On Jan. 20, the pressure of the patent-infringement lawsuit brought by Lucent against Newbridge became a verbal sparring match before Judge Joseph Farnan in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del.
The incident began when Newbridge lawyer Ed Foote complained that Lucent had failed to produce the company's data-network chief, Bill O'Shea, for a deposition. Newbridge also complained other Lucent employees weren't providing helpful answers.
"We have a right to know what Lucent and AT&T produced at the time of these alleged inventions," Foote demanded. "What is the factual basis for their infringement case? What are the products that they manufacture that supposedly incorporate this technology?" he asked.
Foote also claimed that Lucent's lead attorney, John Desmarais of Kirkland & Ellis, had backed out of an agreement to put off the trial date so Newbridge could do more depositions. When his turn came, Desmarais shot back that he had only agreed to take that idea up with Lucent officials, who said no. "For him to get up here and say that I agreed to that is an absolute lie," Desmarais said. "I am shocked by it, to tell you the truth."
Judge Farnan soon ordered the courtroom cleared for a time-out. When they returned, Desmarais apologized for calling Foote a liar and Foote said he was sorry if he provoked the attack. Eventually Desmarais won the right to keep O'Shea from testifying, but Foote won the opportunity to depose more Lucent officials on their data-networking products.
