Judge Holds Lawyers Accountable for ‘Tissue of Lies’ Patent Claim
A federal judge in Manhattan says a patent holder’s infringement suit was “based on “nothing more than a tissue of lies” and the lawyers who helped him sue should be held accountable.
U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty said patent holder Irving Bauer and his lawyers are jointly responsible for paying the attorney fees of the defendant, Romag Fasteners Inc., the New York Law Journal reports.
Crotty said Bauer’s first law firm, Abelman, Frayne & Schwab, is jointly responsible with Bauer for fees incurred earlier in the case, the story says. A second lawyer who replaced the first firm, David Jaroslawicz of Jaroslawicz & Jaros, is jointly responsible for fees incurred after Oct. 5, 2007.
Bauer had sued for infringement of a new type of handbag fastener that he claimed to have invented. The judge said he was convinced that Bauer was no inventor, according to the story. “The court refused to believe that Bauer, lacking any training or experience in the field, and equipped only with curiosity and pluck, was able to successfully design around the industry standard” patent, he wrote.
Spokesman Jeffrey Schwab of Abelman Frayne told the publication that Crotty’s decision was “not justified on the law or facts.”
