The office of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) said it’s unfazed with the temporary stay that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted DOJ Friday afternoon to block enforcement of the preliminary injunction barring dozens of Biden administration officials from conversing with social media platforms about their content moderation activities,
Action is needed by 11:59 p.m. PDT Friday night on the FTC’s emergency motion before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an injunction pending appeal blocking Microsoft from consummating its Activision Blizzard buy, said the agency’s motion late Thursday evening (docket 23-15992). Without 9th Circuit action on the emergency motion, Microsoft/Activision may close their deal anytime after 11:59 p.m. PDT Friday when the district court’s modified temporary restraining order expires, said the FTC.
The Commerce Department has released the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC strand) from Ukraine (Commerce A-823-817, CBP A-462-818). The agency preliminarily calculated a zero percent AD rate for the sole company under review, PJSC Stalkanat. If the agency's finding is continued in the final results, importers of subject merchandise from Stalkanat entered Nov. 19, 2020, through May 31, 2022, will not be assessed AD. Any changes to rates for Stalkanat would take effect on the date of publication in the Federal Register of the final results of this review, due in November.
The Commerce Department is issuing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on freight rail couplers from China (A-570-145/C-570-146). The orders, set for publication July 14, set permanent antidumping and countervailing duties, which will remain in place unless revoked by Commerce in a sunset or changed circumstances review. Commerce will now begin conducting annual administrative reviews, if requested, to determine final assessments of AD/CVD on importers and make changes to cash deposit rates.
A fraud class action against Amazon in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York was transferred to U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle, said a Monday clerk’s letter (docket 2:23-cv-01019). In the April 2022 class action, plaintiff Tracy McCarthy of Holbrook, New York, alleged Amazon used a “deceptive practice” for its Audible audiobook service to target its Prime members for enrollment in a subscription to Audible “through a process that is not clear to members.” Many Prime members “have no idea that Audible isn’t free" with their Prime membership and “inadvertently enroll in a paid subscription to Audible,” said the first amended complaint. Other Prime members “have no idea how they were signed up for Audible until they later see Audible’s monthly charges” on their account, it said. Audible membership “is not adequately disclosed to the Prime members,” it said, saying if a Prime member inadvertently enrolls in Audible, she “does not receive any conspicuous materials from Audible by email confirming enrollment and then notifying of monthly charges,” the complaint said. In other instances where Prime members unsubscribe, they “continue to be charged across the various payment methods in the Prime members’ ‘Wallet,’” it said. McCarthy claims violation of New York General Business Law section 349 for deceptive practices in business and section 350 for false advertising, plus unjust enrichment. She seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief directing Amazon and Audible to correct practices; statutory, actual and punitive damages; restitution and disgorgement of unjustly gained monies; and attorneys’ fees and expenses.
The Commerce Department will consider whether a South Korean company that produces common alloy aluminum sheet using flat-rolled aluminum from two Chinese companies is circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on common alloy aluminum sheet from China (A-570-073/C-570-074), the agency said in a notice beginning an anti-circumvention inquiry.
One of the “central prerogatives” of the president and executive branch officials is to speak to members of the U.S. public, including American companies, “about how they can help mitigate threats,” said DOJ’s emergency motion Monday (docket 23-30445) at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the preliminary injunction that bars Biden administration officials from conversing with social media companies for the purposes of moderating content (see 2307100045). The plaintiffs, including the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, oppose the emergency motion, said DOJ.
With a week to spare before the July 18 termination date of Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard buy, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley for Northern California in San Francisco denied the FTC's motion for a preliminary injunction, ruling in a 53-page opinion Tuesday (docket 23-cv-02880) that the FTC didn't make a strong enough case to block the transaction (see 2307110031).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 11 ordered U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman to "engage in informal mediation" with at least one of her appeals court colleagues -- Judges Kimberly Moore, Sharon Prost or Richard Taranto -- regarding the trio's investigation on Newman's fitness to continue serving on the Federal Circuit. The mediation shall occur before Judge Thomas Griffith, who sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2005 to 2020 (Pauline Newman v. Kimberly A. Moore, D.D.C. # 23-01334).
U.S. District Judge Donald Malloy for Montana in Missoula scheduled in-person oral argument Oct. 12 at 9 a.m. MDT on the motions for a preliminary injunction filed Thursday by plaintiffs in the two consolidated cases against SB-419, Montana’s statewide TikTok ban, to block Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) from enforcing the measure when it takes effect Jan. 1 (see 2307070002), said Molloy’s signed order Friday (docket 9:23-cv-00061). Knudsen must file a single consolidated brief in opposition to the motions by Aug. 18, and the plaintiffs’ reply is due Sept. 15, said the order. The plaintiffs are challenging SB-419's constitutionality, especially on First Amendment grounds.