Original air date: April 2, 2014. Spotting Current Client Conflicts of Interest in Patent Practice from Litigation to Opinions to Prosecution: An Ethics Webinar.
Spotting conflicts of interest in patent practice is not always easy. Checking the names of opposing parties in litigation is only the beginning. For example, a lawyer who successfully represents a patentee in an infringement suit may cause a client to owe indemnity to the defendant. Even arguing claim construction has been held to be adverse to a client who is not a party to that patent suit. Opinion work and prosecution create even thornier issues, particularly those related to the patent application disclosure and claims. To help spot conflicts of interest, Professor David Hricik, Mercer Law School, and attorney Michael Downey, Armstrong Teasdale, LLP, will explain how adversity can arise even without suing a client, and then apply those lessons to opinion work and patent prosecution.