Strategies for Joint Defense Groups, Joint Defense Agreements, and Privilege Issues

A live 90-minute CLE webinar/teleconference with interactive Q&A
Sponsored by the Legal Publishing Group of Strafford Publications
Tuesday August 3, 2010 ~ 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT
Price: $297

Please note: You will be taken to the Strafford website to complete your order.

This CLE seminar will provide counsel to companies involved in multi-defendant patent litigation with guidance on evaluating and using joint defense groups and joint defense agreements. The panel will also review common privilege issues that pose potential risks for defendants.

Description

Patent infringement litigation involving multiple defendants has increased over the past decade. Due to increased litigation and related costs and tighter budgets, corporate defendants in patent litigation are combining forces through joint defense groups to battle common opponents.

Defendants can save money and time by pooling resources, knowledge and costs through joint defense groups and agreements. However, these efforts can also create new challenges for defendants.

Counsel must anticipate and prepare for all of the hidden pitfalls of joint defense, such as disputes over which expert to use, conflicts of interest among defendants and their counsel, and concerns over confidentiality and privilege issues.

Listen as our authoritative panel of IP attorneys examines joint defense groups and joint defense agreements, their advantages and disadvantages, and the privilege issues involved. The panel will outline their strategies for navigating joint defense in patent litigation.

Outline

1. Joint defense group
   • Advantages and disadvantages
   • Cost — cost savings or increased costs?
   • What to share with group members
   • Settlement issues
   • Accidental representation
   • Protective orders
   • Strategies for navigating the joint defense group
   • Timing
2. Joint defense agreement
   • Confidentiality
   • Settlements
   • Use of experts
   • Vicarious disqualification
   • Defection of a party from agreement
   • Strategies for crafting the agreement
3. Potential pitfalls and strategies to address them in joint defense
   • Privilege
   • Common interest privilege
   • Conflicts
   • Aligning with competition

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• What critical safeguards should defendants put in place to protect the common interest privilege?
• What are the key steps defendants working jointly can take to avoid problems relating to potential conflicts?
• What preventative clauses should be incorporated into the joint defense agreement to minimize potential risks, such as sharing of joint defense materials and accidental representation?

Following the speaker presentations, you’ll have an opportunity to get answers to your specific questions during the interactive Q&A.

Faculty

David A. Segal, Partner
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Irvine, Calif.
He has substantial litigation and transactional experience in patent matters, and has worked extensively on several jury trial matters. He has prosecuted and defended patent infringement actions involving products and methods covering paving, medical devices, cable, Internet and voice over IP, computers and computer software and golfing products.

Thomas G. Pasternak, Partner
Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Chicago
He primarily focuses on the areas of patent and trademark litigation and has served as lead counsel in several “rocket docket” litigations. He has been responsible for litigation involving numerous patents, large teams from different offices and multiple defendants. He also has extensive patent prosecution and licensing experience, and has written and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications.

Register Today!
Price covers an unlimited number of staff at your office location. Can’t participate in the live seminar? A CD of the full event proceedings, including Q&A and PDF files of all handouts, will be available 10 days after the seminar.

Continuing Legal Education
Continuing Legal Education credits are granted for an additional $65 per person. Please refer to the options on the order page to take advantage of these credits.

Please note: You will be taken to the
Strafford website to complete your order.