Replies to post #72543 on InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[osoesq]

The arbitrators will reach a decision without seeing the sealed orders, if Judge Lynn doesn't unseal them, or, if she does rule to unseal them, that opinion is upheld on appeal.

Let's pretend that you're NOK's lawyer. At the beginning of the arbitration hearing, you ask that certain documents be unsealed. The arbitrators then ask for IDCC's position on that point. Then and there, IDCC presents to the arbitrators the order to vacate. After both sides have made their case with regard to the order to vacate, the arbitrators must determine whether in their opinions, IDCC and ERICY had acted improperly in entering into a request for an order to vacate. The arbitrators could put the issue to bed, right there. They might decide that it was simply good legal practice to obtain the order and that NOK should have foreseen such a motion and should have intervened before the case was concluded. If they reach that determination, the case will proceed without the documents.

On the other hand, if the arbitrators decide that they want to see the documents, the triumverate of NOK, IDCC and the arbitrators are off to Dallas to try and persuade Judge Lynn to either seal or unseal the documents. Considering all of the schedules that would need to be accomodated, that hearing should be able to still be scheduled within this decade. After the hearing, briefs would be filed by all involved and then Judge Lynn would issue one of her extremely speedy opinions.

If NOK loses in Dallas, they probably don't have standing to appeal. That doesn't mean that they won't try. Failing on that basis would take nearly as long as succeeding. If IDCC would lose, they definitely have a basis for appeal. That appeal could take forever. Don't forget that ERICY has an interest in this regard, also. They want to have everything that they believe they licensed. They'll be in Dallas and in all of the appellate courts, also.

Court is not like a Vegas magic act. When the order to vacate is signed, the elephant actually disappears. The only way that Judge Lynn's earlier order had any efficacy was if she lifted the order to vacate. She hasn't unsealed anything.