Insights

San Francisco – June 11, 2026: The Daily Journal has named Joanna Forster to its 2026 list of “Top Women Lawyers” in California. The annual award series recognizes the successes and victories of women lawyers in the courtroom and at the negotiating table, as well as their advancements in the legal industry. Forster, who has over two decades of experience in government, in-house, and private practice, is a partner in Crowell & Moring's Litigation Group. 

Washington – May 20, 2026: Crowell & Moring achieved a decisive victory for leading Enterprise AI application software company C3.ai, obtaining a $23.3 million jury verdict following a seven-day trial in Wilmington, Delaware. The jury unanimously found Cummins liable for trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract in a suit brought by C3.ai more than two and a half years ago.

Los Angeles – April 1, 2026: The Daily Journal named Crowell & Moring’s Chahira Solh and Joanna Forster to its “2026 Leading Commercial Litigators” list. This recognition honors attorneys who have served as lead counsel in major litigation in California or whose national cases have had a significant impact on the California legal landscape.

In our previous client alert, we addressed how algorithms and platform features that rely on user generated speech might not receive Section 230 protections because those features may not be considered platform user content.  In these instances, the platform might not carry user generated water through the pipe, but adds its own to the mixture.  At the same time, if it is true that there is less Section 230 protection, these same elements should then imbue the content with First Amendment protections as the expressive content of the platform.

On August 19, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed Enforcement Policy Statement on personalized pricing — the practice of companies using consumers’ personal data to set individualized prices, discounts, coupons, or other incentives. The proposed statement, which is open for public comment for 30 days following publication in the Federal Register, marks a major step up in the FTC’s focus on data-driven pricing strategies and puts businesses across industries on notice that undisclosed or inadequately disclosed personalized pricing will not be tolerated. Importantly, while the proposed statement is not a binding legal requirement and does not create new legal obligations, it serves as an enforcement warning that the FTC is prepared to use its existing enforcement authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act (Section 5) and is also a potential harbinger of rulemaking. Businesses that engage in — or are considering — personalized pricing should carefully assess their disclosure practices and data collection procedures against the standards articulated in this statement.

On July 20, 2026, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the Forbidding the Algorithmic Inflation of Rent (FAIR) Act into law, making New Jersey the fourth state to regulate algorithmic rent-setting practices. Three days later, on July 23, 2026, Governor Sherrill signed the Fair Price Protection Act, which targets “surveillance pricing”—the practice of using or collecting personal data about a user and using an algorithm or artificial intelligence to charge different consumers different prices for the same products. Together, these laws represent a significant expansion of New Jersey's consumer protection framework in the algorithmic pricing context.