Federal Circuit Affirms Disqualification of Counsel, Dismissal of Patent Complaint
The Federal Circuit has affirmed a Western District of Texas decision disqualifying counsel for plaintiff Dynamic 3D Geosolutions LLC and dismissing its patent infringement complaint Schlumberger Ltd. without prejudice, reports IPWatchdog.
Dynamic alleged that defendant Schlumberger’s “Petrel” software infringed Dynamic’s ‘319 Patent, for systems and methods of combining seismic and well log data into a real-time, interactive three dimensional display.
But Schlumberger raised a potential conflict of interest and filed a motion to disqualify Dynamic’s counsel, Charlotte Rutherford. Rutherford previously was deputy general counsel for intellectual property at Schlumberger. The district court found that Rutherford’s work at Schlumberger was substantially related to her current work and “the evidence created an irrebuttable presumption that she acquired confidential information requiring her disqualification,” according to the report by Joseph Robinson and Robert Schaffer.
