Legal Pad

AT&T Ruling Can't Spoil Trial Lawyers' Party

[Scott Graham]

The San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association threw a party Thursday evening and the U.S. Supreme Court rained on it.

The high court's decision Wednesday striking down California's ban on class action waivers was an undercurrent -- well, more like an over-current -- throughout SFTLA's annual Trial Lawyer of Year Gala at the Mark Hopkins Hotel.

"Since yesterday morning there's been a kind of grieving," said SFTLA president Jonathan Gertler in opening remarks. The court's conservative majority was "condoning systematic ripoffs" by letting corporations force consumers to waive class action rights, said Gertler, of Chavez & Gertler.

"They don't know what they're talking about," declared past president Nancy Hersh, of Hersh & Hersh, calling AT&T v. Concepcion "a horrible case."

But trial lawyers are nothing if not fighters, and on Thursday some used the unwelcome ruling to help fuel the celebration.

Alameda Bar's Judge Survey Vindicates Freedman

[Scott Graham]

Four years ago, the Commission on Judicial Performance nearly removed Judge Robert Freedman from the Alameda County Superior Court bench, but instead chose censure.

Local lawyers apparently are thankful the commission didn't go the extra step: Freedman was one of the highest rated judges on the Alameda County Bar Association's latest judicial survey.

The survey, the bar's first since 2006, rated Freedman 4.7 out of a highest possible score of 5. Only six of the court's other 84 bench officers earned higher ratings.

Freedman was censured in 2007 for failing to issue timely rulings and filing false salary affivadavits. On the survey released today, seven of nine respondents rated Freedman, who handles complex civil litigation, 5 out of 5 for "manages his or her courtroom effectively and rules promptly."

Some 250 lawyers filled out the survey overall.

Other notable results:

Ninth Circuit Kicks Prop 8 Video Issue to Ware

[Ginny LaRoe]

The weighty issues of the Prop 8 case may be at the appellate courts, but the spotlight is about to shine on the judge inheriting the historic gay marriage case in the court below.

The first order of business for U.S. District Chief Judge James Ware? Judging the Prop 8 judge. Ware is being asked to scrutinize some of the work of his former colleague on the bench, Vaughn Walker, who left earlier this year after striking down the ban.

Judges, Legislators Celebrate Appointment Anniversary

[Cheryl Miller]

Five appellate justices joined state legislators this week in marking the 50th anniversary of the first African American appointed to a California court of appeal.

Gov. Edmund “Pat” Brown named Los Angeles Judge Edwin Jefferson to the Second District appellate bench on Oct. 1, 1961, an event recognized by two pending legislative resolutions, SCR 38 and ACR 47. Jefferson’s family as well as the five current and former appellate justices attended Assembly and Senate ceremonies on Monday to celebrate the anniversary. Notably absent was First District Justice Martin Jenkins, a rumored candidate to fill the current Supreme Court vacancy.

Fourteen African American jurists, including six currently, have served on California’s appellate courts. Three were appointed to the state Supreme Court.

The Legislative Black Caucus has set up an exhibit featuring photos and short biographies of those 14 justices on the state Capitol’s second-floor rotunda. The exhibit runs through May 6.

Patent Suit Against Grateful Dead Seen as Gratuitous

[Amy Miller]

After decades of letting fans record their concerts for free, the Grateful Dead is now facing a patent infringement suit for sharing music on the band’s dead.net website.

And the irony has long-time Dead Heads in the Bay Area speculating that things are finally shaking on Shakedown Street.

“What has the world come to that the Grateful Dead is being sued for selling music when they’re famous for giving away thousands and thousands of their own concert recordings?” said patent litigator and Dead Head Edward Reines, a partner in the Silicon Valley office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

On Tuesday, Sharing Sound sued Grateful Dead Productions, along with Live Nation Entertainment Inc., Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Inc. and others in Delaware federal court, saying they had infringed a patent covering the online distribution of music and other media.

The Longview, Texas-based company launched a similar suit against Amazon.com Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Netflix Inc. in May, alleging that they, too, had infringed the patent called “Distribution of musical products by a website vendor over the Internet.”

Sharing Sound is seeking a permanent injunction, damages and attorneys fees.

Latest Committee to Oversee Court Case Management System

[Cheryl Miller]

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye today announced that she has formed what will be the fifth committee charged with oversight of the troubled California Court Case Management System.

Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge James Herman, a vocal supporter of CCMS, chairs the new 10-member committee, which will be responsible for “ensuring that [Judicial] Council policies are complied with and the project proceeds on schedule and within budget,” Cantil-Sakauye said in a prepared statement.

The committee will present its first report to the Judicial Council at its April 29 meeting, an Administrative Office of the Courts spokesman said.

RPX Announces Its IPO Terms

[Amy Miller]

RPX Corp., which acquires and licenses patents to help clients reduce the risk of patent litigation, announced terms for its initial public offering Monday.

The San Francisco-based company said it plans to raise $124 million by offering 7.3 million shares at a price range of $16 to $18.

Founded in 2008, RPX booked $95 million in sales last year and plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol RPXC.

The company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO on Jan. 21, saying it planned to raise as much as $100 million but offering no specific pricing information.

Redwood City law firm Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian is advising RPX Corp. Name partner Robert Gunderson Jr. leads the team, along with partners Bennett Yee and Elizabeth Webb and associates Gregory Volkmar and Yush Lee .

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is representing the underwriters, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Barclays Capital. That team includes San Francisco partners Douglas Smith and Stewart McDowell, Palo Alto partners David Kennedy and Stephen Fackler, and San Francisco associates Sean Sullivan and Michael Dell.

RPX General Counsel Marty Roberts is also working on the deal.

PTO Quietly Determined to Open in Silicon Valley

[Amy Miller]

Inventors, executives, and intellectual property lawyers gathered in Santa Clara on Thursday to hear U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director David Kappos talk about the possibility of opening a satellite office in Silicon Valley.

They heard from Congress members, local politicians and speakers such as Henry “Hank” Nothaft, president of Tessera Technologies Inc., about the pros and cons of opening a patent office here.

But one group of was conspicuously absent from the town hall meeting, hosted by the Joint Venture and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group: journalists. The event, held at Applied Materials’ headquarters, was closed to the media.

“Why would you exclude the press from this?” said Neil Smith, an IP partner at Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, who attended the event. “He didn’t say anything untoward or particularly controversial. I didn’t hear anything they would want to keep away from the press.”

Attendees were asked to submit questions for Kappos, and Smith said he asked why the press wasn’t welcome, but he didn’t get an answer.

They did hear from Kappos about why the region is an ideal location for a satellite office, from the abundance of IP practitioners to the number of colleges and universities in the region, said Rajiv Patel, an IP partner at Fenwick & West who attended the event. A satellite office is already in the works in Detroit.

Kappos and the other speakers also talked about the challenges of opening an office, such as getting funding because Congress diverts fees paid to the patent office. Then there’s the high cost of real estate in Silicon Valley to deal with.

“But they were resolute,” Patel said. “They appeared to be resolved to work together to bring an office to the region. They seemed very determined to do it.”

Expert Says Bonds Prosecution Can Rest Easy ... Until Tomorrow

[Ginny LaRoe]

Farella Braun & Martel's William Keane knows what a deadlocked jury looks like. And he's not ready to say that's where the Barry Bonds' panel is headed.

But check back this time Wednesday.

"Given the the length of the case and the powerful points made on both sides and the quality of the lawyering, I'm not overly surprised the jury is not back today," said Keane, who defended track coach Trevor Graham in his BALCO trial in 2008, which ended with a hung jury on two of the three counts and a conviction on the third. "I think if the jury is not back [Wednesday], the prosecution has to start getting nervous."

Web Has Made First Amendment an Anachronism, Kozinski Says

[Scott Graham]

Alex Kozinski came to Golden Gate University School of Law on Monday to praise the First Amendment — and to bury it.

Appearing as part of the school's Distinguished IP Speaker series, the Ninth Circuit's chief judge argued that technology has rendered the First Amendment obsolete. As incidents ranging from Wikileaks disclosures to Barbra Streisand's house have demonstrated, it's no longer possible for the government or individuals to suppress speech in an age of distributed self-publishing via blogs and social networks.

"How do you sue a blogger who may be anonymous, or may be posting from Uzbekistan?" Kozinski asked. "And assuming you somehow get service of process and prove that he acted with malice, so what? How do you collect a judgment against a guy whose principal assets are an iMac and a genuine autographed poster of ZZ Top?" (See a video clip of Kozinski making his point here and Monica Bay's report on the lecture here.)