Think COVID-19 constitutes good cause to extend imminent court deadlines? Don’t be so sure. Last Thursday, the Hon. Rodney Gilstrap, Chief Judge in the Eastern District of Texas, denied a joint motion to extend discovery cut-off and opening expert reports by 30 days in the face of COVID-19 concerns.
We’ve discussed before the potential of AI to detect financial crimes like money laundering. On March 23, colleague Deborah Thoren-Peden will explore the growing nexus between artificial intelligence and the detection and prevention of financial misdeeds.
In “Leveraging AI to Combat Financial Crimes,” Thoren-Peden will be joined by Sam Small (ZeroFox) and Tim Mueller (GuideHouse) to discuss how AI is being integrated into RegTech solutions for enhanced AML compliance and screening, and how AI is being used to monitor insider trading, market manipulation and other suspicious market activities. In addition, they will identify best practices from law enforcement and financial institutions where AI is being successfully deployed to curb financial criminal activity.
By now, most people know that advertising on social media requires certain disclosures so as to avoid the ire of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is tasked with protecting consumers from fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices. FTC rules concerning advertising on social media track the basic rules of traditional advertising law. For example, advertising must be truthful and not misleading, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims (a.k.a., “substantiation”), and advertisements cannot be unfair.
With great power comes great responsibility. 5G is the next generation of 3GPP technology. Along with having the potential to facilitate the next leap in connectivity, 5G technology supremacy also has the power to define the geopolitics of the next century. As the global battle for 5G dominance plays out, companies are driving hard to secure coveted Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) encompassing 5G technology. The victor will secure substantial revenue and money flow in the form of patent royalties.
With over one billion monthly active users, chances are that you have heard of the wildly popular TikTok platform that is now owned and run by the Chinese company ByteDance. Allowing its users to live-stream anything from their latest lip-syncing battles of their favorite pop artist’s songs to controversial video content of government protests or operations—TikTok has understandably caught the attention and ire of governments (and parents) throughout the world.
The Mid Lane is a rundown of developments in the world of esports.
Growth, taxes and malls? An unconventional esports location is dominating the industry news this week. The latest news roundup indicates that all signs point to the continual progression of esports.
In December, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) published a proposal to create a public list of approved virtual currencies and a self-certification methodology for holders of NY Bitlicenses and New York trust companies approved to engaged in a virtual currency business to offer to New York consumers virtual currencies without the need for additional approvals of the DFS. If adopted, the proposal would be a significant step at the state regulatory level toward treating digital assets in a manner commensurate with other more traditional financial assets.
In “New York Guidance on Listing Digital Assets,” colleague Daniel N. Budofsky examines this proposal more closely.
The 2020 election season underway, so now is a good time to make certain your internal policies and procedures address applicable campaign contribution laws. In “Text, Alexa, Bitcoin—Technology Is Making It Easier to Make Political Contributions,” colleagues Emily B. Erlingsson and Anita D. Stearns Mayo explore the complex federal, state and local campaign laws, including pay-to-play campaign law restrictions, exist and may regulate their personal contributions.
Last month in Paris, G2 Esports and FunPlus Phoenix competed in front of thousands of fans for the title of world champion, with millions more tuning in to live streams from around the globe. These teams did not compete on a soccer pitch, a basketball court, or a baseball diamond. Instead, they met on stage at Paris’ AccorHotels Arena, a venue more commonly associated with concerts than competitive sporting events. This event was no “ordinary” world championship; the teams in question participated in one of esports’ preeminent events, the League of Legends World Championship. Despite the title’s humble beginnings, Riot Games’ multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) offering has grown to levels of popularity historically associated with marquee conventional sports, and the World Championship is League’s crowning achievement.
Investments, acquisitions, more investments and more acquisitions make up the bulk of industry news this week, along with another sign of respect from sports-adjacent industries (hello Emmys!):
