Ransomware Attack Blamed for for Airport Disruptions in Europe

Airport disruptions that affected automated check-in systems in recent days were caused by a ransomware attack, the EU's cybersecurity agency said, highlighting the growing risks of such attacks to critical infrastructure and industries. Several of Europe's biggest airports still faced disruptions after hackers knocked out automated check-in systems provided by Collins Aerospace, owned by RTX, affecting dozens of flights and thousands of passengers.

Hacked Data from Columbia University Discloses Info on Applicants

Personal information about Columbia University students and applicants — including whether they were accepted or rejected by the school — has been stolen, according to a Bloomberg News review of data provided by a person who claimed to have hacked the school in June. The 1.6-gigabyte volume of data provided to Bloomberg represents 2.5 million applications dating back decades, according to the alleged hacker.

House Panel Wants Tech CEOs to Testify About 'Radicalization' Online

A U.S. House committee asked the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Amazon-owned Twitch and Reddit to testify at an Oct. 8 hearing following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, citing the "radicalization of online forum users." Kirk, 31, co-founder of the conservative student movement Turning Point USA and a key ally of President Donald Trump, was speaking at an event attended by about 3,000 people when he was gunned down.

Disney, Universal, WBD File Copyright Suit Against China's MiniMax

Walt Disney, Comcast's Universal and Warner Bros Discovery have jointly filed a copyright lawsuit against China's MiniMax alleging that its image- and video-generating service Hailuo AI was built from intellectual property stolen from the three major Hollywood studios. The suit, filed in the district court in California, claims MiniMax "audaciously" used the studios' famous copyrighted characters to market Hailuo as a "Hollywood studio in your pocket" and advertise and promote its service.

Music Publishers, Internet Archive Settle Lawsuit Over Old Recordings

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit where music publishers sued the Internet Archive over the Great 78 Project, an effort to preserve early music recordings that only exist on brittle shellac records. No details of the settlement have so far been released, but a court filing confirmed that the Internet Archive and UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, Sony Music Entertainment, and other record labels "have settled this matter."

U.S. Says China Agrees to 'Framework' for Deal to Resolve TikTok Dispute

U.S. officials said that they reached a preliminary deal with China on the fate of the social media platform TikTok that would address one of the biggest points of contention between the world’s two largest economies. Following two days of talks in Madrid, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the two sides had agreed to a “framework” for a deal to divest TikTok from its Chinese owner, ByteDance.

Nvidia Violated Antitrust Regulations in Mellanox Deal, China Rules

China ruled that Nvidia Corp. violated anti-monopoly laws with a high-profile 2020 deal, ratcheting up the pressure on Washington during sensitive trade negotiations. The U.S. chipmaker was found in violation of antitrust regulations after the acquisition of networking gear maker Mellanox Technologies Ltd., the State Administration for Market Regulation said after concluding a preliminary investigation.

Magazine Publisher Sues Google for Creating AI Summaries

The owner of Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety sued Google, alleging the technology giant's AI summaries use its journalism without consent and reduce traffic to its websites. The lawsuit by Penske Media in federal court in Washington, D.C., marks the first time a major U.S. publisher has taken Alphabet-owned Google to court over the AI-generated summaries that now appear on top of its search results.

Britannica, Merriam-Webster Sue Perplexity for Copyright Infringement

Perplexity AI is the latest artificial intelligence company to be hit with a lawsuit by copyright holders alleging infringement after Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster accused it of misusing their content in its "answer engine" for internet searches. The reference companies alleged, opens new tab in New York federal court on Wednesday that Perplexity unlawfully copied their material and diminished their revenue by redirecting their web traffic to its AI-generated summaries.

FTC Investigating Safety of AI Chatbots Used by Children

The Federal Trade Commission announced it is issuing orders to seven companies including OpenAI, Alphabet, xAI and Snap to understand how their artificial intelligence chatbots potentially negatively affect children and teenagers. The federal agency said AI chatbots may be used to simulate human-like communication and intrapersonal relationships with users, and that it wants to understand what steps these companies have taken to “evaluate the safety of these chatbots when acting as companions,” according to a release.

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Nepal Drops Ban on Social Media After Protests Leave 19 People Dead

Nepal’s government scrapped a days-old prohibition on social-media after the ban sparked deadly clashes between police and protesters that local media reported left 19 people dead and 347 injured. Nepal’s Minister for Communication, Information and Broadcasting Prithvi Subba Gurung announced the government had withdrawn its earlier decision to ban several social media platforms, saying after an emergency Cabinet meeting on Monday that it was “addressing the demand of Gen-Z.”

Former Security Engineer Sues Meta for Violating Privacy Regulations

A former security engineer at Meta’s WhatsApp sued Meta, accusing it of failing to protect its users’ data, violating privacy regulations on multiple continents and firing him in retaliation for filing whistleblower complaints with U.S. authorities. The suit in San Francisco’s U.S. District Court by Attaullah Baig said the retaliation began in 2022, after a series of positive performance reviews, when he submitted internal critiques and proposals for limiting employee access to user data and better protecting accounts from being hijacked.

Judge Postpones Approval of Anthropic's $1.5 Billion Copyright Settlement

The federal judge overseeing Anthropic PBC’s proposed $1.5 billion copyright settlement is concerned class lawyers are striking a deal behind the scenes that will be forced “down the throat of authors.” Judge William Alsup at the hearing said the motion to approve the deal was denied without prejudice, but in a minute order after the hearing said approval is postponed pending submission of further clarifying information.

In Largest Settlement, Anthropic to Pay $1.5 Billion to Authors, Publishers

In a landmark settlement, Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence company, has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to a group of authors and publishers after a judge ruled it had illegally downloaded and stored millions of copyrighted books. The settlement is largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright cases. Anthropic will pay $3,000 per work to 500,000 authors.

EU Fines Google $3.5 Billion for Abusing Dominance in Digital Ads

The European Union fined Google nearly $3.5 billion for abusing the dominance of its advertising-technology tools, ramping up the threat on both sides of the Atlantic to one of the company’s bigger businesses. The fine is the EU’s second-largest antitrust penalty ever, after another Google fine in 2018, and risks heightening tensions with the Trump administration in the middle of delicate trade discussions.

Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

Warner Bros. Discovery is suing a prominent artificial intelligence image generator for copyright infringement, escalating a high-stakes battle involving the use of movies and TV shows owned by major studios to teach AI systems. The lawsuit says Midjourney “brazenly dispenses Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property” by letting subscribers produce images and videos of iconic copyrighted characters, alleges the complaint, filed in California federal court.

French Regulators Order Google, Shein to Pay Fines for Illegal Cookies

French regulators ordered Alphabet Inc.’s Google to pay nearly $379 million in fines and the Singapore-based online marketplace Shein Group Ltd. to pay $175 million for failing to comply with rules on managing cookies. France’s privacy watchdog, known as CNIL, said the penalties were issued as part of its ongoing effort to crack down on businesses that violate the nation’s rules on tracking user data for advertising purposes — such as depositing cookies that trace users’ behavior without their consent or imposing “cookie walls” that give users no choice but to accept tracers to access a service.

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The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.