Alan N. Walter

Good Grief: Peanuts Music Owner Sues the Feds and Three Companies for Copyright Infringement

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The federal government may be the most formidable defendant in the American legal system, but it is not immune from a copyright lawsuit over a holiday social media post. Lee Mendelson Film Productions, the family-owned company that has controlled the Vince Guaraldi music catalog associated with the Peanuts television specials since 1963, filed four federal copyright infringement lawsuits … Read more

Musk-OpenAI Verdict Shows Value Of Early- Stage Governance

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SUMMARY A federal jury in Oakland ended the Musk v. Altman trial on May 18 without reaching the merits, finding Elon Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI. The statute of limitations ruling cleared a major legal challenge for OpenAI as it approaches a potential IPO. For founders and investors in mission-driven ventures, the case … Read more

The Pope Weighs In on AI: The Stakes Could Not Be Higher

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On May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), the first papal encyclical in history devoted to artificial intelligence. At 42,300 words, it is the most authoritative theological statement yet on the promise and peril of AI. Its message is urgent, sweeping and deliberately aimed at governments, corporations and individuals alike. For lawyers, technologists, … Read more

Prediction Market Apps: What They Are and How They Work

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A prediction market is a marketplace where participants buy and sell contracts tied to the outcome of future events. The price of each contract reflects the market’s collective assessment of how likely that event is to occur. A contract trading at $0.65 implies a 65% probability. The model aggregates information from many participants, often beating … Read more

California Court Finds Kars4Kids Misled Donors

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The Kars4Kids jingle has pestered American households for three decades. Children singing “1-877-Kars 4 Kids, K-A-R-S, Kars for Kids, donate your car today” became one of the most recognizable advertising earworms in the country. On May 8, 2026, a California court ruled that the campaign was not merely irritating. It was deceptive. And the organization’s … Read more

New Jersey Just Built Its AI Future

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New Jersey is no longer just talking about artificial intelligence. It is building the infrastructure, the capital networks and the talent pipelines that serious AI development demands. The NJ AI Hub, now fully operational in West Windsor, has moved from ribbon-cutting ceremony to first cohort in a matter of months, and the implications for entrepreneurs, investors … Read more

What New Jersey Lawyers Must Know About AI and Professional Responsibility

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Artificial intelligence is reshaping legal practice faster than most ethics rules were written to address. For New Jersey lawyers, that gap is not theoretical. In January 2024, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued Preliminary Guidelines on the Use of Artificial Intelligence by New Jersey Lawyers, making clear that the existing Rules of Professional Conduct apply fully … Read more

Evergreen Clause: This is the Clause that Never Ends 

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SUMMARY An evergreen clause automatically renews a contract at the end of its term unless a party takes affirmative steps to cancel within a specified window. Common in software subscriptions, commercial leases, service agreements and equipment leases, these provisions are enforceable and frequently overlooked. Understanding how they work, where they hide and how to negotiate them … Read more

When Limited Liability Fails: Personal Exposure for Business Owners

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Even without a personal guarantee, business owners are not automatically shielded from liability. Whether limited liability holds depends heavily on the structure of the business and just as importantly on the owner’s conduct. Courts routinely impose personal liability in several recurring situations, and the analysis tends to focus less on formal labels and more on … Read more

Justice in the Shadow of Power

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When prosecutorial authority is wielded as a political tool rather than an impartial mechanism of law enforcement, the foundations of democratic governance begin to crack. Politicized prosecution threatens impartial justice and erodes public trust in legal institutions. I draw on historical and contemporary examples, and show how selective or retaliatory prosecutions corrupt perceptions of fairness … Read more

AI is Now the Witness in Litigation

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SUMMARY Federal courts now treat AI prompts, outputs and decision logs as discoverable evidence, applying standard discovery rules to a category of information most businesses have never thought to govern. Two landmark 2026 decisions, including United States v. Heppner, where a criminal defendant lost privilege protection over 31 Claude-generated documents, signal that unsupervised AI use creates … Read more