The Daily Brief

California Signs 13 Laws Expanding AI and Online Safety Protections for Children

Governor Gavin Newsom signed 13 bills on September 10 to strengthen protections for children using AI companion chatbots, social media and other online services, including SB 1119 ("Adam's Law"), which sets new safety requirements for companion-chatbot operators, including crisis protocols, parental controls and independent audits.

Supreme Court Orders Blue-State AGs to Respond to Iowa and Montana's Challenge Over the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Block

The Supreme Court ordered California and ten other states to respond by September 25 to an original-jurisdiction complaint filed by Iowa and Montana, which argues the states' antitrust suit blocking Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is a politicized effort rather than genuine antitrust enforcement.

CJEU Rules Political Party Cannot Invoke Free Expression Alone to Justify Using IKEA Trademarks

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on September 8 that a political party's reliance on freedom of expression does not by itself establish "due cause" to use another company's well-known trademarks, in a case brought by Inter IKEA against the Belgian party Vlaams Belang over a campaign styled on IKEA's branding.

CISA Adds Maximum-Severity N-able N-central Flaw to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog

CISA added CVE-2026-86218, a maximum-severity (CVSS 10.0) pre-authentication remote code execution flaw in N-able's N-central remote monitoring platform, to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on September 8, requiring federal agencies to remediate by September 11, after N-able confirmed active exploitation and researchers found a compromised customer environment.

The interstate fight over the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger has escalated to the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction, with Iowa and Montana asking the justices to intervene against California-led enforcement; the Court has ordered a response by September 25 but has not signaled whether it will take the case.

The dispute over Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery has moved beyond ordinary merger review into a rare interstate legal fight. Iowa and Montana are asking the Supreme Court to use its original jurisdiction over disputes between states to intervene against the antitrust suit that California and ten other states filed to block the deal, arguing that suit is a politicized effort rather than genuine enforcement; the defendant states describe it as standard antitrust review, and the underlying case is currently scheduled for trial in March 2027. The Supreme Court has ordered the defendant states to respond by September 25, but declined Iowa and Montana's request to expedite the matter to its October 9 conference, and has given no indication of whether it will actually hear the complaint. Whatever the Court decides, the fight illustrates how state-level antitrust enforcement against media and technology mergers can itself become contested terrain between states, not just between regulators and merging companies.