Scott Harris and Fish & Richardson have settled their legal fight that erupted after the inventive lawyer’s patents were asserted against Google, a firm client.
Scott Harris |
The confidential settlement was announced in a stipulation of dismissal yesterday. Harris, who was pushed out by Fish and is now working for himself in San Diego, said he’s “very happy with the settlement,” although he wouldn’t say what the terms were.
Looking back at the whole affair, which began when Fish forced Harris to sell his patents after prospective client Dell complained about them, Harris said his one regret is having been forced to sell.
“When I sold the patents, I lost control of them,” Harris told Legal Pad. “While I had them, there was no way I would’ve sued a Fish client like Google — telling me to sell the patents was one of the worst moves they could’ve made.”
Instead, the company he sold the patents to, Illinois Computer Research, sued Fish client Google, which got everyone in a huff and got Harris the boot from his old firm. At one point, Fish tried to make Harris get the patents back and then claimed ownership of them, Harris said. As part of the settlement, Fish agreed to give up any claim to the patents, he said.
Harris said he was pleased with his lawyers at well-known patent plaintiff firm Niro Scavone, even though they were the ones who sued Google for ICR.
I wasn’t happy with the way I got treated after Google got sued — that wasn’t Niro’s fault: He did what his client wanted,” Harris said. “The fact that Fish didn’t treat me very well wasn’t Niro’s fault.”
— Zusha Elinson
Speaking as a member of a family that has been burdened with a painful and venomous lawsuit for almost a year, I would like to complement you on one of the first articles that fairly summarizes this seemingly unneccessary lawsuit. Thank you, Lisa Harris
Posted by: Lisa Harris | August 16, 2008 at 09:16 AM