News & Publications

On July 8, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the entirety of the recently adopted Negative Option Rule (the Rule) by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).1 See Custom Commc'ns, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, ---F.4th----, 2025 WL 1873489 (8th Cir. July 8, 2025).The amended Rule, which was scheduled to become fully effective on July 14, contained onerous new requirements for all businesses using "negative options" (including, most prominently, automatic renewal [...]

The Federal Circuit has wiped out nearly $223M in damages awarded to the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) in two verdicts against PNC Bank. On June 12, the court issued two opinions—one precedential—holding that the mobile check deposit patents tried in both cases were invalid as ineligible under Alice, and that Eastern District of Texas Judge Rodney Gilstrap had been wrong to hold otherwise. However, the appellate court also handed a win to USAA in a third opinion, also [...]

On April 17, 2025, the New York Court of Appeals issued a landmark ruling in Flanders v. Goodfellow, fundamentally changing how the state handles dog bite liability. In a unanimous decision, the court eliminated the long-standing, so-called "one free bite" rule, allowing victims to bring negligence claims even if the dog had no prior history of aggression. This shift marks a major change in how responsibility is assessed and has far-reaching consequences for both dog owners [...]