The zombywolf Report.
Began this AM as the first ones to arrive- zombywolf and the irrepressable zombywolfmom. You can visualize her as a cross between Betty Boop and Deadpool. Soon after our arrival, three gentlemen exited the elevator in front of us by the courtroom door. After exchanging normal pleasantries, one of the three came over and asked who we were, directing the question to the lovely zombywolfmom. She said she was an investor, and he then looked at me. I said I was an investor, and immediately he asked "Are you zombywolf"? After regaining my composure, I stuttered "Yes, you must read the boards".
A little more chit chat, and he went back to his colleagues, then returned. He asked "Do you know who we are"? Then it hit me- "You are the inventors" I said. Holy Crap, I was talking to the ChanBond inventors!! Let me tell you, you couldnt find a nicer group of guys if you tried. More on them later.
After that, both group of lawyers arrived-ours first. They brought the A team- Robert Whitman, the owner of the law firm Mark Ruskin and two lawyers with the technical background in this type of case. A little while later, Jennifer Ying and 3 others showed up. Both sides met and talked a bit- no animosity here, they seemed quite cordial towards each other. Then it was time for court.
The hearing consisted of Judge Andrews, two lawyers plus two observers from the other side they brought, our four lawyers, the inventors and the zombywolf/zombywolfmom iHub miniature army. The other side went first, with Jennifer sitting and the other lawyer handling the presentation. They immediately got on the wrong side of the judge, trying to change the presentation process in their favor and getting shot down by the judge. Made their presentation, basically saying that the 822 patent was the heart of the case, and the resolution of the appealed claims was critical to arguing alternative non infringement situations. Their lawyer was more strident than convincing, inviting questions from the judge that were similar to the ones in the original ChanBond response to the stay.
The our side's turn came. Robert handled the presentation, arguing basically the ChanBond stay response. During the Q&A, there was an interesting exchange between the judge and the two parties. Since the other side was arguing so stridently that the stay was necessary to argue other non infringements, and Chanbond had so much other evidence of infringement, Why are you pressing these 5 claims that is causing this problem in the first place? Whitman stammered on that one- basically saying we just want to do it. Judge kept pressing him on it- Whitman finally relented and said he would discuss it with his client. The other side agreed, if these claims were not being appealed, they were OK with that. But if ChanBond wanted to continue with the appeal, that is their basis for the stay request. (I question the ChanBond strategy for the appeal as well).
After these presentations and Q&A's were over, the judge started going over the Chanbond reasons to deny out loud, agreeing with most and dismissing some. Then he got real quiet for a little while. I'm thinking to myself- Judge Andrews is deciding this situation right now! You could see the wheels turning. Then he goes through the important parts of the presentations, the questions and the briefs and you could see he was gearing up for a denial of the stay. Then it happenend- DENIED. I tapped on the shoulder of Dick Snyder (Chanbond) in front of me, just before he announced. We looked at each other and said "We are a Go"! Congratulated him, and started to leave. A little more chit chat, and I found out the inventors were from the Harrisburg area, a mere half hour from me. And I found out that these guys were from AMP in Harrisburg, which in the past was the eminent high tech company in Central PA. We found connection to my old company and theirs, as they were one of our largest customers. To say this was a great day for us,them and me personally, is an understatement. Coming from AMP solidifies my opinion that these fellows are the real deal. And I was most surprised that the inventors are regular readers of our board. Some details were eliminated for the sake of brevity, so this is mostly the report on the hearing. Respectfully submitted, zombywolf, Sergeant at Arms.
All information provided is the opinion of this poster from review of information in the public domain.
