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Press Release
Kenneth Wilson Joins Carr & Ferrell LLP as Partner in the Litigation Practice Group
Carr & Ferrell LLP is pleased to announce that Ken Wilson has joined Carr & Ferrell's Litigation Practice Group as Partner.
“We are delighted to welcome Ken Wilson to our Litigation Practice Group," said Robert Yorio, Litigation Department Co-Chair. “Ken has spent his career advocating for technology clients. He brings to the post wide-ranging knowledge and valuable industry expertise. We are pleased to have his skills and leadership."
Wilson will join Silicon Valley partners Stuart Clark and Robert Yorio who have been co-chair's of the Litigation Practice Group since the late 1990's. Wilson has served previously in several management roles, including Managing Partner of Perkins Coie LLP's San Francisco office.
“Thanks to the leadership of Stuart and Bob, the Litigation Practice Group has established a formidable presence in Silicon Valley and in the country's leading technology markets,” said Wilson. “I look forward to continuing to expand Carr & Ferrell’s position as a leader in representing emerging technology companies.”
About Ken Wilson
Wilson is a leading attorney in representing both emerging and established technology companies. His practice centers on intellectual property litigation and counseling, ITC litigation, Internet litigation and technology-related commercial litigation. Wilson received his law degree in 1987 from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), and a B.S. in 1984 from University of Davis. His representative clients include AltiGen Communications, Internet Archive, Jarden Consumer Solutions and LoopNet to name a few.
About Carr & Ferrell
Carr & Ferrell attorneys are immersed in the legal and business issues that affect technology-focused enterprises. One of Palo Alto's leading law firm's, Carr & Ferrell provides the full spectrum of technology clients' needs - from start-ups to multinational conglomerates - and the venture capital firms that serve them. With a sophisticated perspective and an entrepreneurial spirit, Carr & Ferrell combines expertise in corporate, venture financing, and mergers and acquisitions with an in-depth understanding of the intellectual property, litigation and privacy issues facing technology companies. For more information on Carr & Ferrell, please visit the Web site at www.carrferrell.com.
Contacts:
Stuart Clark, Litigation Practice Co-Chair, 650-812-3400
Robert Yorio, Litigation Practice Co-Chair, 650-812-3400
Ken Wilson, Litigation Partner, 650-812-3400
Apple v. Psystar - Answer & Counterclaim Filed
Psystar Corporation today filed their answer to Apple Inc.’s allegations of copyright infringement along with a countersuit charging Apple with restraint of trade, unfair competition and other violations of antitrust law. Among those violations are allegations of illegal tying, monopoly maintenance, exclusionary dealing, and copyright misuse.
Apple filed suit against Psystar, a Florida-based provider of information technology solutions, for violating its end-user licensing agreement by selling its OpenComputer, a hardware product with the MAC OS X Operating System pre-installed. In a press conference held at Carr & Ferrell’s Palo Alto office, Psystar, directly countered Apple’s claims of copyright infringement by insisting that each OpenComputer sold to clients is shipped with a legitimately purchased retail copy of MAC OS X. Psystar further claims that they have simply leveraged open source-licensed code including code licensed under Apple’s public source license to allow for the operating of the MAC OS.
Psystar’s attorney, Colby Springer, states that "the present litigation is more complex than the misinformed and mischaracterized allegations of copyright infringement. The litigation involves the anti-competitive nature of the Apple EULA and similar anti-competitive tactics related to the misuse of Apple's copyrights. Issues related to the fair use of various intellectual properties by Psystar also come into play."
Since Apple filed suit against Psystar, "we have seen increased interest in OpenComputer with only a slight decrease in sales" says Rudy Pedraza, Psystar’s CEO. With OpenComputer, "we are allowing more people to take advantage of a great operating system that Apple has created at a more accessible cost than the pricey MAC," continues Pedraza.
Members of the Carr & Ferrell Litigation team include partner, Robert Yorio; of counsel, Colby Springer; and associate, Christine Watson.
Early Biotech Pioneer, Dr. Roberto Crea, Sues City of Hope Medical Center over Landmark Biotechnology Breakthroughs
Dr. Roberto Crea, one of the pioneers of biotechnology and first Director of Nucleic Acids at Genentech, Inc. announced today that he has filed a lawsuit against the City of Hope Medical Center of Duarte, California. The lawsuit involves how a share of hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties received by City of Hope are distributed among those involved in the first landmark experiments in recombinant DNA. These experiments, which took place in the late 1970s, were the foundation of the modern biotechnology industry. They led to the production of human insulin, human growth hormone and many other lifesaving products. Dr. Crea stated that “the lawsuit followed years of negotiations that failed to reach a mutually satisfactory conclusion.”
The experiments in question mark the first time DNA produced synthetically, was introduced into bacteria and subsequently used for the bacterial production of medically useful human proteins. Prior to this work, it was believed that it was impractical to produce synthetic DNA of the length and purity required for production of useful human proteins. The experiments were performed at the City of Hope Medical Center and resulted in five U.S. patents that were assigned to Genentech, Inc. under the terms of an agreement between City of Hope and Genentech.
Two of the patents assigned under the City of Hope – Genentech agreement named Dr. Crea as the sole inventor and covered a breakthrough reagent used in the production of synthetic DNA. The Crea Reagent, developed by Dr. Crea while he was employed by City of Hope, was the key invention that allowed the synthesis of the longer DNA sequences and whole synthetic genes on which Genentech’s early drug development strategy was based,. The other three patents assigned to Genentech, Inc. were related to the inclusion of synthetic DNA, produced using the Crea Reagent, into bacteria and the subsequent production of human proteins. These patents listed Dr. Crea’s former colleagues Drs. Itakura and Riggs as inventors.
According to court documents, Genentech has paid over $700 million to City of Hope Medical Center in exchange for the assignment of these patents, synthetic DNA and technical knowhow under the City of Hope – Genentech agreement. Dr. Crea’s lawsuit is based on the fact that his two former colleagues, Drs. Itakura and Riggs, received substantial sums as their share of these royalties, while Dr. Crea has been denied any share. According to Dr. Crea, “it is unfortunate that these royalty payments would only be distributed among two of the three inventors.”
The patents of Drs. Itakura and Riggs cover the production particular proteins somatostatin and insulin. Dr. Crea’s invention of the Crea Reagent was critical to not only the production of these proteins, but to dozens of other proteins later produced by Genentech and other biotechnology companies. The Crea Reagent led to the first commercial breakthroughs in biotechnology, as well as the subsequent exploitation of these technologies by Genentech and its partners for a wide variety of protein therapeutics. Dr. Crea’s patents were among the most important assets transferred to Genentech under the agreement between Genentech and City of Hope.
Carr & Ferrell LLP and Peters Verny, LLP jointly represent Dr. Crea in his lawsuit against the City of Hope Medical Center of Duarte, California.
Ruckus Wireless Files Suit Against NETGEAR and Rayspan for Infringement of Wi-Fi Patents
SUNNYVALE, CA – May 7, 2008 – Ruckus Wireless, Inc., (Ruckus) a pioneer in development of Wi-Fi technology, yesterday announced it has filed suit in the United States Court for the Northern District of California against NETGEAR®, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTGR) and Rayspan Corporation for patent infringement.
In its filing, Ruckus Wireless alleges that in the development of the NETGEAR RangeMax™ WPN 824v3 wireless router, NETGEAR and Rayspan knowingly infringed two Wi-Fi patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 7,358,912 and 7193,562) granted to Ruckus Wireless by United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The patents-in-suit are fundamental to intelligent and adaptable Wi-Fi antenna arrays like those developed by Ruckus Wireless. Ruckus Wireless has over 70 patents granted or pending worldwide in the area of intelligent antenna or wireless technology innovation.
In its complaint, Ruckus Wireless alleges that NETGEAR makes, uses, offers to sell, sells and imports in the United States the RangeMax WPN 824v3 wireless router that infringes the patents-in-suit without being licensed by Ruckus Wireless to do so. Ruckus Wireless also alleges that Rayspan has committed acts of contributory infringement by making, using, offering to sell, selling and importing into the United States, components incorporated into NETGEAR wireless routers that infringe the patents-in-suit.
“As a company we have single-mindedly focused on making Wi-Fi networks robust in spite of the medium’s inherent instability. We have spent years developing what is now recognized around the world as one-of-a-kind, breakthrough technology that brings new levels of range, performance and reliability to Wi-Fi,” said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless.
“Our unique Smart Wi-Fi innovations have received dozens industry awards and their benefits have been available to over a million users around the world. These breakthroughs are coveted by many within the industry. We must and will diligently protect our intellectual property to keep others from benefiting from the results of years of hard work, scientific research, product development and market education. We are flattered but deeply disappointed that NETGEAR has chosen to effectively copy our technology and disregard our intellectual property rights,” concluded Lo.
Ruckus Wireless seeks a permanent injunction that bars NETGEAR and Rayspan from making, using, importing, offering to sell or selling the allegedly infringing products. Ruckus Wireless is also seeking damages and reasonable royalties realized by the sale of the RangeMax WPN 824v3 product, and possibly other infringing products, as well as statutory damages.
In January, 2005, Ruckus Wireless and NETGEAR announced and entered into a technology licensing agreement under which Ruckus Wireless would develop the underlying technology within the NETGEAR RangeMax 824v1 and v2 wireless routers. The resulting hardware and software technology developed for NETGEAR was explicitly owned and patented by Ruckus Wireless.
According to NETGEAR, the RangeMax 824 has quickly become one of the fastest and best selling products in its history and the industry’s “top selling MIMO-G product line” (http://www.netgear.com/About/PressReleases/en-US/2005/20050727.aspx). To date, NETGEAR has shipped around the world more than 1.7 million RangeMax 824 units integrating Ruckus Wireless technology.
Ruckus Wireless does not currently license its “Smart Wi-Fi” technology to any other company. The company uniquely develops, markets and manufactures its own popular brand of award-winning Smart Wi-Fi product and systems. Ruckus Wireless was recently recognized by the World Economic Forum as a 2007 Technology Pioneer and, to date, has received over 20 awards for its efforts in Wi-Fi technology innovation.
Consequently, Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi technology has become widely adopted around the world as the superior method for extending the range and increasing the reliability and performance of Wi-Fi. Smart Wi-Fi defines the use of a miniaturized intelligent antenna array and expert control software to form and direct Wi-Fi signals over the best path at any given time – continuously adapting to changes in the radio frequency (RF) environment.
"Ruckus Wireless is a pioneer in the area of adaptive smart antenna systems and the technology is really hard to get right," said Bill Kish, co-founder and CTO at Ruckus Wireless. “The advances we’ve made in countering the effect of interference and other RF challenges through the combination of cost effective antenna arrays and sophisticated antenna control software are truly remarkable and unique. Like any technology innovator, we are obligated to protect the intellectual property that makes companies like ours valuable and the investments, both monetary and emotional, in difficult innovations worthwhile," concluded Kish.
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