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The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. Today the 3rd Circuit will hear a 1st amendment challenge to a New Jersey law designed to shield the personal information of public officials. Plus, OpenAI will ask a California judge to rule in its favor over its trademarks, and Amazon must face a class action over Alexa users' privacy. An alien planet is being lashed by an “angry beast” star and we have a photo. Let’s dive in.

3rd Circuit to consider NJ law protecting public officials’ personal information

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Today the 3rd Circuit will hear a challenge to a New Jersey law designed to shield the release of addresses and other personal information of judges, police and prosecutors. Here’s what to know:

The measure, known as Daniel's Law, was signed into law in 2020 by Governor Phil Murphy in response to the fatal shooting of the 20-year-old son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas at her New Jersey home by a disgruntled lawyer. A similar federal law named after Salas' son, the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, was enacted by Congress in late 2022 and protects judges by shielding their personal information online.
Today’s arguments at the 3rd Circuit stem from more than 100 lawsuits against various businesses filed by a company called Atlas Data Privacy, which was assigned claims by over 19,000 people eligible for protection under Daniel's Law.
Those businesses include CoStar Group, Oracle Corp, Zillow and Thomson Reuters, Reuters' parent company.
The businesses argue the law is too sweeping and "restricts substantially more speech than necessary to achieve its goal of enhancing the safety of public officials."
New Jersey AG Matthew Platkin argues the disclosure restrictions served to protect public safety and did not run afoul of the companies' free speech rights under the 1st Amendment.
A trial judge ruled the law was constitutional late last year. Read that decision here.
Read more about the law and what it means for privacy litigation here.
The 3rd Circuit will hear arguments beginning at 9 a.m. ET in Philadelphia.

Coming up today

A remote hearing is scheduled to address the timing of Sean "Diddy" Combs' sentencing. Last week, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian cleared Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life, but found him guilty of lesser prostitution-related offenses.
OpenAI will ask a California judge to rule in its favor on its allegations that tech entrepreneur Guy Ravine's "Open Artificial Intelligence" website infringes its trademarks. OpenAI sued Open Artificial Intelligence and Ravine in 2023, alleging that they applied to register an "Open AI" trademark the day after OpenAI announced its founding in 2015 to "sow consumer confusion." Read the complaint.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in D.C. will hold a motion hearing in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s termination of the federal equity assistance center program and related grants. Read the complaint.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

More top news

U.S. Veterans Affairs will cut nearly 30,000 jobs, far fewer than planned

Industry insight

Moves: A&O Shearman hired former Linklaters partner Diego Esposito in its leveraged finance practice … Regina Readling rejoined Sullivan & Cromwell as a partner in the firm’s executive compensation group from Weil … David Markman moved to Weil’s technology and IP transactions practice as a partner from DLA Piper … Neel Chatterjee joined King & Spalding’s business litigation practice as a partner and co-leader of the group’s intellectual property team from Goodwin … Jenner & Block added partner Peter Davis in its appellate and Supreme Court practice from Latham … Eugene Park left Milbank to join Gibson Dunn as a partner in the firm’s restructuring practice … Akerman hired real estate partner Vivien Krieger from Cozen O’Connor … Orrick added antitrust partner Chimène Faurant from De Pardieu Brocas Maffei … Kevin Colan joined Lowenstein Sandler as a tax partner from Clifford Chance … Regulatory insurance partner Steve Davis returned to Stradley Ronon from Duane Morris … Thomas Wechsler joined Cozen O’Connor as a member of the firm’s real estate practice from Ropes & Gray … Aaron Benjamin moved to Winston & Strawn’s structured finance practice as a partner from Cadwalader.

In the courts

Planned Parenthood sued the Trump administration over a provision in the sweeping domestic policy bill that would strip funding from health centers operated by the reproductive healthcare and abortion provider. Read the complaint.
Apple asked the Federal Circuit to overturn a trade tribunal’s decision that forced it to remove blood-oxygen reading technology from its Apple Watches, in order to avoid a ban on its U.S. smartwatch imports. Read more about the arguments.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ruled that K