Microsoft founder Paul Allen has gone and handed BigLaw a big, fat gift. His patent-holding company (it used to actually do research) has sued 11 of the world’s biggest internet companies.
This is going to be like SOX (or Dodd-Frank) for patent geeks – full employment for all.
The list of defendants is filled with some of BigLaw’s best clients: AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo and YouTube.
Even Weil Gotshal has to be excited about this: long-time client Microsoft is one of two big companies (Amazon is the other) not being sued, so they should be able to pick up work from someone else.
Susman Godfrey has the Herculean task of representing Allen. Justin Nelson, Matthew Berry, and Max (“the trouble with”) Tribble signed the complaint.
Which firms do you think will defend which companies?
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