lawyer info
Scott Bradner <sob@newdev.harvard.edu> Thu, 16 March 1995 18:45 UTC
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From: Scott Bradner <sob@newdev.harvard.edu>
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To: iesg@IETF.CNRI.Reston.VA.US
Subject: lawyer info
Here is the bio of Geoff Stewart and Dave Sylvester plus some supporting materal from Hale and Dorr. Let me know if you want me to get one or both of them up to Danvers for the POISED meetings and/or a discussion about the patent issue with Motorola. (note that they have done work for OSF) Scott ----- Geoffrey S. Stewart Litigation Department Geoffrey Stewart joined Hale and Dorr in 1985 and became a senior partner in 1988. Mr. Stewart practices in the firm's Washington office. Mr. Stewart specializes in complex commercial litigation and white collar criminal investigations. He has handled a number of lawsuits brought under the federal securities laws and over 50 investigations instituted by the Securities & Exchange Commission. Mr. Stewart also has represented corporate boards, directors and officers on matters involving the exercise of their duties. Mr. Stewart is a 1976 graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. In 1981, Mr. Stewart joined the United States Department of Justice, where he became Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy. From 1987 to 1990, Mr. Stewart was Associate Independent Counsel in the Iran Arms Sale/Contra Diversion investigation. Mr. Stewart attended college at Brown University, where he graduated in 1973 with simultaneous bachelor's and masters' degrees and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Stewart is a member of the District of Columbia and New York bars, as well as the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the First, Fourth, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh and District of Columbia federal circuit courts of appeal, and various district courts. He has handled cases in federal and state courts in New York, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, California, Florida, Puerto Rico and Nevada. David Sylvester Corporate Department David Sylvester, a Senior Partner, is a member of Hale and Dorr's Corporate Department. His practice includes the representation of public and private high technology, biotechnology, and other general corporate clients in the areas of venture capital, intellectual property, technology licensing (both domestic and international), and securities law. His practice also includes extensive involvement in international, antitrust, and mergers and acquisitions matters. In recent transactions, Mr. Sylvester represented a multi-billion dollar communications corporation in connection with negotiations over the sale of substantially all of the assets of a division of the corporation; represented a leading office supply superstore chain in its acquisitions of another chain of office supply superstores and a regional office supply store; represented national underwriters in an initial public offering of equity securities; represented technology companies in domestic and international technology transfer matters; represented technology companies in public and private offerings of securities; represented companies in connection with their receipt of debt financing from large U.S. financial institutions; represented the foreign subsidiary of a large U.S. mutual fund in connection with its receipt of project financing from domestic and international financial institutions; represented the U.S. subsidiary of a multi-billion dollar foreign corporation in connection with the acquisition of a U.S. harbor cruise company; represented two public technology companies in their multimillion dollar acquisitions of private technology companies; and represented venture capital funds in connection with their investments in technology and other companies. Mr. Sylvester has lectured on topics related to intellectual property, the reporting obligations of insiders of public companies, and venture capital financing. His "Annotated Series A Convertible Stock Purchase Agreement" has been published since 1986 in the Practising Law Institute's course materials on venture capital financings and is included in the venture capital financing section of the Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers' Business Document Drafting Series. Mr. Sylvester is a member of Hale and Dorr's Antitrust, Biotechnology, Computer Law, International, Venture Capital, Mergers and Acquisitions and Securities Practice Groups. He graduated from Stanford University in 1978 and received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1981. Mr. Sylvester is a member of the National Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association. He serves on the Boards of Directors of Arlington Housing Corporation, Arlington View Terrace, Inc., and Fairview Manor, Inc., non-profit providers of low and moderate income housing in Arlington, Virginia, serves on the Board of Directors of the D.C. General Hospital Foundation, Inc., and is the pro bono general counsel to the Midnight Basketball League, Inc. and to the National Association of Midnight Basketball Leagues, Inc. Mr. Sylvester is admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia. --- Antitrust and Trade Regulation Group The present mission of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, as articulated in a recent speech by Assistant Attorney General Anne K. Bingaman, is "to protect competition and consumers in increasingly international and technology-driven markets through sound and reasoned enforcement of the antitrust laws." This mission has particular significance for Hale and Dorr's high tech and biotech clients, and the Firm's Antitrust Practice Group is responding in a variety of areas. The practice divides into a variety of substantive areas in antitrust law and trade regulation: % Attorneys prosecute and defend antitrust and trade litigation in federal and state courts nationwide at both the trial and appellate levels. % Attorneys represent a wide variety of clients in responding to non-public investigations by the Department of Justice, the Federal Tarde Commission, and various agencies of state governments. % Both litigation and corporate attorneys provide antitrust advice and assistance to clients in a variety of contexts, including mergers, the formation of joint ventures, and franchise and distribution arrangements, both domestically and internationally. % Many clients have turned to the Firm for counselling on antitrust compliance issues and for comprehensive antitrust compliance programs. The antitrust litigation for which Hale and Dorr has been retained varies in size and scope. A few current examples include our representation of Analog Devices, Inc. in a suit pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California challenging Analog's product distribution arrangements. Trial is scheduled to commence in October 1994. We represent Prime Computer, Inc. (now Computervision Corporation) in a lawsuit brought in 1989 by Virtual Maintenance, Inc., a third-party maintenance organization, which challenged Prime's policies regarding the distribution of certain CAD/CAM software and computer hardware maintenance. Hale and Dorr was retained after Virtual obtained an approximately $26 million judgment in federal court in Detroit. Recently, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (on remand from the United States Supreme Court) reversed and remanded the case for a new trial on limited grounds. Both parties have petitioned the Supreme Court for review of that decision. A joint venture of Thermo Electron Corporation and Rolls-Royce, Inc. has retained Hale and Dorr to prosecute a lawsuit against Florida Power & Light. Our clients operate a cogeneration facility in Miami, Florida, and have asserted antitrust and tort claims against Florida Power. We recently defeated Florida Power's motion for summary judgment and are presently opposing its effort to appeal that ruling. We represent Northern Telecom in a case filed against it in Federal court in Boston by Comm-Tract, Inc., a company seeking to provide maintenance services on Northern's PBX office telephone switching systems. Comm-Tract asserted that certain Northern policies regarding the distribution of software and the availability of support services violate Sherman Act \1. We argued a summary judgment motion in January, and expect a ruling shortly. The Open Software Foundation, Inc. is a joint research and development venture which we formed and for which we serve as ongoing antitrust counsel to management and the Board of Directors. We are also litigation counsel defending a claim in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. We are presently attempting to dispose of the price fixing, group boycott and other claims against OSF by a motion for summary judgment. We previously responded successfully to a Federal Trade Commission investigation of OSF. ---- Intellectual Property Department The research, development and commercialization of new technologies has, for many years, been the cornerstone of our emerging and established technology-based clients. As the importance of these technological innovations to commercial success has become increasingly obvious, our clients have recognized that the intellectual property rights which arise from their extensive research and development are extraordinarily valuable assets which require identification, protection and exploitation. Our intellectual property lawyers, working together with our business and litigation lawyers, are in a unique position to provide our clients with the full range of services required to address any intellectual property issue. The concept of intellectual property rights covers an ever increasing range of topics, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. The technologies are equally diverse. Our Intellectual Property Department lawyers provide our clients with all the legal and technical skills normally associated only with a boutique patent firm. However, a client's intellectual property needs often arise in the context of, or quickly grow into, transactions involving licensing, acquisition or sale, reorganization, corporate financing, litigation, employee relationships and government contracts. Unlike the traditional boutique intellectual property firm, Hale and Dorr can provide clients with this full range of services. Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights The lawyers and staff of the Intellectual Property Department provide a full range of patent, trademark, and copyright services. The technological specialties and experience of Hale and Dorr attorneys include the computer hardware and software, biotechnology, electrical and mechanical fields. Patents The lawyers in the Intellectual Property Department prepare and prosecute patent applications in all fields of technology. Individual lawyers within the Department have done so for over twenty-five years. Hale and Dorr clients receive advice and assistance in making business and technical decisions relating to whether a patent application should be filed, and, if so, in what countries; preparing, filing and prosecuting applications in the United States; and, with the assistance of associates in every major foreign country, throughout the rest of the world. The experience of the lawyers in the Intellectual Property Department extends to all phases of patent prosecution, including appeals and interferences both within the Patent and Trademark Office and before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Trademarks The selection of a company name or trademark is one of the most important decisions a business makes. Each year, Hale and Dorr Intellectual Property lawyers advise clients concerning hundreds of potential trademarks, taking into consideration not only whether a particular name might infringe (or be thought to infringe) prior rights of some third party, but also whether the name could be registered with the necessary state and other governmental regulatory authorities, and has the potential for providing the client with the desired exclusivity and market impact. Once a name or mark is chosen, Hale and Dorr attorneys provide our clients with all the services necessary to register the name in different states, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and abroad. We provide the services necessary to prevent third party appropriation of names and trademarks, including conducting formal opposition to registration and cancellation of existing registrations in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Copyrights Our clients own copyrights in computer software, industrial designs, publications, catalogues, data sheets, original art, and a wide range of other works. Our intellectual property lawyers regularly advise clients concerning the circumstances under, and the extent to which, copyright registration should be sought. We also assist our clients in obtaining and preserving copyright registrations and reviewing the limits of copyright registrations of others. Our intellectual property lawyers also frequently advise clients who have copyrighted works developed by employees or consultants on critical ownership issues. Business Transactions And Licensing Each year, we are involved in literally hundreds of licensing negotiations, running the full gamut of subject matter from decidedly low technology items such as giftware to high technology computer hardware and software, biotechnology and material science. We have negotiated and drafted license agreements for patents, trademarks, and know-how in virtually every technological field. A single transaction may typically involve, for example, a patent owner from whom a license must be obtained, a number of manufacturing and distributing partners who must cooperate in the commercial exploitation of the product, and at least one bank or other financing institutions. In completing such a transaction, the Hale and Dorr client needs, and receives, the benefit of the expertise of both Intellectual Property Department lawyers and business lawyers who have extensive experience in negotiating and consummating these transactions. Intellectual property rights play an increasingly significant part of major transactions such as a public offering, merger or acquisition. In these transactions, the legal and technical expertise of our Intellectual Property Department lawyers permits them to work closely with other departments to ensure that the intellectual property involved is properly evaluated and accounted for, and that the technology and rights actually transferred to or by our client conform to the real intention of the parties. In addition, our emerging and established technology clients regularly seek advice and assistance in establishing or improving in-house technology protection programs, and in tailoring employment, disclosure, confidentiality, and non-competition agreements to their specific needs. Our intellectual property lawyers regularly work with these clients, often in conjunction with attorneys from the Corporate Department who are intimately familiar with the client's operations, to accomplish the preventive maintenance necessary to avoid or minimize possibly significant problems later . Litigation The heightened recognition of the importance and value of intellectual property rights has led to a huge increase in intellectual property litigation. We have been able to provide our clients with the unique combination of a team composed of technically-versed intellectual property lawyers and trial lawyers with extensive experience in litigating and trying intellectual property cases. Our clients have found this combination to be particularly valuable in complex patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright litigation. The expertise of our lawyers in intellectual property law, particularly when coupled with their understanding and experience in biotechnology, chemical, electrical, computer and other technologies, makes it easier and more efficient for the Hale and Dorr client to transfer the necessary complex information to the litigation team. The trial lawyers on the litigation team are in turn better able to understand the details of the technology and to evaluate the merits and impact of technological data and information; and to distill it in a way that will provide an accurate and yet comprehensible case which both judge and jury can understand. We have successfully used this unique combination of technically versed intellectual property lawyer and experienced trial lawyers in a wide variety of intellectual property litigation. We have tried jury cases involving inventions ranging from complex mathematical algorithms to devices for assembling semiconductor chips, and jury waived cases involving technologies ranging from recombinant genetic engineering to the construction of golf balls. We have appeared and tried intellectual property cases in courts throughout the United States and have extensive experience before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the International Trade Commission. The clients for whom we have litigated intellectual property disputes are extensive and include Prime Computer, Genetics Institute, Cetus Corp., Reebok International, Ltd., MedChem Products, Wayne State University, Acushnet, Stratus Computer, Alliant Computer and Computervision Corporation.
- lawyer info Scott Bradner