Microsoft Wins Summary Judgement in Smart Tag Case

dan2bit writes "Business Week reports that a judge in Wisconsin handed down a summary judgement today in favor of Microsoft, defending itself from a patent infringement suit brought by small fish Hyperphrase over the embedding of 'Smart Tags' in Microsoft Office. The suit also produced some amusing minutiae."

Comments

Filing not late

[Anonymous Coward]

Pursuant to the modified scheduling order, the parties in this case had until June 25, 2003 to file summary judgment motions. Any electronic document may be e-filed until midnight on the due date. In a scandalous affront to this court's deadlines, Microsoft did not file its summary judgment motion until 12:04:27 a.m. on June 26, 2003, with some supporting documents trickling in as late as 1:11:15 a.m.

The message WAS actually sent June 23, but the exchange server was down until the 25th.

Jokey Judge

[Atario]

Counsel used bolded italics to make their point, a clear sign of grievous iniquity by one's foe.

"Now that's...COMEDY."
--Slappy Squirrel

The judge left an extra surprise for them

[Anonymous Coward]

Notice that the court listed the names of all the lawyers on the team that submitted that motion, so that any time someone does a lexus-type search for any one of those lawyers, that filing will come up, thus embarassing them for years to come. The court put some thought into that one.

AT LEAST THEY DIDN'T USE ALL CAPS

[LeBain]

From Hyperphrase's motion to strike the summary judgment motion as untimely: Counsel used bolded italics to make their point, a clear sign of grievous iniquity by one's foe. AT LEAST THEY DIDN'T COMPAIN IN ALL CAPS!!!!! THAT REALLY WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE JUDGE'S ATTENTION!!!!

It's there if you can bear the rest...

[IthnkImParanoid]

Granted, you have to wade through a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, but it was worth it for this:

Before proceeding further, the Court notes that this case involves two extremely likable lawyers, who have together delivered some of the most amateurish pleadings ever to cross the hallowed causeway into Galveston, an effort which leads the Court to surmise but one plausible explanation. Both attorneys have obviously entered into a secret pact ? complete with hats, handshakes and cryptic words ? to draft their pleadings entirely in crayon on the back sides of gravy-stained paper place mats, in the hope that the Court would be so charmed by their child-like efforts that their utter dearth of legal authorities in their briefing would go unnoticed. Whatever actually occurred, the Court is now faced with the daunting task of deciphering their submissions.

Judge Kent's Pigs

[werdna]

Judge Kent is bar far one of the funniest judges on the federal bench. I strongly comment a quick read of his opinion in this case, which concerned a motion drafted in crayon.

Re:Lawyer humor

[NOLAChief]

Finally, a profession with a worse sense of humor than we engineers are accused of. From a Tulane American Society of Mechanical Engineers t-shirt: "You wish you were as cool...AS-ME."

Groan...I'm switching majors. Or shooting myself.

Your court's clock may not be accurate!

[BigRedFish]

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