Patent Law

The following is excerpted from an article by Niraj Chokshi that appeared in today's, July 25, 2008, issue of The Recorder:

A former tech client of Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner has filed a malpractice complaint against the firm and one of its partners and contends the firm concealed that it was simultaneously working for a key competitor.

Delaware-based IVI Smart Technologies Inc. and two subsidiaries claim that Thelen, led by San Jose, Calif., partner David Ritchie, "actively assisted" the competitor in the repeated theft of intellectual property resulting in an alleged drop in the companies' market capitalization from $200 million to $20 million, according to the complaint.

E-Smart hired Thelen, according to the complaint, to protect its IP in negotiating a manufacturing agreement with Gardiner and his company, A-Card.

According to the lawsuit, Thelen failed to notify e-Smart that a conflict check revealed that the firm had represented Gardiner or one of his entities twice before. Furthermore, the suit alleges, the attorney assigned to represent e-Smart in the negotiations -- an associate with less than three years of experience who was not named in the suit -- was the same attorney who had previously represented Gardiner.

The companies are suing Thelen for breach of fiduciary duty, legal malpractice, breach of contract and aiding and abetting breaches of fiduciary duty and contract.

Thelen is represented by Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. An order filed earlier this month gives the firm until July 31 to file its response.

Read the full article here.