The electric vehicle industry’s once prosperous and promising future, filled with Biden-era electric vehicle waivers and mandates, now faces barriers from the Trump Administration (Ciara Cook, New Automotive). The most recent blow stemmed from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”), which ended deductions offered to taxpayers buying a new electric or hybrid vehicle. Id. This Act, along with Trump’s recent Executive Order, has nudged industries to hedge their investments away from clean energy projects and toward oil and gas technologies, weighing the once promising growth of the electric vehicle industry against the Trump administration’s intent to move away from clean energy. Id. This post explains the clean energy credit, why it was terminated, as well as the effects on the automotive industry and consumers.
Read MoreActors are increasingly seeing videos of themselves, but they don’t remember taking them. This is an issue Hollywood actors, talent agencies, and studios are facing with artificial intelligence (“AI”), specifically OpenAI’s Sora 2. (Wendy Lee and Samantha Masunaga, LA Times). Sora 2 generates realistic videos with synchronized audio from user-entered text prompts. (OpenAI). Sora 2 has technology that can generate recognizable properties or likenesses into deepfakes — either friends, copyrighted characters, or famous likenesses. (Winston Cho, Hollywood Reporter). A deepfake is a video that seems authentic but has been manipulated by AI; sometimes used for disinformation or extortion. (Government Accountability Office, Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics). In one such video, viewers can see Michael Jackson interacting with Bryan Cranston, of “Breaking Bad.” (Wendy Lee and Samantha Masunaga, LA Times). Thus, the controversy revolves around who owns the copyrighted images and human likenesses that are utilized to create such videos. Id. This post will discuss a brief overview of copyright law; why Sora 2 is alarming Hollywood; how agencies and studios are protecting their clients and intellectual property; and the implications of the rising use of Sora 2 and similar technologies.
Read MoreIn June of 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed suit against Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”) for allegedly deceptively enrolling customers into its Amazon Prime (“Prime”) membership program and making cancellation from the program excessively difficult. Prime provides access to exclusive digital content, consumer deals, and faster shipping for its estimated 197 million members. (Jordan Valinsky, CNN). The FTC’s suit marks one of the more significant uses of consumer protection law against a technology giant of this scale. (Caroline Haskins, Wired). The case centered around so-called “dark patterns,” subtle user interface designs and features aimed at manipulating consumer behavior. (FTC). This post seeks to explain the FTC’s complaint, acknowledge the personal liability implications of the action, and consider what the enforcement may suggest for corporate liability and consumer protections actions moving forward.
Read MoreElectronic Arts (“EA”), the California-based video game maker responsible for Madden NFL and The Sims, recently announced in September of 2025 that it is going private in a landmark $55 billion deal. (Nicholas Miller & Lauren Thomas, Wall Street Journal). A consortium of financial entities, namely Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (“PIF”), Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners investment fund, and the massive private equity fund Silver Lake Partners, are jointly facilitating the leveraged buyout. (Daniel Stone, Center for Economic and Policy Research). As the terms stand, the consortium will acquire 100% of EA and stockholders will be paid a staggering $210 per share, which represents a 25% premium to EA’s share price on September 25, 2025 (valued at $168.32). (Electronic Arts). While the deal has raised eyebrows for being the largest leveraged buyout since TXU (“Texas Utilities”) was acquired for $32 billion in 2007, it has also raised concerns related to national security and foreign influence by Saudi Arabia. (Michael Liedtke and Michelle Chapman, AP News). The acquisition reflects Saudi Arabia’s ongoing effort to expand its global influence through interactive entertainment and sports, while U.S. investors and political allies provide financial and regulatory cover. (The Economist). This post examines the key players of the acquisition, their motives for pursuing such a legendary deal, the regulatory hurdles the acquisition faces at the federal level, and the possible social & political implications of the deal.
Read MoreCorporate law firms nationwide were relieved as attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine remained safeguarded. In a recent decision, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals had temporarily stayed a district court’s decision requiring the disclosure of investigative materials related to the FirstEnergy Corporation (“FirstEnergy”) bribery scandal (“Scandal”). (Debra Weiss, ABA Journal). After the Scandal implicated FirstEnergy in funneling money to politicians to secure the passage of Ohio House Bill 6, the company’s board of directors hired the law firms of Jones Day and Squire Patton Boggs to internally investigate the allegations. (Alison Frankel, Reuters). The district court reasoned that because FirstEnergy sought counsel’s advice for both business and legal purposes, the communication did not fall under attorney-client privilege or the attorney-work-product doctrine. In re FirstEnergy Corp., No. 24-3654, 2025 WL 2335978, at 2* (6th Cir. Aug. 7, 2025). The Sixth Circuit disagreed, stating "Th[is] approach gets it backwards” and found that communications produced by law firms hired for the purpose of conducting internal investigations are protected by attorney-client privilege and attorney-work-product doctrine. Id. This post examines how the Sixth Circuit addressed the privacy issue raised by the district court’s decision and analyzes the ruling’s ramifications for corporate internal investigations, as well as its broader effects on large corporate firms and law firm business practices.
Read MoreThe Wu-Tang Clan’s secretive album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, is the unicorn of recorded albums—everyone has heard of it, but only few have listened. Recently, this elusive album was at the center of a novel decision in New York federal court. PleasrDAO v. Shkreli, No. 24-CV-4126 (PKC) (MMH), 2025 WL 2733345, (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 25, 2025). On September 25, 2025, in evaluating the legal sufficiency of PleasrDAO’s argument, and whether a jury could reasonably find a trade secret violation, the court concluded that the album could qualify as a trade secret protected under the trade secret doctrine. Id.; (Aislinn Keely, Law360). This holding wades into uncharted territory and opens the door to further trade secret protections of traditionally unprotected art forms. (Aislinn Keely, Law360); (Jennifer Klausner, Davis+Gilbert). This post explores the case surrounding the uniqueness of the Wu-Tang Clan album and the implications the decision can have for other creatives.
Read More