Legal News and Headlines
Legal News and Headlines
The International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a global, Shari’ah‑compliant repo master agreement. Leveraging ICMA’s Global Master Repurchase Agreement expertise and IIFM’s Islamic‑finance standards, the project will replace fragmented documentation with a unified framework. The initiative targets enhanced liquidity, reduced operational costs, and greater legal certainty for Islamic financial institutions. Yusuf Battiwala of Norton Rose Fulbright has been appointed legal counsel, and an explanatory memorandum will support implementation.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in Los Angeles as part of a high‑profile social‑media addiction trial, facing questions about internal documents that show the company deliberately targeted users as young as ten. Plaintiffs highlighted memos from 2015‑2018 that set goals...
Tesla has discontinued the Autopilot name and removed Autosteer from new vehicles after a California DMV compliance order. The DMV warned that misleading marketing could trigger a 30‑day suspension of Tesla's dealer and manufacturer licenses. To avoid the penalty, Tesla...
The UK government will amend the Crime and Policing Bill to require tech platforms to delete non‑consensual intimate images, including AI‑generated deepfakes, within 48 hours of notification. Enforcement will be handed to Ofcom, which can levy fines up to 10%...
The Federal Circuit affirmed that AeroVironment’s UAV development under SBIR and STTR contracts is protected by 28 U.S.C. § 1498, barring patent‑infringement suits against the contractor. The court held the work was performed for the United States with government authorization, shifting any remedy...
Michigan lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan two‑bill package to regulate automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) used by law‑enforcement and private firms. The proposals would restrict data collection, storage, and sharing, limit retention to 14 days, and require quarterly public reports...
A Nigerian national living in Mexico was sentenced to eight years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.39 million in restitution for a five‑year scheme that compromised Massachusetts tax‑preparation firms. Using phishing emails and Warzone RAT malware, he harvested taxpayer...
Senate health committee chair Bill Cassidy and 59 Republican lawmakers filed an amicus brief supporting Louisiana’s lawsuit that the FDA violated the 1870 Comstock Act by permitting telehealth prescribing of mifepristone. The brief argues the agency overstepped its authority, seeking...
In 2026 enterprises are scaling AI from pilots to company‑wide deployments, prompting a surge in legal exposure across governance, compliance, privacy, contracting and IP. Boards face heightened fiduciary duties under the Caremark standard, yet only 36% have formal AI oversight...
The U.S. District Court for New Jersey affirmed a special master’s ruling that barred Nasdaq’s Vice President of Engineering from reviewing opposing confidential material in a patent dispute. The court emphasized that once sensitive information is learned it cannot be...
A Texas federal judge denied the Federal Trade Commission’s emergency request to extend a seven‑day pause on its order that dismantles a sweeping pre‑merger reporting rule. The FTC now has until Thursday to seek relief from the Fifth Circuit Court...
UN special rapporteurs condemned Ireland’s Gardaí for acquiring double‑strength pepper spray and tasers, warning that the weapons pose serious human‑rights risks and were introduced without public debate. They classified tasers as Category A items, inherently cruel and therefore prohibited under UN...
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Fenwick & West’s March 4 webinar will examine the surge in trade‑secret litigation targeting AI companies’ core assets, such as algorithms, training data, and deployment strategies. The session will dissect recent high‑profile cases and the sizable damages awarded, highlighting how employee...
A U.S. district judge granted a preliminary win to video‑request platform Cameo, ordering OpenAI to stop using the "Cameo" label for its Sora AI video feature, citing likely consumer confusion and recent deep‑fake controversies. OpenAI had previously renamed the feature...
State efforts to require age verification for online content face mixed legal outcomes. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas' law, while lawsuits have blocked similar measures in Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, and struck down Arkansas' statute. Public opinion shows...
Intellectual property indemnification clauses are a focal point of commercial contract negotiations because infringement claims can generate hefty financial losses and operational disruption. The article breaks down the core elements—exclusions, remedies, defense control, scope, and covered claims—and then offers role‑specific...
Valid8 IP Ltd provides secure client‑identification and verification services to claims‑management, insolvency, CMC and legal firms. Its platform delivers multi‑bureau credit reports, AML/KYC checks and vehicle‑data lookups via a consent‑driven portal or API integration. The company is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified, PCI DSS 4...
Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urging his public support for the Empowering States’ Rights to Protect Consumers Act, which would let states re‑impose credit‑card interest‑rate caps on national banks. The legislation seeks to restore the...
The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached ₹505 cr (≈$55.7 mn) held in WinZO’s US and Singapore shell accounts as part of a money‑laundering probe. The agency alleges the gaming platform used bots and algorithm‑driven personas to play against real users, inflating revenues...
The Stop Underrides Act 2.0, reintroduced by Senators Gillibrand and Luján and supported by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, aims to mandate side underride guards on all new commercial trucks. The bill expands federal safety requirements, restarts the DOT advisory committee,...
Juan Arratia, former Chief of the Contracting Office at CISA, has announced the launch of Arratia & Associates LLC, a consulting firm that will advise on acquisition, procurement, and audit readiness. The new venture follows more than three decades of senior...
A French appeals court has rejected an appeal to enforce a $805 million compensation award for Nicaraguan banana plantation workers harmed by the pesticide Nemagon. The court ruled the sums were manifestly disproportionate and violated French public policy, upholding the lower...
California’s Labor Code section 201.5 creates a tailored final‑pay regime for workers engaged in motion‑picture production and broadcasting. The statute requires that terminated employees receive all earned wages by the next regular payday, with payment permissible by mail or at a...
Stripe’s Bridge subsidiary received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, filed in October and approved on Feb. 12. The charter would let Bridge issue stablecoins, custody digital assets, and manage...
The Public Sector Fraud Authority reported a record £1.7 bn in detected fraud and error for 2023‑24, more than four times the £438 m reported in 2021‑22. The surge is driven largely by error, especially £327 m linked to closed energy‑affordability schemes, while...
Stripe’s subsidiary Bridge received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter. The license would allow Bridge to issue stablecoins, custody digital assets, and manage reserves under OCC oversight. The decision...
The FDA initially issued a refuse‑to‑file letter for Moderna’s mRNA influenza vaccine, then reversed course within a week and agreed to review the product. The agency will now consider two separate pathways: full approval for adults 50‑64 and accelerated approval...
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a merger inquiry on 10 October 2025 into the proposed combination of Vandemoortele Group and Délifrance S.A., two major players in the pastry market. A Phase 1 decision on 8 December 2025 concluded the deal would likely...
On February 18, the UK enacted a €60 million liability cap for launch operators under the Space Industry (Indemnities) Act 2025, replacing the previous unlimited exposure. The cap, which must be included in launch licences, is intended to make the nascent UK...
A new FTI Consulting and Relativity survey of 224 global general counsel shows 60 % view the risk and operating environment as more complex, while 87 % say risk is accelerating. Despite higher workload – 97 % report more work and 57 % see...
The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) has issued a position statement urging Congress and federal regulators to update the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to explicitly govern AI tools used in clinical laboratories. ADLM warns that without modernized...
FinScan, Innovative Systems' AML platform, has added real‑time screening for modern payment rails such as IACH and Fedwire ISO 20022, boosting its capacity to process over 100 million transactions daily. The upgrade introduces advanced conditional logic, API‑first data quality tools, and enhanced...
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has issued an Opinion to the European Commission on the draft amended European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) prepared by EFRAG. While the EBA welcomes the simplifications that reduce reporting costs, it warns that permanent reliefs...
The FDA removed a consumer webpage that warned against chlorine dioxide, raw camel milk, chelation and hyperbaric oxygen as ineffective autism treatments, citing a routine cleanup of outdated content. The page, unchanged since 2019, remains only via the Internet Archive,...
The HR Daily Advisor piece uses the latest Knives Out film as a metaphor to explain independent‑contractor classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It outlines the six‑factor economic‑reality test that courts apply to determine whether a worker is an...
South Africa’s tax authority, SARS, has released its domestic Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), outlining how crypto‑related transactions will be reported and shared with tax authorities. The framework mandates crypto‑asset service providers to gather detailed user and transaction data and...
Swedish RegTech startup Hybridity announced a €2 million funding round to accelerate commercialisation of its AI‑driven compliance platform Hy5. The round brings the company’s total capital to €5 million and adds investors such as Henrik Ekelund, Hans Otterling and family office Fonos....
London‑based legaltech firm adeus has launched True Wills™, a service that records a cryptographic fingerprint of a will on blockchain while keeping the document off‑chain. Backed by an Innovate UK Smart Grant, the product complements traditional wet‑signed wills and is...
OSHA’s federal safety‑inspection workforce dropped sharply, falling from 812 officers at the end of fiscal 2024 to 629 by September 2025. The agency projects a rebound to roughly 1,720 inspectors in 2026, a figure that includes staff from state‑plan programs....
The Lily Mine collapse in 2016 triggered a business rescue that has now stretched ten years without resolution. The mine remains closed, the three miners unrecovered, creditors unpaid, and no funding has been verified for revised rescue plans. The case...
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a draft memorandum circular proposing stricter training requirements for corporate directors and senior executives. The new framework mandates a comprehensive curriculum that incorporates OECD corporate governance principles, the ASEAN Governance Scorecard,...
Regulatory uncertainty is rising as the FDA shifts leadership, adopts a single‑trial approval pathway, and tightens its benefit‑risk framework. While the one‑trial standard promises faster, cheaper market entry, recent surprise complete response letters (CRLs) show that even successful Phase 3 results...
A new analysis in Health Affairs Scholar reveals that brand‑name drugmakers are exploiting the Hatch‑Waxman framework through serial patent litigation and continuation patents to extend market exclusivity. By filing multiple overlapping patents, companies can repeatedly sue generic challengers, triggering 30‑month...
Environmental groups including the NRDC, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Energy’s approval of Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2) LNG export terminal in Louisiana. The suit alleges the DOE failed to assess how the...
A federal judge ordered DTE Energy and its subsidiary EES Coke to pay a $100 million civil penalty for Clean Air Act violations at the Zug Island coke plant, and to allocate an additional $20 million for community health projects. The ruling follows...
A recent Axiom survey shows that 96% of in‑house legal departments have tried AI, yet only 31% have moved past pilot projects to enterprise‑wide deployments. Two‑thirds remain in the testing phase, citing an overwhelming number of vendors, lengthy contracts, and...
The Fair Work Commission ordered the reinstatement of a National Jet Express pilot who was dismissed for alleging her superior "hated women" and other personal criticisms. While the employer proved the comments breached a workplace policy, the Commission deemed the...
The Fair Work Commission’s order to reinstate a Cowra Meat employee will be reconsidered after the employer proved that key evidence of alleged misconduct was not merely hearsay. The original ruling upheld the dismissal for failing to give notice but...
Coin Center has written to the Senate Banking Committee urging the advancement of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), a bill that would exempt crypto developers and infrastructure providers who don’t control user funds from money‑transmitter classification. The latest draft,...
Regulators are increasingly focused on financial‑crime and money‑laundering risks tied to digital assets as cryptocurrency adoption accelerates worldwide. Anonymity, multiple accounts, unauthorized usage, illegal payments and sanctions breaches are identified as core vulnerabilities. Sources such as FATF lists, public legal...
