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In a $242 million lawsuit VirnetX alleges Microsoft’s Office Communicator and other products infringed upon its patents on technology for automatic and secure virtual private networks, or VPNs. On March 17th, Microsoft attorney Matthew Powers, of Weil Gotshal & Manges, cross-examined computers expert witness Mark T. Jones, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Virginia Tech who testified in favor of VirnetX.

The Scotts Valley, Calif., company of 12 employees alleges Microsoft infringed two of its patents – Nos. 6,502,135 and 7,188,180 – on technology for secure and automatic virtual private networks, or VPNs. In its defense, Microsoft is arguing that the patents are invalid largely because the technology was obvious – in this sense, a legal term – and that Microsoft’s Windows XP, Windows Vista, Office Live Communicator and other products did not infringe.

For more, see seattlepi.com.

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In Cheaper Medicines Not Always Better, medical expert Peter Pitts, President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate FDA commissioner writes:

Yet some policies that are gaining popularity are weakening the doctor-patient relationship by putting treatment decisions in the hands of third parties.

Chief among these schemes is “step therapy.” Also called “fail first,” this is a policy that is sometimes adopted by insurers and government health programs to save money on pharmaceuticals. It forces patients to try cheaper alternatives to a prescribed drug before they are permitted to get the medicine that their physicians ordered.

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The nursing expert witness may often be a Legal Nurse Consultant. Here, the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants answers what makes a Legal Nurse Consultant distinct:

As licensed registered nurses, legal nurse consultants bring specialized health care education and clinical experience to the medically related issues of the litigation process. This education and experience distinguishes legal nurse consultants from paralegals and legal assistants and provides the foundation for the legal nurse consultant’s ability to recognize, interpret and analyze all relevant medically related information in a claim or case.

The primary role of the legal nurse consultant is to evaluate, analyze, and render informed opinions on the delivery of health care and the resulting outcomes. For over 20 years, legal nurse consultants have acted as collaborators and strategists, offering support in medically-related litigation and other medical-legal matters.

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In Expert Witness – A Valuable Asset, William Gulya, Jr., construction expert witness and President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:

A case in point, an attorney in New Jersey, had a case in which his client suggested utilizing an expert. The attorney indicated to his client that it was not necessary, citing cost as the major factor. At trial, the testimony of three of the attorney’s key witnesses was rejected or restricted. The judge based his decision on the hearsay rule and restricted witnesses’ testimony to only those reports, tests or documents they alone prepared.

In the end, the evidence the attorney was able to get on the record was so limited that the case he had intended to present was non-existent. Had the attorney hired an expert witness, the hearsay rule would not have applied and the attorney would have been able to present the case as he intended. Notwithstanding the validity or invalidity of the judge’s ruling, he made the ruling at trial just the same. Now the case will go to the appellate division. In hindsight, the attorney’s decision to not bring on an expert compromised his case, upset his client and will not save his client any money. What his decision did do was to put the outcome of his case in jeopardy.

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Logging expert witnesses may opine on illegal logging and the trade in illegal timber.

Illegal logging and the international trade in illegally logged timber is a major problem for many timber-producing countries in the developing world. It causes environmental damage, costs governments billions of dollars in lost revenue, promotes corruption, undermines the rule of law and good governance and funds armed conflict. It retards sustainable development in some of the poorest countries of the world. Consumer countries contribute to these problems by importing timber and wood products without ensuring that they are legally sourced. In recent years, however, producer and consumer countries alike have paid increasing attention to illegal logging.

Excerpted from illegallogginginfo.

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Wood products experts at the International Wood Products Association write that DoubleHeli Tracking Technologies has developed a DNA-based timber tracking system. The company representatives are confident that their international team of genetic scientists can make DNA tracing easy and affordable for the industry to verify the origin of their timber supplies and for law enforcement agencies to conduct spot-checks of timber imports.

Describing DNA as the natural “barcode” they hope to be able to trace wood back from a finished product to its origin. DHTT is creating a DNA geno-graphic database, which is done by analyzing specific DNA markers that are unique to a particular species of timber, but vary across different geographic regions.

Excerpted from iwpa.org.

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In Cheaper Medicines Not Always Better, medical expert Peter Pitts, President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate FDA commissioner writes:

The health care reform debate has been focused almost entirely on just two broad issues: the large uninsured population and the rising cost of care. But there’s another problem that plagues our health system, and it’s just as serious. Doctors are losing their ability to treat patients without being obstructed by outside parties. Any discussion about improving our health system must recognize that rules which empower bureaucrats to get in the way of the doctor-patient relationship are a serious threat to the quality of medical care.

A strong, trusting relationship between doctors and patients is crucial to a well-functioning health care system. Without such a bond, serious conditions might go misdiagnosed or improperly treated, patients might give inaccurate medical histories, or doctors’ orders might be ignored.

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In Identification of Potential Severance Damages In Retail Gasoline Properties,

service station expert witness Robert E. Bainbridge writes:

Retail gasoline businesses are especially sensitive to access degradation. In some cases impaired access can make the business unviable and the property unmarketable as a gasoline outlet. The potential for severance damages from access management takings should be regarded with greater scrutiny by stake holders and the courts when retail gasoline properties are involved.

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In Expert Witness – A Valuable Asset, William Gulya, Jr., construction expert witness and President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:

Are attorneys overlooking a valuable asset? Many indeed are. As in any field of expertise, there are good and bad expert witnesses. A slogan I once read said, “The right attorney can make the difference.” So too can the right expert witness.

The right expert witness can be one of the most valuable assets an attorney can use to win his case. Although attorneys know the law, trial procedure, etc., they cannot realistically be expected to know the operations of every type of company. Utilizing an expert witness will provide the attorney the inside knowledge and explanation of corporate details that will help with facts surrounding a particular case. The expert explains strengths and weaknesses that will give attorneys the knowledge to best

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In Understanding Toyota Sudden Acceleration, materials engineering expert witness Joel S. Hirschhorn writes:

When products fail due to a systemic design, materials or manufacturing flaw, large and statistically significant levels of problems emerge fairly rapidly. This is definitely not the case with the Toyota problem. With many millions of Toyota models on which even more millions of miles have been driven, if there had been an inherent materials or manufacturing design defect, then we would have seen untold thousands of cases of sudden acceleration. It literally would have been virtually a daily event happening all over the country in many Toyota models. But, in fact, little more than 1,000 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported since 2001 that their vehicles suddenly accelerated on their own. This is a tiny, minuscule percentage of Toyotas….

In my professional opinion, the likely scenario is a defect in a semiconductor chip used in the electronic control system. A defect that was caused by some infrequent flaw in a raw material or manufacturing process that would not show up in routine quality control testing of raw materials or components. That so many different Toyota models over many years have been found defective signifies the likelihood of a particular problem component made in a specific factory that has been used for quite a while. Moreover, the defect obviously does not ordinarily impair vehicle performance but only manifests itself under some infrequent conditions, as yet undetermined.

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