In-House Counsel
Patent Dispute Aired on High-Tech Executives’ Blogs
Posted Oct 31, 2007, 05:34 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Officials with two high-tech companies, including one general counsel, are trading barbs on their own blogs about a patent dispute.
Voicing their opinions from Sun Microsystems are general counsel Mike Dillon and CEO Jonathan Schwartz, the Recorder reports. One the other side is Network Appliances co-founder Dave Hitz.
NetApp sued Sun in September claiming that Sun’s free ZFS software infringes its patents. Sun counterclaimed on Monday, claiming patent infringement and unfair competition. Both companies blame the other for starting the fight.
Observers told the Recorder that the executives are trying to drum up support in the tech community through their blog posts.
Edward Reines of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, who represents NetApp, said Sun’s posts pose some risk. "Having a general counsel blog in any matter exposes the risk of a privilege waiver, and having the CEO blog exposes him to deposition where you might otherwise have argued it wasn't relevant to the litigation," he told the legal publication.
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