ALJ Rogers Declines to Disqualify Complainant's Counsel in Inv. No. 337-TA-827
ALJ Rogers granted Google, Inc.'s motion to intervene, but declined to disqualify Complainant Digitude Innovation's counsel from representing it on any issues adverse to Google or Google's Android platform, in Inv. No. 337-TA-827, Certain Portable Communication Devices. Google alleged that complainant's counsel performed patent prosecution work for Google relating to the Android functionality, and that several of the claims at issue in the investigation directly targeted functionality provided by the Android platform in the accused products. After granting Google's motion to intervene due to "the serious nature of Google's ethical misconduct claim," ALJ Rogers found that Google had failed to demonstrate that counsel's representation of Digitude was directly adverse to Google as required by ABA Model Rule 1.7, and that Google had failed to show continued representation would be adverse to its business interests. However, ALJ Rogers did require counsel for Digitude to set up an ethical screen for attorneys involved in the investigation, agree that it would not seek third-party discovery, and that no attorney for complainant would directly examine any Google witness in the event discovery was requested by another party.
