Intellectual Property Law

Update: Technology Patents LLC v. Deutsche Telekom AG

By Brian Wm. Higgin

     Several of you have asked for information about the status of the Technology Patents LLC v. Deutsche Telekom AG litigation (No. 8:2007cv03012; filed Nov. 8, 2007, in the District Court for the District of Maryland). Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, defendants have 20, 60, or 90 days to file an answer to Technology Patents' complaint, depending on whether they are U.S. entities or not, and whether they waived service of process (if foreign entities). Many of the U.S. entities that would normally be required to file an answer within 20 days have apparently been granted an extension of time to file their answers. As you would expect this early in the proceedings, most of the defendants have not even entered an appearance.

     Because there are 131 defendants in this case, there will obviously be a large number of law firm and lawyers involved. Since Maryland doesn't have 131 IP law firms specializing in patent litigation, defendants will necessarily have to reach out to Washington, D.C. law firms to find lawyers licensed to practice in Maryland. That appears to be happening, as all but three of the law firms that have filed papers with the Maryland District Court to identify themselves as attorneys of record or lead counsel reside in Washington, DC. The three Maryland law firms involved in this lawsuit so far are Marcus Bonsib, Selzer Gurvitch Rabin and Obecny, and Tydings and Rosenberg. 

     Some of the law firms listed after the jump (notably Finnegan and Fried Frank) may make a lot of money from this case, as they represent multiple defendants (it's not clear whether those entities are related or not).

List of Law Firms 

Full post as published by Maryland Intellectual Property Law Blog on December 21, 2007 (boomark / email).