free speech

Can a market research firm sell a doctor's prescribing history to a pharmaceutical company without his or her permission? The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear this First Amendment case, which could change drug marketing and have a major impact on data-gathering practices.

The social media world exploded when Amazon began selling an eBook called, "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure." But in the aftermath of the controversy, the only clear winner was the book's author.

Pharmaceutical firm Allergan has settled criminal and civil charges that it promoted Botox for uses the FDA hadn't approved, agreeing to pay $600 million and enter into a "corporate integrity agreement." Allergan also dropped its related First Amendment lawsuit against the FDA.

In a case that tested the bounds of the First Amendment, Hal Turner, a right-wing radio shock jock, was convicted of threatening three judges' lives in his blog post. Plus, Eli Lilly loses a patent case for ADHD drug Strattera.

Did the Anti-Defamation League, which opposes the construction of a mosque near the old World Trade Center site, take advantage of Twitter's terms of service to silence legitimate political speech?

Mitsui Offshore Exploration and Anadarko Petroleum, BP's partners in the Deepwater Horizon well, now refuse to share in the liability for the Gulf oil spill, saying BP's gross negligence frees them from liability. But before the issue goes to arbitration, they're going to try to talk it out.

In a major victory for TV networks, an appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission's indecency policy on Tuesday, calling it "unconstitutionally vague." The court also said the rules posed a risk to freedom of speech.

Ratings agencies defending against lawsuits claiming that they issued bogus AAA ratings on junk bonds have asserted a First Amendment defense: Their opinions are protected speech. So far, they're not winning the argument.

Sen. Al Franken started his career as a comedian, but he's dead serious about the issue of net neutrality. Appearing Monday at the Future of Music policy summit at Georgetown University in Washington, the Minnesota Democrat delivered an impassioned defense of net neutrality: the idea that broadband...

Newly minted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is much harder to pigeonhole than her opponents seem to believe, especially on business cases. The first Hispanic on the nation's highest court has written about 150 opinions on business and civil cases, and according to experts consulted by The...