Three significant wins for the public in IP cases yesterday: 1. The Ninth Circuit held that a dog toy doesn't tarnish the Jack Daniel's brand 2. The Eleventh Circuit held that keyword advertising isn't trademark infringement 3. The Ninth Circuit held that Amazon couldn't block price-comparison bots
Mark Lemley
@marklemley.bsky.social
William H. Neukom Professor, Stanford Law School. Partner, Lex Lumina LLP. I teach and write in IP, antitrust, internet, and video game law
Important safety tip for AI users: when relying on a proposed travel itinerary generated by AI, double-check to make sure that the dates AI proposes actually exist before making reservations. No, Claude, September 24, 2026 is NOT a Friday
THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE POWER ACCOMPLISHES! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who wrote comments, contacted Congress, and yelled! This is OUR WIN! @standupforscience.net www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul
Language is included to delay the president’s move to put political appointees in charge of grant approval.
politico.com
This case became the centerpiece of a meeting I had in the White House to oppose SOPA-PIPA in January 2012. I met with Obama’s deputy chief of staff for policy along with Victoria Espinel. As I told the story, the DCoS kept turning to Espinel who, wincing, acknowledged the truth of my account.
Lindsay Deibler-Wallace, assistant head of Upper School, took no action to protect them after telling parents that “boys will be boys.” arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
High school defends staying silent while boys made AI nudes of 59 classmates
Gaps in laws may help Pennsylvania high school escape AI nudes scandal.
arstechnica.com
I really need everyone to remember that the fossil fuel industry knew-knows exactly the climate hell we now inhabit, and are determined to make it FAR worse. That's because they have decided our lives are worth far less than their profits. We are not angry -or organised- enough.
This is unserious and evil in equal measure, of course. But on the other hand, it would mean we could deport Brett Kavanaugh.
A GOP Congressman, Griffith Morgan (Virginia), has introduced a bill to strip people in Guam, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and every other US non-state territory of their birthright citizenship. www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
I wrote about how immigration arrests are at all-time highs, even as ICE is trying to assume a lower public profile. How are they doing this? Look to your local police.
ICE’s Secret Weapon Is in Your Community
While attempting to maintain a relatively lower profile, ICE is managing to arrest record numbers of people. Here’s how it’s doing that.
newrepublic.com
Oh look, Tennessee Republican candidate for governor Monty Fritts made it into people Magazine 😕 Republicans claim Dems are the radicals for wanting you to have health care, meanwhile this is who they’re running. (He’s a sitting state rep btw) people.com/tennessee-go...
If a group of competitors want to use a common algorithm to set prices and avoid antitrust liability, it is probably a bad idea to name the algorithm "Rainmaker".
Elon Musk had an undeserved reputation and destroyed it by revealing himself to who he is.
Third Circuit holds that algorithmic price collusion can violate the antitrust laws; sets up potential conflict with the Ninth Circuit. www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/243...
www2.ca3.uscourts.gov
I'm speaking at the University of Melbourne tonight on - what else? - copyright and generative AI events.unimelb.edu.au/IPRIA/event/...
Copyright Law and Generative AI
Intellectual Property Research Institute at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne invites you to a presentation by Professor Mark A. Lemley...
events.unimelb.edu.au
THIS IS HOW GOOD PROFESSORS ADAPT TO A CHANGING WORLD BTW 👇🏻
I have had good success in the last two terms with writing an exam question, running it through a model to get an answer, and then giving my students that answer and having them evaluate and improve on it. I think this is more kin to what they will actually find themselves doing in practice
What if, just spitballing here, the government gave a foreigner billions of dollars and made him the richest man on the planet
The Trump administration is hiding the number of American casualties in the Iran war www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
‘Shameful’: Pentagon accused of cover-up over US military casualties in Iran war
No press briefing has been held for months, as the defence department belatedly or inaccurately releases figures
theguardian.com
The reckoning for these thieves is going to have to be thorough and brutal. We tried the "back to normal" approach with Biden and we ended up with a wholesale Republican attack on the country www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Trump administration admits pulling grants from states that didn’t vote Republican
The Trump administration previously claimed the funding cuts were meant to stop wasteful spending and were not influenced by politics
independent.co.uk
Seems Bloomberg has this story behind a paywall so here's a different site's story/take: thedesk.net/2026/07/stat...
States, DIRECTV accused Nexstar of controlling TEGNA despite injunction
July 22, 2026 - A motion filed on Wednesday says TEGNA's Board of Directors is comprised entirely of Nexstar executives, possibly violating a court's preliminary injunction.
thedesk.net
Wow, Nexstar is just ignoring the court order blocking its merger with Tegna and going ahead anyway. This is contempt of court. Time to put some executives in jail news.bloomberglaw.com/product/blaw...
Just in case you were considering doing business with DLA Piper
I can't believe we're back to this. This is an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech. IP laws can be enforced against illegal streaming. Seizing and shutting down an entire website because some of the content on it is infringing is not authorized by the law. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/unite...
United States Seizes More than 1,000 Internet Domains Used to Illegally Stream World Cup 2026 Matches
The Department of Justice announced today the successful seizure of more than 1,000 domains that were engaged in the unauthorized streaming of matches in the FIFA World Cup Finals in violation of U.S....
justice.gov
Official monthly data is in today, and US solar power generation hit a new record high, up 21% compared to this time last year!
Wow, Nexstar is just ignoring the court order blocking its merger with Tegna and going ahead anyway. This is contempt of court. Time to put some executives in jail news.bloomberglaw.com/product/blaw...
Bloomberg Law
news.bloomberglaw.com
well at least people on a fixed income won’t have to choose between groceries and prescription anymore. they can afford neither
Basically for all manufacturers: do you spend a fortune starting this process only for Trump to end the tariffs early and now you’ve got all this debt or do you figure on riding it out until he chickens out?
Drug prices are too expensive. What should we do? Trump administration: "ooh, what if we tripled the price of generic drugs?' They really can't see any problem without figuring out a way to make it worse. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Drug prices are too expensive. What should we do? Trump administration: "ooh, what if we tripled the price of generic drugs?' They really can't see any problem without figuring out a way to make it worse. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Trump’s 100% Generic Drug Duty Threatens US Low-Cost Supply
Generic drug manufacturers must move production to the US or face a 100% import duty from August 2028, President Donald Trump said, threatening the supply of low-cost medicines that millions of Americ...
bloomberg.com
Yes! I'm also keeping a list of brand owners who should be embarrassed to deploy the SAD Scheme, and the firms that represent them. Off the top of my head: Roblox, Toyota, Nike, Disney, Pres. Trump [who has many other serious reasons to be ashamed] + Boies Schiller
Rosemary Kelanic: “Giving Saudi Arabia uranium enrichment technology is a terrible idea on many counts. But it’s especially idiotic to do it *in the middle of a war over Iran’s nuclear programme. . . . Is Trump TRYING to provoke Iran into weaponising?” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Saudi Arabia and US strike deal for kingdom to enrich uranium
Donald Trump approves agreement to help country make fuel for civilian nuclear programme
theguardian.com