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In patent litigation cases, practitioners often face the difficult task of explaining complex technology to a decision maker that has little to no background in the field. In many circumstances, a persuasive argument—when supported by powerful demonstratives—will result in a victory for your team. That was the case a few years ago when Don Bateman, a hall of fame researcher for Honeywell, invented the ground proximity warning system. Years ago, the most common cause of commercial aircraft fatalities resulted from planes crashing into land. Bateman's invention greatly improved the safety of commercial aircrafts, and today, the likelihood of an airliner inadvertently colliding with the earth is all but nonexistent. Honeywell obtained a patent on the invention, and when others attempted to steal the technology, the company sued to protect its rights. Honeywell realized early on the need for an exceptional outside counsel to assert its intellectual property rights, and retained Kirkland & Ellis as its law firm of choice. Steven D. McCormick, a partner with the firm, lead the litigation team on two earlier matters involving the ground proximity warning system patent. Mr. McCormick has 37 years of experience representing various Fortune 500 companies in diverse matters, many of which focused on intellectual property. He has a proven track record in simplifying the most complex technology, making it easily understood by both judges and juries, and often uses pieces of demonstrative evidence to assist with that sometimes daunting task. Honeywell asserted their patent rights before both a federal district judge and a jury, neither of which had previous training or education in the technology at issue. The patented technology in this matter concerned a virtual topical map of the world's surface, combined with global positioning techniques, which identified the latitude, longitude and altitude of the plane. This technology compared the plane's location to the earth's topology, and an alarm would sound when the two became dangerously close. The largest hurdle was explaining the very complicated, nonintuitive technical concepts in simplified, persuasive terms. In this matter, Honeywell not only had to explain how the technology worked, but also how the defendant's product infringed the patent. Mr. McCormick partnered with Kroll Ontrack/TrialGraphix in the preparation and presentation of the evidence. Numerous demonstrative exhibits and illustrations were created by extremely skilled graphic artists to show the particular features covered by Honeywell's patents. Graphical time lines were used to establish a comprehensive series of events. Additionally, with the help of presentation technology consultants, animated testimony summaries were created, deposition video clips were edited and excerpts of argument points were displayed. The Kroll Ontrack/TrialGraphix team prepared the visuals and managed the technology effectively and seamlessly, resulting in a victory for Honeywell in both cases.
Lawyers are now responsible for litigation without borders and discovery without language barriers as the era of globalization collides with the complexity of e-discovery. Nowhere is the language obstacle more pervasive than in the legal profession—and more specifically in the area of discovery—where documents created in any country and any language could be relevant to a lawsuit, investigation or regulatory matter. Legal teams must tackle this hurdle head-on in order to meet discovery obligations and provide the most effective representation for the client. As lawyers, litigation support professionals, paralegals or IT staff members at multinational law firms and corporations will attest, multilingual discovery is here to stay. Take the time now to understand the obstacles these situations present, the options you can present your clients and the opportunities available for advocacy settings. Educate yourself and your litigation team about multilingual discovery by:
To better understand your audience, download a free white paper titled, Understanding Your Jury: Leveraging the Knowledge of a Jury Consultant in Conducting Effective Jury Voir Dire, available at www.krollontrack.com/juryconsulting/. To increase the effectiveness of your presentation with useful tips and strategies, download a complimentary white paper titled, The Interactivity Impact: The Current Generation of Lawyers Fuels the Next Generation of Interactive Presentation Technology, available at www.krollontrack.com/presentations/. Meet our representatives at the following events:
Visit www.krollontrack.com/upcoming-events/ for more information on these events and others.
This newsletter is written by Gina Jytyla and Joni Shogren, Kroll Ontrack staff attorneys, with assistance from Meridith Socha and Kelly Kubacki, law clerks. Ms. Jytyla can be contacted by writing to gjytyla@krollontrack.com. For more information about electronic discovery and computer forensics services, contact Kroll Ontrack at 800 347 6105 or visit www.krollontrack.com.
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