Publications and Presentations

On April 9, 2025, President Trump issued four executive orders and presidential memoranda directing a range of deregulatory actions by agencies across the executive branch. These orders are remarkable in their scope, directing agencies (even independent ones) to review and revoke an expansive set of regulations across numerous subjects. But the orders are also remarkable in the procedures they compel. 

Shifting policies. Trade restrictions. Supply chain realignments. With a second Trump administration and new leadership in the European Union, 2025 is expected to usher in significant change to U.S. and EU semiconductor policies.

On September 23, 2024, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a proposed rule that would prohibit the importation and sale of certain connected vehicle hardware or software that has been developed, manufactured, or supplied by entities subject to influence by the Chinese or Russian governments. 

On May 21, 2024, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sitting en banc overruled the long-applied Rosen-Durling test for assessing the nonobviousness of design patents. The court held that obviousness determinations for design patents should use the same “analytical tools for reviewing the validity of a utility patent under § 103,” i.e., the Graham factors.

On May 9, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, No. 22-1078, holding that damages are available under the Copyright Act for acts of infringement that predate the initiation of suit by more than three years. Specifically, the Court’s majority, penned by Justice Kagan, held that, so long as a copyright infringement suit is timely brought, the plaintiff’s damages are not limited to those accruing in the three years prior to commencement of suit under the three-year statute of limitations contained in 17 U.S.C. § 507(b). 

The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 (PSTIA) took effect on April 29, 2024, and requires manufacturers, importers, and distributors of UK consumer connected (or “smart”) products to ensure such products meet a number of security requirements intended to make them more resilient against cyberattacks. 

The federal government is moving rapidly to address concerns about access by foreign adversaries to certain personal and other sensitive U.S. data. In late February, President Biden issued an executive order titled “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern” (Order).

On March 18, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) announced settled charges against two investment advisors for overstating their purported use of, and expertise in, artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of clients in violation of certain provisions of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940.

On January 29, 2024, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) proposed a rule that will generally require U.S. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers and their foreign resellers to verify the identity of their foreign customers and report on the use of their products for large artificial intelligence (AI) training (the Proposed Rule). 

Last year, the United States Copyright Office announced a wide-ranging initiative to examine the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence technologies.

On January 11, 2024, the FTC published a notice of proposed rulemaking (the NPRM) to modify the agency’s regulations implementing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (the COPPA Rule).

On December 19, 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint and proposed settlement regarding Rite Aid's use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based facial-recognition surveillance technology.

On December 19, 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) put a big lump of coal in Rite Aid’s stocking. The agency filed a complaint and proposed settlement regarding the pharmacy chain’s use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based facial-recognition surveillance technology. 

On October 30, President Biden signed his Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (EO), addressing a myriad of issues related to artificial intelligence (AI). Aiming directives or requests at over 40 separate federal agencies, the EO reflects the Biden administration’s determination (in the words of one White House advisor) to “pull every lever” to meet the opportunities and challenges brought by these exciting technologies.