Law Firm News

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McDermott Will & Emery

String of Litigation Victories for IBA Culminates in Favorable Settlement
McDermott Will & Emery achieved an outstanding result earlier this week for client Ion Beam Applications, S.A. (IBA), marking an end to a high stakes patent and unfair competition litigation that spanned five years. Optivus Technology, Inc. sued IBA in August 2002, alleging that IBA’s proton beam therapy systems infringed five patents and that IBA had violated federal and state unfair competition laws and intentionally interfered with Optivus’ prospective business. Loma Linda University Medical Center joined Optivus as a plaintiff in December 2002. The lawsuit sought to enjoin IBA from marketing, selling and manufacturing its proton beam therapy systems and further alleged damages exceeding $300 million.

On the eve of trial, Optivus and Loma Linda dismissed their lawsuit against IBA with prejudice (forever releasing IBA from any liability under the asserted claims), and covenanted not to sue or threaten to sue IBA on these claims in the future. IBA agreed to pay the plaintiffs $1.25 million, less than one-half of one percent of the originally pled damages and less than IBA’s anticipated legal budget for the trial phase of the case, which was likely to be followed by an appeal.

The McDermott team first struck a serious blow to the plaintiffs’ case in 2005 when Judge S. James Otero of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted summary judgment in IBA's favor on two key patents, finding those patents not infringed and invalid. Judge Otero also granted IBA summary judgment on all of the Optivus’ non-patent claims, dismissing those claims.

Optivus and Loma Linda appealed. In a published decision, Optivus Technology, Inc. v. Ion Beam Applications, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the trial court’s patent invalidity and non-infringement rulings. The Federal Circuit also affirmed the dismissal of the non-patent claims with the exception of two narrow factual issues relating to unfair competition allegations stemming from the procurement process that led to the selection of IBA to build the proton therapy facility at the University of Florida. On remand, the plaintiffs were left with three narrow “feature” patents (which had not been a subject of the summary judgment or appellate proceedings) and the two strictly limited non-patent claims.

With a trial date of August 21, 2007, rapidly approaching, the McDermott team defeated a last-minute attempt by the plaintiffs to obtain broad, new discovery. McDermott lawyers put further pressure on the plaintiffs by moving to dismiss the remaining patent claims and the remaining state unfair competition claim. Before the court had occasion to rule on those potentially dispositive motions, the parties agreed to settle.

"Reaching a settlement represents an exceptional victory for Ion Bean Applications," commented Mark Wine, McDermott partner representing IBA. "The McDermott team representing IBA was committed and determined through five years of litigation, which resulted in this achievement for IBA, and I am proud to have been a part of such a focused group."

Lead members of the McDermott team representing IBA included Mark Wine, Paul Devinsky and Brian Ferguson. The other members of the McDermott team who assisted on the case through its long history include Marc Brown, Charles Rosenberg, Eric Hagen, Michael Oleinik, Krista Vink Venegas, Jeff Goldberg, Ben Hofilena, Tiffany Scurry and Andre de la Cruz.

IBA, a Belgian company, delivers solutions of exceptional precision in the fields of cancer diagnosis and therapy. The company also provides sterilization and ionization solutions to improve the hygiene and safety of everyday life. IBA is listed on the pan-European stock exchange EURONEXT, is integrated into the NextEconomy market segment, and belongs to the BelMid index.

08-23-2007

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Loeb & Loeb, LLP

Loeb & Loeb Obtains a Preliminary Injunction on Behalf of Comcast
Loeb & Loeb LLP announced that its client, Comcast, obtained a preliminary injunction enjoining two multimillion dollar national television advertising campaigns disseminated by DirecTV, Inc. DirecTV’s campaigns, which featured Pamela Anderson from "Baywatch" and Shannon Elizabeth from "American Pie", claimed that consumers and “home theater professionals” prefer DirecTV’s picture quality over “cable.” The Court determined that Comcast had established an overwhelming likelihood of demonstrating that both of the advertising campaigns are literally false, misleading and unfair. Comcast also successfully defeated a separate motion by DirecTV that sought to enjoin Comcast from claiming that consumers, including DirecTV's own subscribers, prefer the picture quality of Comcast's high definition television programming over DirecTV's. After carefully reviewing the study on which Comcast bases its claims, the Court concluded that Comcast’s advertisements, unlike DirecTV’s, are true.

A national team of Loeb & Loeb attorneys with expertise in false advertising litigation represented Comcast in this matter. The Loeb & Loeb team included Doug Masters, Tom Jirgal, and Julie Samuels from Loeb & Loeb's Chicago office; Ken Florin, Chris Carbone, and Wook Hwang from New York; and Laura Wytsma from Century City.

08-23-2007

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Holland & Knight, L.L.P.

Holland & Knight's Steven Brannock Elevated to Leadership Positions in the Florida Bar
Holland & Knight is pleased to announce that Steven Brannock, a partner in the firm's Tampa office, was recently elevated to two Florida Bar leadership positions for the 2007-08 term. He will chair the Florida Bar's Appellate Section as well as serve as chair of the Appellate Court Rules Committee, which advises the Florida Supreme Court on proposed amendments to Florida's Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Board Certified in Appellate Practice by the Florida Bar, Brannock's experience includes litigating appellate matters in all five Florida District Courts of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, five federal circuit courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court. He has handled appeals in numerous subject areas including antitrust law, admiralty law, commercial disputes, constitutional law, criminal law, death penalty litigation, family law, franchise law, intellectual property, insurance law, international law, medical malpractice, personal injury, product liability and securities law.

Brannock is a frequent lecturer on appellate topics and participates annually in the presentation of an advanced appellate certification review course offered for attorneys preparing to take the Appellate Board Certification Examination.

08-23-2007

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Cooley Godward Kronish LLP

SEC Commissioner Roel C. Campos Joins Cooley
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP announced today that Roel C. Campos, a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will join the Firm as a partner in the business litigation practice. Campos was serving his second term when the SEC announced recently that he would return to the private sector. Campos is expected to join Cooley in early September after completing his transition from the SEC. He will be resident in the Firm’s Washington, DC office and will assume the role of partner-in-charge of that office.

At Cooley, Campos will focus on representing companies in SEC enforcement matters and internal investigations, advising board and committees involving governance matters and compliance issues, and advising private equity, hedge and mutual funds regarding regulatory matters. Campos has been a respected expert and influential voice within the SEC as to enforcement actions, and while at the SEC presided over hundreds of complex enforcement cases.

“As companies navigate the post-Sarbanes Oxley business regulatory environment, Roel represents a unique and extremely talented resource for guidance and advice. We are honored and delighted that he has joined our Firm,” said Chairman and CEO Stephen C. Neal. “In addition to his talents as a lawyer, advisor and counselor to our clients, we also look forward to Roel playing a key part in the further growth and expansion of our Washington, DC office.”

Campos was first appointed to the SEC by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a commissioner in August 2002. He was confirmed at the same time Congress passed the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX), and as a commissioner Campos was one of the key policy makers and architects of the SEC rules implementing SOX. During his two terms, he helped lead the SEC in the study and crafting of the Commission’s regulations implementing SOX, accounting independence and oversight rules, attorney fraud reporting rules, securities offering reform, mutual fund governance and compliance rules, hedge fund adviser rules and the new National Market System.

“Many of Cooley’s public securities attorneys, several of whom were also with the SEC, are considered among the nation’s thought leaders in the public securities arena,” said Campos. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues at Cooley and advising companies on important issues related to SEC guidelines and corporate governance that will benefit the companies themselves, as well as continue to bolster investor confidence.”

Campos began his career in private practice with Jones Day in 1979. In addition to his experience in private practice, Campos was an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles from 1985-1989. He was a founder of a venture-capital-funded broadcasting company, El Dorado Communications, in the mid 1990s.

Campos earned his B.S. in Engineering Management and Economics from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1971, his M.B.A. from the UCLA Graduate School of Business in 1972, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979.

With Campos joining the Firm, Cooley caps an extremely busy summer of lateral additions in its East Coast offices. Michael Knight, former Assistant Director of Mergers II Division of the Bureau of Competition within the Federal Trade Commission, joins Campos in the Washington, DC office.

In New York, Cooley recently added Laura Grossfield Birger as a partner in its business litigation practice. Birger was the Chief of the General Crimes Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Jennifer Coplan joined the Firm from Debevoise & Plimpton. Coplan will be the first New York-based partner in Cooley’s technology transactions group.

These New York and Washington partner additions occurred concurrently with the opening of the Firm’s Boston office on July 16 with 10 lateral partners. Since then the office has added 12 associates. It is expected that by the end of the summer there will be 25 attorneys on board in Boston.

08-23-2007

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Adams & Reese LLP

Rouen Elected to Serve on the Board of Directors of New Orleans Bar Foundation
Adams and Reese partner Deborah B. Rouen was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Bar Foundation. Founded in 2001, the Foundation was created to sustain the good works of the New Orleans area legal community. The Foundation underwrites The Arceneaux Professionalism Award and administers grants and donations on behalf of the New Orleans Bar Association and its young lawyers section.

Rouen, a member of the Litigation Practice Group, has extensive experience in defending class actions, mass torts and other complex litigation matters involving product design, toxic tort, environmental, fraud, misrepresentation, conspiracy and punitive damages. She has acted as liaison counsel for defendants and successfully defeated class certification in both federal and state courts. She is experienced in partnering with clients to handle major litigation in order to achieve quality solutions through the efficient use of resources, technology and case management. Rouen has attained an AV® rating by Martindale-Hubbell.

Rouen recently completed serving a three-year term on the firm’s Executive Committee, and currently chairs the firm’s Diversity Committee. She is former leader of the Class Action/Complex Litigation Practice Team and former chair of the firm’s Hiring Committee. In addition to her service as a board member of the New Orleans Bar Foundation, she also serves on the board of the Federal Bar Association and has acted as coordinator of Bench-Bar functions. She has also participated as a member of the Court Rules Committee of the Louisiana State Bar Association, whose proposed uniform rules for state courts were adopted by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Rouen is a strong supporter of community activities and charitable organizations. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Jefferson Performing Arts Society. She coordinates the firm’s participation in Dress for Success and the volunteer program at The Good Shepherd School, a downtown school for at-risk children.

Rouen received her Bachelor of Music from Loyola University, magna cum laude, and her Juris Doctorate in 1983 from Loyola Law School. During law school, she served as the articles editor of the Loyola Law Review. She is admitted to practice before all State and Federal Courts in Louisiana, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

08-23-2007

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Robinson & Cole LLP

Robinson & Cole Attorneys Present on Confidentiality Agreements and Trade Secrets
Robinson & Cole attorneys Peter J. Moser and John R. Bauer led a presentation on confidentiality agreements, how to protect trade secrets, and family responsibility discrimination at the Associated Industries of Massachusetts' (AIM) monthly "Human Resources Roundtable." AIM's HR Roundtables allow organizations' representatives to discuss current developments, pending legislation and amendments, concerns, or problems facing professionals in human resources every day.

08-23-2007

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Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Salford Georgia and Compound Capital Complete Acquisition of Metromedia International Group
Salford Georgia and Compound Capital Limited have successfully completed the acquisition of Metromedia International Group, Inc. at a price of approximately $185 million. Pursuant to the July 17 merger agreement between Metromedia and affiliates of Salford and Compound, CaucusCom Mergerco Corp. has been merged with and into Metromedia, with Metromedia continuing as the surviving corporation. The merger followed the successful completion of CaucusCom’s tender offer for any and all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Metromedia at $1.80 per share in cash, which expired at midnight on August 21, pursuant to which CaucusCom acquired approximately 75 percent of the outstanding common shares. CaucusCom then exercised a top up option to increase their percentage ownership to over 90 percent, enough to effect a short form merger under Delaware law. The merger was completed on August 22. Metromedia's preferred stock remains outstanding following completion of the merger. The Paul, Weiss team included corporate partners Jim Dubin, Jeff Marell and Ray Russo, and associates David Harris, James McClary and Aun Singapore; employee benefits associates Erin Murphy, Verity Rees and Lauren Voss; litigation partners Marty Flumenbaum and Dan Leffell, counsel Gary Carney, associates Brian Cifuentes, Chi-Ru Jou, Nili Moghaddam, Charlie Rose and Sandra Sheldon, and former associate Amir Weinberg; and tax partner Rick Bronstein.

08-23-2007

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