Entertainment Law, Media Law and Telecoms Law

On September 28, 2026, the Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), with roughly two dozen Democrats joining 50 Republicans in the 77-22 vote. Introduced by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the PCSA seeks to establish a uniform set of standards governing name, image and likeness (NIL) and eligibility issues in college athletics, while offering limited antitrust protections and bolstering the NCAA’s enforcement authority.

The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 awaits Senate action following bipartisan committee approval and endorsements from major conferences. This landmark federal legislation would establish a national framework for college athletics, addressing revenue sharing, NIL compensation, athlete protections, and conference realignment while preempting conflicting state laws.

The Protect College Sports Act is advancing through the US Senate, but critical questions remain unresolved that could fundamentally reshape college athletics. While the legislation addresses conference realignment and antitrust concerns, it leaves three pivotal issues undecided: whether student-athletes should be classified as employees, how Title IX applies to revenue-sharing payments, and whether international athletes on F-1 visas can legally receive such payments.

Highway Contract Route carriers and brokers operating in the USPS surface transportation network face critical legal developments in 2026, including the Supreme Court's Montgomery v. Caribe decision eliminating federal preemption for negligent-selection claims and the ongoing nuclear verdict crisis with jury awards exceeding $10 million. These developments demand heightened attention to compliance, documentation, and risk management strategies to protect against significant liability exposure in today's tru

The Department of Justice’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division (“NFED”) has told the market exactly where it intends to focus: (1) public trust and financial integrity, (2) health care, (3) internal revenue, (4) global trade and commerce, and (5) corporate misconduct. NFED plans to target these five priorities in parallel under one roof with a shared data infrastructure, compounding the risk to companies that operate at the intersection of multiple priorities and raising the stakes for any company considering a voluntary self-disclosure of potential misconduct.

When a legal research startup trained its AI on lawyer memos derived from Westlaw's editorial summaries, it sparked a landmark copyright case that exposes how artificial intelligence extracts not just content, but the accumulated judgment and authority publishers spent decades building. As Google referral traffic plummets and AI-generated content farms proliferate, the question shifts from "was a copy made?" to "was the expert ever hired?"

As discussed in previous client alerts, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and digital services has dramatically increased demand for data centers.

The Seventh Circuit has issued a landmark ruling that significantly narrows the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's application to text messages, holding that private litigants cannot sue under Do Not Call prohibitions when senders fail to honor opt-out requests for marketing texts. This decision creates a potential circuit split with other appellate courts and may accelerate Supreme Court review of how the TCPA applies to text messaging.

A federal court in California has ruled that plaintiffs alleging privacy violations under the California Invasion of Privacy Act need not provide granular technical details about website tracking mechanisms at the motion-to-dismiss stage. The decision addresses whether cookie-based tracking constitutes unlawful use of a pen register and what level of specificity plaintiffs must plead when alleging interception of their communications with a website.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed sweeping legislation restricting addictive social media features for minors and establishing safety requirements for AI companion chatbots. The laws target design features that keep users scrolling rather than just content moderation, marking a significant shift in online child-safety regulation.

The Fifth Circuit has rejected the Ninth Circuit's "server test" for copyright infringement in embedded content cases, establishing a new "transmit requirement" standard that examines where content originates and whether transmission was authorized. While reaching similar practical outcomes, this transmission-focused approach creates new considerations for publishers and aggregators regarding technical controls, server configurations, and content sourcing practices.

The International Chamber of Commerce has released an updated Framework for Responsible Alcohol Marketing Communications, providing enhanced guidance on marketing to minors, influencer responsibilities, and alcohol-free brand extensions. This 2026 edition addresses critical issues in modern alcohol advertising, including transparency requirements and the special obligations marketers have when engaging influencers and endorsers.