Judge Leo Sorokin struck down the fees in June. The White House appealed, but the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block the ruling while the government pursues its appeal. The three-judge panel said the administration didn’t provide convincing evidence that it was likely to succeed in its efforts.
That 28-day pause could go a lot longer, now that US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved a deal saying that Paramount Skydance won’t close its transaction until June 1st, 2027, or at least until after legal claims of two lawsuits (one filed by a group of state AGs, and the other by the WGA) are resolved.
Meanwhile, the “ticking fee” Paramount will owe WBD shareholders for any delay starts counting in October, and could add up to $1.7 billion if the delay lasts until next June.
[CourtListener]
President Donald Trump threatened a “substantial” tariff on Europe for what he claimed were “discriminatory” fines against US tech companies over alleged competition violations, most recently involving Google. While Trump claimed Europe’s high fines started during the Biden administration, some early fines were also imposed during Trump’s first term.
The state’s recently-passed “Fair Price Protection Act” targets “discriminatory surveillance pricing”; something the FTC is investigating and that New York is also looking at. The law puts a one-year halt on new electronic shelf labels while NJ investigates “the effects and impact” of the technology.
[State of New Jersey Governor’s office]
Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ of American science starts with dismantling it, while funneling billions into AI.
Brendan Carr’s FCC keeps approving the very drones it was supposed to ban. How did it go so wrong?
That was the message to Chinese companies from a confidant of leader Xi Jinping, who’s heading up domestic efforts to overcome Nvidia’s stranglehold on cutting-edge AI chips. Go read this report from the Wall Street Journal that lays out the global stakes and the likelihood that China can repeat the playbook that saw it upending (and then dominating) industries like drones, EVs, display panels, solar, batteries… you get the idea.
US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued a decision Thursday extending her temporary restraining order to a total of 28 days, report The Wrap and Variety. The mega media merger is paused for now due to lawsuits by a group of state AGs and the Writers’ Guild of America, as the judge plans to “hear the two motions for preliminary injunction on the same schedule” and has scheduled a hearing for August 3rd.
Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.
With previous import taxes struck down by the courts or set to expire, the Trump administration announced a new set of tariffs ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent on 60 trading partners, including the EU. This time around, the administration is accusing dozens of countries of failing to enforce bans on forced labor as a justification.
Quoted by the New York Times, Peter Harell says the small difference between tariffs gives away the labor investigation as a smokescreen, and that, shockingly, “It’s not really about forced labor.”
Usually, the CPSC works with companies to voluntarily recall dangerous gadgets — but it’s making an exception for these Chinese water heater sticks sold at Amazon and eBay. For the first time since 1987, it writes, it’s using its power to sue over an “imminently hazardous consumer product” after confirming these ones catch fire. It says more such exceptions are coming.
