Specialist news and analysis on legal risk and regulation

Top News

Antitrust, Artificial Intelligence, Intellectual Property

October 29, 2026 | Chris May, Nick Robertson and Emma Whitford

Europe, North America

Meta’s global dust-up over scraping, AI showcases platforms' legal risks

Data Privacy and Security, Technology

October 29, 2026 | Patricia Figueiredo

Europe, Latin America, North America

Brazil’s Meta controversy raises wider, global questions about elections
A worker assembles an SUV at a car plant of Li Auto, a major Chinese EV maker, in Changzhou in eastern China's Jiangsu province.

Data Privacy and Security, Energy, Technology, Trade

October 29, 2026 | Bradley Dress

North America

US faces questions as Chinese EVs pressure global markets

Antitrust View More

Vape buyers’ lawyers get final warning over misrepresentations in US antitrust case

October 30, 2026

North America

MLex Summary: A US judge warned plaintiffs’ counsel in CCell cannabis vaping systems antitrust litigation that misrepresenting documents in their complaint and doubling down on those misrepresentations in thei... (more story)

Blackrock, State Street must face trimmed US state antitrust claims in coal suit

October 30, 2026

North America

MLex Summary: Iowa and Nebraska have standing to pursue antitrust claims on behalf of electricity buyers who were allegedly harmed by a conspiracy involving BlackRock and State Street Corp. to artificially con... (more story)

Maryland AG wants new task force for surveillance pricing investigations

October 30, 2026 | Clayton Vickers

North America

The attorney general for Maryland, the first state in the US to issue a surveillance pricing ban, wants a new task force to investigate the practice, saying a more specialized team like those already created b... (more story)

Artificial Intelligence View More

Anthropic details privacy concerns as pervasive regulator risk in advance of IPO

October 31, 2026 | Mike Swift

Europe, North America

Anthropic called out a plethora of privacy risks in this week's S-1 filing ahead of its initial public stock offering, including the admission that two of the biggest concerns about frontier AI — privacy and s... (more story)

Data center backlash gives Democrats new weapon in US midterm battles

October 30, 2026 | Amy Miller

North America

Data centers have become an unexpected political flashpoint ahead of the US midterm elections, with Democrats spending millions of dollars attacking Republicans over rising electricity bills, corporate tax bre... (more story)

US House Judiciary Democrats oppose DOJ fair use analysis in OpenAI, Microsoft cases

October 30, 2026

North America

MLex Summary: US House Judiciary Committee Democrats Jamie Raskin, Jerry Nadler and Hank Johnson filed an amicus brief in pending copyright litigation by news publishers and authors against OpenAI and Micrsoft... (more story)

Mergers and Acquisitions View More

Canadian Pacific asks US rail board to end Union Pacific merger review

October 30, 2026 | Ilana Kowarski

North America

Canadian Pacific Railway Co. urged the US Surface Transportation Board to end its review of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern rail deal because of shippers’ allegations that Union Pacific Chief Executive Jim ... (more story)

US DOJ issues closing statement for Vistra-Cogentrix electricity merger

October 30, 2026

North America

MLex Summary: The US Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced in a press release that it closed its probe into a merger between New England electricity suppliers Vistra and Cogentrix after merging pa... (more story)

Union Pacific merger should be rejected due to alleged threats by CEO, rival CPKC argues

October 30, 2026

North America

MLex Summary: The Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad, or CPKC, urged the US Surface Transportation Board to deny Union Pacific Railroad's application to buy out rival Norfolk Southern Railway due to allegat... (more story)

Data Privacy and Security View More

US judge certifies four nationwide classes in Meta healthcare privacy litigation

October 30, 2026

North America

MLex Summary: A US federal judge has certified four classes of Facebook users in litigation accusing Meta of improperly collecting sensitive medical information through tracking technologies embedded in health... (more story)

US FTC lawsuit against Hims & Hers appears headed for trial

October 30, 2026 | Maria Dinzeo

North America

A US federal judge said he is unlikely to dismiss the US Federal Trade Commission's privacy and consumer protection lawsuit against Hims & Hers.

US judge pushes Character.AI to get privacy ombudsman for bankruptcy proceedings

October 30, 2026 | Madeline Hughes

North America

The US judge overseeing Character.AI's bankruptcy proceedings stopped short of requiring the company to obtain a privacy ombudsman for the process, but he "strongly encourage[d] the debtor to consider the enga... (more story)

Intellectual Property View More

OpenAI bugging a physical security ‘wakeup call’ for trade secret owners

October 30, 2026 | Melissa Ritti

North America

The alleged bugging of an OpenAI executive conference room underscores why companies protecting trade secrets need safeguards beyond cybersecurity, experts told MLex.

Hikma gives US ‘skinny label’ generics stronger protection than in EU, practitioners say

October 30, 2026 | Nick Robertson

Europe, North America

The US Supreme Court’s Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma decision this year makes induced patent infringement claims against “skinny label” generic drugmakers harder to plead, practitioners say, contrasti... (more story)

As US judiciary explores AI tools, Stark anticipates changes in chambers

October 30, 2026 | Steve Scherer

North America

The federal judiciary is exploring artificial intelligence tools to improve productivity, while cautioning judges against delegating core functions to AI technology. Judge Leonard Stark of the US Court of Appe... (more story)

Financial Crime View More

Former oil trader wasn’t prejudiced over jury instructions, US says

October 30, 2026 | Samuel Rubenfeld

Latin America, North America

Former oil trader Glenn Oztemel didn’t suffer prejudice due to erroneous or confusing jury instructions in his US trial, according to a brief filed by the government in the appeal of his conviction and 15-mont... (more story)

US files brief in former oil trader's appeal of bribery conviction, sentence

October 30, 2026

Latin America, North America

MLex Summary: Former oil trader Glenn Oztemel wasn't prejudiced by erroneous or confusing jury instructions in his trial, according to the US government’s brief filed in the appeal of his conviction and senten... (more story)

FATF launches accelerated virtual asset review process

October 30, 2026

Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, Oceania

MLex Summary: The Financial Action Task Force launched a targeted review process to accelerate global implementation of the body's anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing standards in relation to ... (more story)

Financial Services View More

California climate disclosure laws to be reviewed by US OCC

October 30, 2026 | Neil Roland

Europe, North America

California should exempt its federally chartered banks from a 2023 law requiring disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, US Comptroller Jonathan Gould said, citing an “undue burden” on the firms and a distract... (more story)

UK businessman offered laundering services to hackers, sex traffickers, US says

October 30, 2026 | Samuel Rubenfeld

North America

A UK businessman living in Hong Kong was charged in the US with laundering money he believed to be the proceeds of computer hacking, and he offered to provide his services if the funds were derived from drug t... (more story)

Binance says $6.3bn hack came through employee’s laptop

October 30, 2026

Europe

MLex Summary: Cryptocurrency platform Binance said it has fallen victim to a hack estimated to have affected $6.3 billion worth of customer funds. The exchange said it was likely the funds had been accessed vi... (more story)

Trade View More

USITC unanimously votes to continue pizza boxes case

October 30, 2026

Asia, Middle East, North America

MLex Summary: The US International Trade Commission unanimously voted in a preliminary determination there is a reasonable indication a domestic industry is injured by allegedly dumped imports of corrugated di... (more story)

US adds three Chinese genomics companies to Uyghur forced labor entity list

October 30, 2026

North America

MLex Summary: The US Department of Homeland Security announced that it has added three Chinese genomic companies to its Entity List for forced Uyghur labor. Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, compan... (more story)

Digital trade, competition ties deepen under new EU-Canada alliance

October 30, 2026

Europe, North America

MLex Summary: The EU and Canada have concluded substantive negotiations on a digital trade agreement and negotiations on a new competition cooperation pact, leaders announced at their summit in Montreal on Fri... (more story)

State Aid View More

Japan's Rapidus, HCLTech open chip centers in India

October 27, 2026

Asia

MLex Summary: Japan's government-backed chipmaker Rapidus and Indian technology company HCLTech said on Monday that they have opened two semiconductor development centers in Bengaluru and Hubli, India, to supp... (more story)

Greek newspaper Dimokratia sees EU Court referral decision published

October 26, 2026

Europe

MLex Summary: The Greek Council of State has released the public version of its decision in August to refer to the EU top court a dispute between the Greek state and the newspaper Dimokratia. The dispute regar... (more story)

Iberian power-price aid approval survives Spanish manufacturers’ EU appeal

October 22, 2026 | Lewis Crofts and Anna Lauwereys

Europe

Five Spanish industrial manufacturers saw their challenge of a state aid measure for power prices dismissed at the EU top court on Thursday. PGI Spain, Berry Superfos Pamplona, Promens Packaging, RPC Envases a... (more story)

Energy View More

Commission electricity reforms face legal, political pushback from EU governments

October 29, 2026 | Louis de Briant

Europe

Proposed EU requirements preventing electricity from being taxed more heavily than gas faced government opposition Thursday, with several countries arguing that the measures require unanimous approval under a ... (more story)

EU governments seek changes to electricity grid charges, post-2030 energy targets

October 29, 2026

Europe

MLex Summary: EU governments called for greater national discretion over electricity network charges and simpler rules for meeting future energy targets during Thursday's Energy Council. According to a press r... (more story)

EU wholesale energy reporting obligations clarified in new guidance

October 29, 2026

Europe

MLex Summary: Reporting obligations for wholesale energy transactions — including liquefied natural gas trading, market exposure and bilateral contracts with energy-intensive consumers — have been clarified in... (more story)

Technology View More

Meta settles with 18-year-old in social media addiction case on eve of Calif. trial

October 30, 2026 | Maria Dinzeo

North America

Meta Platforms has reached a settlement with an 18-year-old woman who accused the social media giant of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive, contributing to her anxiety, depression, a... (more story)

Google says platforms should handle UK age checks as Ofcom urges app-store action

October 30, 2026 | Imogen Howse

Europe

Google has said individual online services should remain responsible for age assurance, after a report by the UK's online safety regulator found that app stores could do more to protect children. Ofcom said ap... (more story)

Meta criticizes Ofcom’s info demands after UK court rejects platforms’ challenges (update*)

October 30, 2026 | Imogen Howse

Europe

Meta Platforms has renewed its criticism of information demands issued by UK regulator Ofcom, after the High Court rejected legal challenges brought by Meta, TikTok and X. Meta maintained that the scale of the... (more story)