Investment into data centers continues to increase significantly as the country builds out infrastructure to accommodate the digital economy and growth of artificial intelligence. Many states, including Texas, have now implemented various tax incentives to encourage investment in the state while simultaneously grappling with the taxable aspects of data center fuel. In November 2025, the
Food, Drug & Agriculture
“Deregulation” on the Menu: Big Changes for Wellness and CDS Technologies
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) rung in the new year with a flurry of device-related activity, updating two final guidance documents and withdrawing a guidance published back in 2017. The two final guidance documents released on January 6, 2026 pertain to (1) General Wellness Devices and (2) Clinical Decision Support Software,…
FDA Continues Crack Down on DTC Advertising: Untitled Letter Highlights Pitfalls in Schizophrenia Drug Promotion
Just in time for the holidays, on December 15, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (“OPDP”) issued an untitled letter (the “Letter”) to Karuna Therapeutics, Inc., a Bristol Myers Squibb Company, concerning a direct-to-consumer broadcast ad for Cobenfy™ (xanomeline and trospium chloride), a drug approved for the treatment…
Guest Post – The AI LEAD Act: A Step Toward Regulating AI Product Liability in the United States
Today’s guest post is by Reed Smith‘s Jamie Lanphear. Like Bexis, she follows tech issues as they apply to product liability litigation. In this post she discusses a pro-plaintiff piece of legislation recently introduced in Congress that would overturn the current majority rule that electronic data is not considered a “product” for purposes…
Fusion Energy: Powering the Future
Fusion energy, the same process that powers our sun and stars, is rapidly moving from scientific theory to commercial reality. In a fusion reaction, two light atoms—typically deuterium and tritium—combine to form a helium nucleus and a neutron, releasing an immense amount of energy. This energy, primarily in the form of heat, can be harnessed…
European Commission Adopts Proposal for the Biotech Act
Introduction
On 16 December 2025, the European Commission (“Commission”) published its Proposal for a Regulation on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening the Union’s biotechnology and biomanufacturing sectors particularly in the area of health (“Biotech Act”) (see here). The Proposal follows a public consultation held between August 2025 and November 2025 (see here…
Protecting AI-Influenced Work: Why Copyright and Patents Can Fall Short, and Why Trade Secrets Often Matter More
More and more, I hear some version of the same question from business owners: “We made something valuable with the help of AI. Can we protect it?”
Sometimes the “something” is obvious, like marketing copy, a logo, a photo, a product description, a training guide, or software code. Sometimes it is less obvious but more…
European Commission Announces (Long Awaited) Proposal to Simplify EU Medical Device Regulations
The European Commission announced today (16 December) its plans to simplify the existing EU regulatory framework for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (“IVDs”). Many industry stakeholders have criticized the current EU device rules as being slow, costly, unpredictable, and unnecessarily complex. Under the proposed revisions, the Commission aims to make the rules…
Genesis Mission and New Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions
The Federal government is accelerating AI‑enabled innovation by launching the Genesis Mission, a sweeping national initiative to accelerate scientific discovery using artificial intelligence. The goal of the Mission is to “build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets…to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research…
FERC Paves the Way for More Timely Construction of Natural Gas Infrastructure
Building natural gas infrastructure should get easier in the future by way of a recent ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission). On October 7, 2025, FERC issued a Final Rule, entitled “Removal of Regulations Limiting Authorizations to Proceed with Construction Activities Pending Rehearing” (Docket No. RM25-9-000, 193 FERC…