The U.S. Supreme Court is difficult to predict, but lawyers see reason to believe the court will use an upcoming case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, to clarify the status of the Chevron doctrine, legal experts told us. The doctrine underlies the authority of independent agencies like the FCC and the FTC. The court last week agreed to hear the maritime case (docket 22-451). The court hasn’t cited Chevron for several years, though it continues to be cited by lower courts.

YouTube’s users can watch and listen to music videos for free on its ad-supported service, but those users don’t get access to the digital files “that contain the record companies’ valuable copyrighted works,” said the Recording Industry Association of America. RIAA filed its answering brief Thursday (docket 22-2760) in Yout’s 2nd Circuit appeal of the district court’s dismissal of its action for a declaratory judgment that its software platform wasn't a circumvention tool under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see 2302030005|).

A Maryland Supreme Court justice asked why the panel should consider ISPs’ constitutional arguments against the state’s digital ad tax due to possible jurisdictional issues. The state high court held oral argument Friday on Maryland’s appeal of a lower court’s decision to strike down the tax as unconstitutional.

AT&T denies the allegations it barred Legacy Equity Advisors from acquiring divested AT&T assets like Cricket Wireless and DirecTV because the private equity firm is African American-owned and -operated (see 2305040065), emailed an AT&T spokesperson Thursday. AT&T “will vigorously defend ourselves in court,” said the spokesperson: “We do not discriminate, nor do we tolerate discrimination of any kind, and any suggestion that we do is just wrong.”

U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill for Idaho in Coeur D’Alene granted Kochava’s motion to dismiss the FTC's privacy complaint (see 2304070006), with leave to amend, said his Thursday memorandum decision and order (docket 2:22-cv-00377). The FTC can file an amended complaint within 30 days of the order, it said.

The arbitration agreement that's grounds for Samsung’s April 11 motion to compel (see 2304120020) isn’t “valid,” said plaintiff Tiffany McDougall’s memorandum of law in opposition Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan (docket 1:23-cv-00168). McDougall alleges Samsung misrepresented the storage capacity of her Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone, and Samsung asserts her claims “must be resolved through arbitration” under the terms and conditions she agreed to when she bought the device.

Amazon denies plaintiff Jennifer Holt’s allegations it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act or that she or members of her putative class “are entitled to any relief,” said its answer Wednesday (docket 6:23-cv-00104) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Oklahoma in Muskogee to Holt’s March 23 class action (see 2303230066).

A private equity firm is accusing AT&T of not viewing it “as a serious or qualified buyer because of its African American ownership and management.”

The Republican Committee of Chester County (RCCC), Pennsylvania, a defendant in plaintiff Mark Fidanza’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action (see 2212280028), names itself the “third-party plaintiff” in a new complaint that now seeks to hold Twilio and Onvoy liable for the barrage of unlawful texts sent to Fidanza in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Fidanza alleges his cellphone was inundated with 17 RCCC text messages between Oct. 19 and Election Day Nov. 8.

Plaintiffs can't establish “imminent, irreparable harm” based on social media companies’ past content moderation decisions, defendant DOJ said Wednesday in its opposition (docket 22-cv-01213) to plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction in a First Amendment lawsuit filed by Missouri and Louisiana in U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana in Monroe.