Judge Seeks Contrition, Not Money, from Settling Lawyers
Potential jurors who arrived in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday found there was no longer a case involving a trademark dispute over the DWG extension given to design files. The parties had settled shortly after midnight, spurring U.S. District Judge William Alsup to express sympathy for the jurors.
Morrison & Foerster lawyer Michael Jacobs responded with a proposal, the Recorder reports. Jacobs’ firm and the opposing firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, could pay for the jurors’ time, he suggested. But Alsup had other ideas.
Lawyers are used to “big-firm practice, where money solves all problems,” Alsup said. Instead, he suggested an apology, according to the story.
Alsup also criticized the settlement agreement, which contained a stipulation that the court had found the trademark to be valid, the story says. After some last-minute scrambling, the new agreement said the parties agreed on the validity of the trademark, but twice said there was no court ruling on the issue.
Jacobs and his Quinn Emanuel opponent, Claude Stern, also went along with Alsup’s apology suggestion, thanking the potential jurors and apologizing for the inconvenience.
