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The Data Company provides trial support in $500 Million patent case

MEMPHIS, TN - October 29, 2004 - A Memphis jury recently awarded over $400 million in punitive damages to Dr. Gary Michelson. Dr. Michelson, a respected surgeon and inventor, filed a claim against Medtronic Sofamor Danek, a subsidiary of Medtronic Inc., for allegedly infringing on several Michelson patents...<< read more>>

The Data Company Helps IBM Win Its Employee Suit in Santa Clara, CA

A California jury in February 2004 cleared IBM of liability in a lawsuit by two former workers who said their exposure to chemicals in a computer disk drive factory made them sick and ultimately gave them cancer, IBM spokesman Chris Andrews said...<<read more>>

Landmark Settlement in DVD Technology Copyright Suit
In one of the largest copyright litigation settlements ever paid, in June 2003 MediaTek Inc. agreed to pay ESS Technology Inc. up to $90 million, composed of a one-time license fee plus future royalties. <<read more>>

Microtune Victorious in Patent Infringement Trial
A federal jury in Sherman, Texas, has found in favor of Microtune, Inc. in its patent infringement dispute against Broadcom Corporation. <<read more>>

California Jury Verdict Reverses Trend
The top two U.S. tobacco companies, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, won a major victory on February 7, 2003 when a jury found that they were not responsible for a Sacramento man developing cancer after smoking for nearly 40 years. <<read more>>

Directed Verdict in Conley Case
The top two U.S. cigarette makers won a directed verdict recently in federal district court in California. <<read more>>

You've Put Us in the Inc 500
The Data Company is pleased to announce its selection to the exclusive Inc 500 list for 2002, coming in at number 152. <<read more>>

The Data Company provides trial support in $500 Million patent case

MEMPHIS, TN - October 29, 2004 - A Memphis jury recently awarded over $400 million in punitive damages to Dr. Gary Michelson. Dr. Michelson, a respected surgeon and inventor, filed a claim against Medtronic Sofamor Danek, a subsidiary of Medtronic Inc., for allegedly infringing on several Michelson patents. Dr. Michelson currently holds over 200 U.S. patents and 450 foreign patents, most are specifically related to spinal fusion, surgical implants, and surgical techniques.

The Data Company, headquartered in Memphis, TN, provided litigation support to the plaintiff's team. The Data Company is a full-service litigation support firm that specializes in advanced litigation support services. This nationwide litigation support company is known for providing fresh and updated technology to the legal community. Services include: trial presentation technologies, graphics and multimedia, 3-D animation, document management, video services, online application hosting, and a mock courtroom facility located at its corporate headquarters.

On September 23, 2004, following a three-month trial in District Court, an eight member jury ruled in favor of Dr. Michelson finding that Medtronic breached purchase and licensing agreements between the parties and infringed on six Michelson patents. The jury awarded 110 million in compensatory damages and 10% royalty on gross revenues.

The Data Company Helps IBM Win Its Employee Suit in Santa Clara, CA

A California jury in February 2004 cleared IBM of liability in a lawsuit by two former workers who said their exposure to chemicals in a computer disk drive factory made them sick and ultimately gave them cancer, IBM spokesman Chris Andrews said.

While cleared of any liability in the California case, Armonk, New York-based International Business Machines Corp. still faces as many as 200 other health-related lawsuits from workers in its electronics and computer chip plants.

The California lawsuit has been closely watched because it was the first of those claims to go to trial.

The lawsuit was brought by a pair of former workers who claimed they were the victims of "systemic chemical poisoning" over decades of work, and that medical staff at the world's largest computer company failed to warn them of risks at the workplace when they sought treatment.

The Data Company worked closely with IBM counsel Robert Weber and with outside counsel, Jones Day. The Data Company provided full-scale trial services for this industry benchmark case. Before the courtroom phase, we undertook a full-scale document management process to make all data associated with the case usable and searchable. During the multiple-month trial, The Data Company maintained onsite war rooms and trial staff to live in Santa Clara for the duration. We were alongside the attorneys every step of the way, changing, updating, and enhancing presentations and demonstratives as necessary to continually stay a step ahead of the plaintiffs.

As noted by Nicholas Varchaver in a December 2003 Fortune Magazine article, the defense maintained control over the documents and the demonstratives, all maintained and created by The Data Company.

As one would expect, plaintiffs lawyer Richard Alexander inveighed against his opponent. He portrayed IBM as aware of its employees' incipient illnesses decades ago, but lacking the decency to share that information with the workers. Displaying an enlarged photocopy of an IBM health questionnaire filled out by one of the plaintiffs, he charged, "This chart in 1976 confirms that IBM knew that James Moore reported complaints consistent with chemical poisoning!" Alexander ticked off a list of symptoms cited by Moore on the questionnaire. They ranged from headaches to blackout and hot flash—"all signs," Alexander asserted, "of systemic chemical poisoning."

Soon after, defense lawyer Robert Weber took his turn. His rebuttal was all the more devastating for the low-key manner in which he delivered it. Weber returned to Moore's health questionnaire and pointed out pages that Alexander hadn't mentioned. There, in giant magnifications of Moore's handwriting, were his explanations of the symptoms. The headaches? They occurred "2-3 times a year." The hot flash? That came "when I got the tetanus shot in 1956"—ten years before Moore started working for IBM. The blackout? It, too, had occurred years before Moore joined IBM. Nothing, in short, was what it had seemed on first glance. "So much for that," said the defense lawyer.

Weber proceeded through Moore's IBM medical history. It turned out to be a short journey. Far from a litany of contemporaneous evidence of chemical poisoning, Moore's records didn't whisper a word of such a condition. Indeed, they suggested he had enjoyed robust health during his 24 years at the company. The records mentioned only one relevant visit to an IBM doctor. That took place in 1967, when Moore complained of "profuse nasal discharge" after exposure to solvents—what the defense lawyer referred to as "a runny nose"—for which he was given a decongestant. Other than a few drop-ins for a bad back, Moore never returned to IBM's medical department again before he retired in 1993.

By the end of Weber's presentation, even IBM critics in the audience were wondering about the plaintiffs' case. John Roberts, a former IBM worker who had organized a courthouse vigil to protest the cancer deaths of compatriots, put it this way: "I feel like we're on the Titanic."

The IBM counsel understood the value of a full-service litigation support firm backing them up at every step. And the plaintiff's attorneys learned first-hand how devastating it can be to argue against a firm with such powerful support. After months of courtroom testimony, the jury took less than 12 hours to deliberate and return a unanimous verdict in favor of IBM.

As a result of this resounding win, several of the other pending lawsuits against IBM have already settled to avoid going to court.

Landmark Settlement in DVD Technology Copyright Suit
In one of the largest copyright litigation settlements ever paid, in June 2003 MediaTek Inc. agreed to pay ESS Technology Inc. up to $90 million, composed of a one-time license fee plus future royalties. The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by partner James Pooley and supported by The Data Company, represented ESS Technology in its copyright suit against MediaTek.

In its suit, ESS Technology charged MediaTek with infringement of its proprietary DVD controller software and user interface. Based in Fremont, California, ESS Technology (Nasdaq: ESST) is a leading provider of silicon solutions for digital video and audio consumer electronics. ESS, like MediaTek Corporation of Taiwan, designs controller chips, which it then sells to manufacturers of DVD players. The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Oakland, CA.

The Milbank team representing ESS Technology was led by Intellectual Property partner James Pooley and associates Scott Oliver, Kim Van Voorhis, Marc Peters and Anupama Sharma, all in Milbank's Palo Alto office. Under their direction, The Data Company located MediaTek chips in DVD players in California stores; verified similarities in help screens between those machines and ESS engineering prototypes; built a compelling presentation that compared MediaTek chip displays with ESS chip displays; and contrasted the displays with other manufacturers.

The show created by The Data Company detailed navigation trees, menu screen formats, language and icons, enlarging those icons to show pixel-by-pixel. It was then presented to the judge during a claim construction hearing, who noted the substantial similarity between the ESS and the MediaTek images.

Under the terms of the confidential settlement agreement, both sides will terminate all claims against each other and MediaTek will receive a non-exclusive worldwide license to ESS' proprietary DVD user interface and other key DVD software. As part of this agreement, ESS and its affiliates will receive a one-time license fee of $45 million, plus ongoing royalties with a lifetime cap of $45 million.

Microtune Victorious in Patent Infringement Trial
A federal jury in Sherman, Texas, has found in favor of Microtune, Inc. in its patent infringement dispute against Broadcom Corporation. The jury found that Microtune's patent is valid, that Broadcom is infringing, and that Broadcom's infringement is willful. Working with attorneys from Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, staff from the Memphis headquarters of The Data Company provided litigation support services to Microtune both before and during the March 2003 trial.

Following a two-week trial, a jury returned a verdict that Broadcom Corporation had willfully infringed Microtune's patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,737,035, which covers certain variations of "a highly integrated television tuner on a single microcircuit." The jury also upheld the patent, finding it both valid and enforceable. Microtune's victory means that Broadcom cannot make, use, sell, offer for sale or import certain highly integrated television tuners.

Microtune's '035 patent is a technological innovation that the company began developing in 1996 and launched as the MicroTuner single-chip tuner in January 1999. As a low-cost tuner-on-chip, the MicroTuner tuner offered a miniature, universal solution for the high-speed delivery of video, voice and data across broadband communications electronics, including cable modems, set-top boxes, digital TVs, cable telephony systems and PC/TVs.

"This decision is a clear and convincing signal from the jury that they understood our case, and establishes that Microtune's patent covers fundamental technology derived from the world's first highly integrated television tuner," said Alan Albright, a partner in Gray Cary's Austin office. Albright and John Allcock, a partner in Gray Cary's San Diego office, led a team of Gray Cary attorneys who represented Microtune.

The Data Company provided litigation support services to Microtune both before and during the trial, including document scanning, exhibit creation, war room setup and staffing, and courtroom presentation.

California Jury Verdict Reverses Trend
The top two U.S. tobacco companies, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, won a major victory on February 7, 2003 when a jury found that they were not responsible for a Sacramento man developing cancer after smoking for nearly 40 years. The Data Company provided defendants with a full range of litigation support services.

n Lucier v. R.J. Reynolds et al, plaintiff Larry Lucier charged the defendants with deceiving the public about the health risks of cigarettes and targeting minors as part of their decades-long campaign. The defendants argued that Lucier knew of the government health warnings on cigarette packs but never took them seriously.

In announcing their verdict, the jury in Sacramento agreed with the defendants that there was ample evidence that the plaintiff had long been aware of the potential health risks of smoking, and that he voluntarily assumed those risks in choosing to begin and continue smoking.

During the lengthy trial, the companies showed that there was no evidence that at any time during Mr. Lucier's smoking history, there was any feasible, safer, alternative cigarette design that would have been used by him and that would have prevented his cancer. The companies also proved that the plaintiffs could not show that Mr. Lucier relied on any statement made by the companies in choosing to start or continue smoking.

Before and during a Sacramento, California trial that exceeded three months, The Data Company provided defendants with an extensive range of services – document scanning, video depositions, creative services, demonstrative exhibit production, a fully equipped and staffed war room, and courtroom presentation. We were pleased to work on this case with both Ted Grossman of Jones Day Reavis & Pogue and Gerald Barron of Shook Hardy & Bacon.

The favorable verdict in the Lucier trial was the first by a jury since the California Legislature in 1998 lifted a 10-year ban on smoker suits in the state.

Directed Verdict in Conley Case
The top two U.S. cigarette makers won a directed verdict recently in federal district court in California. In Conley et al vs. R.J. Reynolds et al, U.S. District Judge Saundra B. Armstrong ruled that the plaintiffs, the family of a deceased smoker, had presented insufficient evidence to back their claims that defendants R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris were responsible for the smoker's death.

The Data Company provided defendants with extensive graphics, trial presentation and war room services.

The defendants' victory, which came shortly before jury deliberations were to begin, marked the first time the industry has prevailed in any smoking and health lawsuit that has proceeded to trial on the West Coast. In seven West Coast jury trials, panels in California and Oregon have awarded more than $30 billion in damages in lawsuits brought by lung cancer victims, although these awards were later trimmed to a total of $363 million.

In this case, plaintiffs Elaine Conley, Weldon White and Dorothy White sought damages for the death of their father and husband, Frank Robert White, who died in 1999 at the age of 81. White's children and widow argued that the man's death was caused by the companies' failure to make safer cigarettes or to provide adequate warnings of smoking risks.

White, who began smoking at 14, had heart disease and pulmonary disease when he died. However, he never developed lung cancer.

Defendants R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris maintained that the plaintiffs had failed to show that their companies' products were defectively designed or that Mr. White had not been warned about the risks of smoking. The Data Company provided display boards, developed an electronic presentation, and participated in witness preparations for expert and party witnesses. Support for the trial team was provided around the clock from a San Francisco war room.

After the plaintiffs rested their case, Judge Armstrong entered a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris. The judge ruled as a matter of law that the jury could not reasonably return a verdict for the plaintiffs, and entered the verdict for the defendants. Stephen J. Kaczynski of Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, lead counsel for R.J. Reynolds, praised the ruling. The judge "rightfully ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to show that the company's products were defectively designed or that Mr. White had not been warned about the risks of smoking," he said in a statement.

The suit was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland.

You've Put Us in the Inc 500
The Data Company is pleased to announce its selection to the exclusive Inc 500 list for 2002, coming in at number 152.

Currently in its 21st year, the Inc 500 is Inc Magazine's renowned annual ranking of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States. These turbo-charged enterprises are the pulse of the real economy. They are fast-growth success stories that cross a wide range of sectors from consumer products, financial services, and retail to high-tech hotbeds such as software, computer hardware, and telecom.

Microsoft, Timberland, Oracle, The Sharper Image, E*Trade, Patagonia, and Domino's Pizza are just a few of the corporate superstars that have graced the Inc 500 list. The Data Company is proud to join this illustrious group.