrath

(California Court of Appeal) - In a property matter, judgment quieting title to an adjacent property owned by defendant is affirmed where the easement benefiting plaintiff and burdening defendant was extinguished by merger.




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UPMC-Braddock Hosp. v. Sebelius

(United States Third Circuit) - District court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, denying a reimbursement claim for loss on depreciable assets resulting from a merger between two non-profit medical corporations is vacated and remanded where: 1) the Secretary's interpretation of the related party regulations, requiring examination of whether the parties were related pre- and post-merger, is contrary to the plain language of the regulations, and under the proper, pre-merger test, the parties were not related at the time of the transaction; and 2) the district court's determination that the merger was not a bona fide sale was not based on substantial evidence, in light of errors made in determining the value of certain assets.




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WellPoint, Inc. v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Judgment of the Tax Court that plaintiff could not deduct from its taxable income either the amount it paid to the states or the legal expenses that it had incurred in the litigation, involving the acquisition of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance companies, is affirmed as, under the application of the "origin of the claim" doctrine, costs incurred in defending the lawsuit were capital expenditures and so could not be deducted as ordinary and necessary business expenses.




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Shroyer v. New Cingular Wireless Servs., Inc.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an action claiming that Cingular Wireless, after its merger with AT&T, disregarded its obligations under plaintiff's phone service contract with AT&T by failing to provide adequate service coverage and requiring plaintiff to sign a different contract with defendant if he desired to get the service that AT&T had contracted to provide under the first agreement, and that Cingular misrepresented and omitted key facts about the consequence of the merger to the FCC, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed in part where: 1) "all the advantages that only the nation's largest wireless company can provide" was a vague statement and provided nothing concrete upon which plaintiff could reasonably rely; 2) plaintiff failed to allege that he actually read or heard the alleged misrepresentations; and 3) violations of the common law of unfair competition and breach of contract did not alone violate California's Unfair Competition Law. However, the dismissal is reversed in part where plaintiff's complaint sufficiently stated a claim that Cingular breached its contract with him.




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St. Luke's Hosp. v. Sebelius

(United States DC Circuit) - In an action challenging the Secretary of Health and Human Services' denial of plaintiff's claim for reimbursement regarding a $2.9 million loss allegedly incurred by a Medicare provider when it merged with plaintiff through a "statutory merger," summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) the parties involved bargained in good faith and the consideration tendered reasonably reflected fair market value; and 2) the Secretary's application of the reasonable consideration requirement to the merger was not an impermissible retroactive imposition of a new standard as set out in PM A-00-76.




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Equitable Res., Inc. v. United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Mfg., etc.

(United States Sixth Circuit) - In a company's suit under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) to vacate or modify the arbitration award against it, district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the union is affirmed where: 1) the arbitrator did not exceed his authority by interpreting the CBA in a way that allowed the company to be found liable for a breach; 2) the arbitrator did not exceed the scope of his authority to decide a representational issue in this case because the arbitrator's successor decision was permissible in furtherance of his interpretation of the CBA; 3) the award's remedy does not violate public policy; and 4) the arbitrator did not dispense his own brand of industrial justice.




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ARC Welding Supply Co., Inc. v. American Welding and Gas, Inc.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed a judgment after trial in a contractual dispute between two industrial supply companies. The case involved the alleged breach of their asset purchase agreement.




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Emotional Debris Release New Singles 'Hey Roman' & 'California Song'

Inspired By The Events Of Los Angeles Summer 1969 Emotional Debris Introduces 2 Catchy Rock Records In Line With Quentin Tarantino's New Epic 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood'




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Roger D'Arcy Releases "Fool Me Once"

The Second Track From His Third Collection Of Songs Recorded In Some Of His Favourite Studios Around The World




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WE BELONG: Marina V & Dan Navarro Release A Beautiful Rendition Of Pat Benatar's Hit

Award-winning Recording Artist MARINA V Teams Up With Legendary Singer/songwriter, DAN NAVARRO, For Their Artistic Rendition Of PAT BENATAR'S 1984 GRAMMY-nominated Hit, WE BELONG




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Nat Jay Releases First Single "Sleep" Off Forthcoming Full-length Album

Vancouver-based Singer-songwriter And Recording Artist Nat Jay Releases Electro Pop Song "Sleep"




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Between Vintage And Electronic: Speakeasy, The New Album By Luke & The Belleville Orchestra

Lemon Slice Records Has Released Speakeasy, The New Album By Luke & The Belleville, A Masterly Integration Between The Swing Of The 1930s And The Most Modern Rhythms And Sounds Of Electronic Music.




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Stephanie Ryann Releases Her Official Music Video For "Whiskey Regret"

Rising Country Artist, Stephanie Ryann, Has Released Her First Music Video For The Song "Whiskey Regret" Off Of Her Debut, Self-titled EP To Commemorate The Anniversary Of Its Release Last October




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In re US Office of Personnel Management Data Security Breach Litigation

(United States DC Circuit) - Revived claims that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's woefully inadequate cybersecurity practices enabled hackers to steal personal data about millions of past and present federal employees. Reversed a dismissal in relevant part, in a lawsuit brought by labor unions and others arising out of a 2014 cyberattack.




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County of Sonoma v Gustely

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed as modified. Defendant failed to comply with an administrative order for various violations of county codes on his property. County filed suit and was awarded penalties, costs and attorney fees, but at a lower rate than amount ordered by administrative court. Appeals court modified assessment of penalties to the higher rate.




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Electronic Privacy Information Center v. US Dept. of Commerce and Bureau of the Census

(United States DC Circuit) - Remanded for dismissal. The Electronic Privacy Information Center sued following a US Department of Commerce announcement that citizenship would be among the questions included in the 2020 census. EPIC sought to enjoin the question because they claim their members were entitled to a Privacy Impact Assessment. However, EPIC lacked standing to proceed with the suit.




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CTIA - The Wireless Association v. City of Berkeley

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirmed. An organization of wireless providers appealed the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction in their challenge of a Berkeley ordinance requiring cell phone retailers to warn potential buyers that carrying a phone could cause them to exceed FCC guidelines for exposure to radio-frequency radiation.




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Zenhiser Releases Tension Techno Sample Pack

A Gold Mine Of Analogue & Digital Techno Sounds Awaits You




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HOLMESWOOD RELEASES SUPERSONIC COVER OF THE BEE GEES “YOU SHOULD BE DANCING”

Holmeswood Transports The Carefree Euphoria Of The Saturday Night Fever Disco Era Into The Future Fueled With Electro-techno-dubstep Vibes Up To Planet Holmeswood




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Scottish EDM Producer Readies 4th Quarter Releases With AWAL

Aberdeen-based Chris Burke Will Release 12 Singles With Exclusive Distributor AWAL. A Summer 2020 European Tour Is Being Planned.




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Zenhiser Releases "Braindrop - Drum N Bass" Sample Pack

A New Horizon Of DnB Sounds Covering Everything From Liquid D&B To Neurofunk




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01100110 Releases Debut EP “Seaside Hollows” And Launches Record Label “Elektroakustische Tanzmusik.”

The Techno Artist And DJ Known As 01100110 Has Released His Latest EP Album, “Seaside Hollows” On His New Record Label “Elektroakustische Tanzmusik.”




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JES Release New Crossover Track "We Belong To The Night"

JES, The Voice That Melts The Heart Of The Dance Floor Steps Into Fall With A New Song "We Belong To The Night" And A Brand New Vibe!




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Zenhiser Releases "Swagger" Sample Pack For Hip Hop & Trap

Blurring The Lines Between Hip Hop & Trap, Swagger Adds Attitude To Your Tracks




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DIVINE ASTRONAUT ELECTRO DUO ANNOUNCE LAUNCH. LISTEN TO TEASER FOR ‘UNDONE’

LA Based Electro Duo Divine Astronaut Announce The Launch Of Their New Musical Act With A Teaser Video Of Their Upcoming Single Release ‘Undone’.




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Mexico's Mike Rosales Releases "Just Feel"

Mexico's Mike Rosales Seeks To Rock The Underground House Scene With "Just Feel".




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Asmo Releases New EP Album 'Consumed'

The Music Artist Known As Asmo Has Released His Latest EP Album, “Consumed.”




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Zenhiser Releases "Galvanize - Drum & Bass" Sample Pack

A Straight Talking Drum & Bass Sample Pack That Pushes The Envelope In DnB Tools




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A Trio Of Mexican Producers Come Together For Hard-hitting Techno Release ‘Fear The Noise’

Thick Smoke Clouds The Air As Thunderous Booms Shake The Ground.