Rhetoric: Yes — Substance: Not Yet
Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.19.17
On April 18, 2017, the president signed an Executive Order taking a modest step towards implementing his Buy American and Hire American campaign promise. With respect to Buy American, the EO directs all agencies to review all domestic preferences applicable to federal procurements or grants (collectively Buy American Laws) and propose policies to ensure maximum use of U.S. manufactured products and components. The Secretary of Commerce is to consolidate the agency findings and recommendations into a report that also assesses the impact that various WTO and Free Trade Agreements have had on buying U.S. made goods, with annual reports to follow. Effective more immediately, any public interest waivers should be made by the head of the agency involved, maximize utilization of domestic products and material, and consider whether any foreign cost advantage is the result of unfair trade practices. Signaling the potential for increased enforcement efforts, the EO requires every agency to "scrupulously monitor, enforce, and comply with Buy American Law." With respect to Hire American, the EO directs DHS, DOL, and other relevant agencies to propose reforms to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most skilled or highest paid petition beneficiaries and that the immigration system is administered to protect the interests of U.S. workers, including through the prevention of fraud and abuse.
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Client Alert | 8 min read | 06.30.25
AI Companies Prevail in Path-Breaking Decisions on Fair Use
Last week, artificial intelligence companies won two significant copyright infringement lawsuits brought by copyright holders, marking an important milestone in the development of the law around AI. These decisions – Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta (decided on June 23 and 25, 2025, respectively), along with a February 2025 decision in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence – suggest that AI companies have plausible defenses to the intellectual property claims that have dogged them since generative AI technologies became widely available several years ago. Whether AI companies can, in all cases, successfully assert that their use of copyrighted content is “fair” will depend on their circumstances and further development of the law by the courts and Congress.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.30.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.26.25
FDA Targets Gene Editing Clinical Trials in China and other “Hostile Countries”
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.26.25