Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Litigation, deals, lateral moves and industry news; we cover it all. 

Welcome to Lookzy.  In today's Lookzy:

• Hermès' suit against MetaBirkin NFT creator

• J&J's big 3rd Circuit loss

• The SEC is investigating self driving car claims

• Adani Group's share sale in the face of short seller report

Programming note: Lookzy will be off tomorrow, back Thursday.  

LOOKZY'S BUSYNESS SURVEY

Results are in from Lookzy's inaugural Busyness Survey.  A majority of respondents to the Lookzy survey described their current level of busyness as "busy, but not crushed".  

Nearly a quarter of respondents are currently quiet enough that they are not hitting their hours, but almost 20% have kept exceptionally busy.  

Our inaugural Busyness Survey ran over the prior three issues.  We'll re-run this survey periodically and report back on the results. 

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ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

MetaBirkins.  French luxury design house Hermès International SA filed suit against digital artist Mason Rothschild, with the trial kicking off yesterday.  Hermès sued Rothschild claiming that Rothschild infringed on Hermès' trademark by creating NFTs which showed images of furry Birkin bags in his "MetaBirkin" collection.  Rothschild counters that his NFT collection is an artistic interpretation similar to Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans protected by the First Amendment.  

Texas Two-Step.  The 3rd Circuit rejected Johnson & Johnson's planned use of the "Texas Two-Step" to feed the more than $3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements from more than 38,000 lawsuits to a subsidiary called LTL Management, which then filed for bankruptcy.  The lawsuits all address whether the company's baby and talc powders cause cancer.  The J&J loss follows a win at district court which caused Skadden's Allison Brown to win The American Lawyer's Litigator of the Year award.  Hogan Lovell's Neal Katyal argued in front of the 3rd Circuit.  J&J plans to challenge the ruling.  

Self driving cars.  The SEC is reportedly investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk's role in Tesla's claims regarding its self driving car technology, examining whether Musk inappropriately made forward-looking statements about the technology.  

Sanctions battle.  Two married former Jones Day associates suing Jones Day for paternity leave-related discrimination and unlawful termination are filing a sanctions request against the firm to fend off sanctions that the firm had requested against them, calling their claims 'demonstrably false'.  

F1 design ripoff.  A West Texas federal judge will rule on Thursday as to whether to dismiss a suit against Formula 1 racing team Red Bull by Norwegian inventor Jens Nygaard.  Nygaard claims that certain safety devices on Formula 1 cars, such as the protective "Halo" and "Aeroscreen" devices, rip off on his design, but Red Bull counters that the patent is invalid and that there is no infringement.  

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

Expensive soap.  Luxury goods company LVMH, L'Oreal and others are reportedly interested in making bids on Aesop, the high-end cosmetics brand, as it seeks to sell itself for as much as $2 billion.  

Saudi EVs.  Saudia Arabia's Public Investment Fund is reportedly considering acquiring the remaining 35% of EV car maker Lucid Group that it doesn't already own.   

Short sellers.  Indian multinational conglomerate the Adani Group's $2.5 billion share sale was fully subscribed today, a sign of strength following a public report by Hindenburg Research accusing the company of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”.  The Adani Group had published a 413-page report seeking to counter Hindenburg's claims, but it is unclear how much of that report responded to the questions about the business Hindenburg raised.  

Big minority stake.  Dutch diagnostics company Qiagen NV is reportedly considering to sell a minority stake in its bioinformatics division at more than $1 billion.  Private equity firms are expected to be the likely bidders.  

Interest payments.  Twitter has reportedly successfully made its first $300 million interest payment on the $12.5 billion in debt Elon Musk raised in order to acquire Twitter.  

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves: 

• Jones Day hired partner Julian Bailey from White & Case.

• Morgan Lewis re-hired partner John Ring, previously chairman of the National Labor Relations Board.

Industry News: 

• In a firm-wide email, Husch Blackwell CEO Paul Eberle sought to reassure the firm's lawyers that the firm was not facing any difficulties following the $62 million arbitration award it was forced to pay following at least one partner's misconduct, noting that insurance paid fully. More details on the underlying arbitration are discussed here.

BOILERPLATE

Alright, back to billing.  That's all, folks!