Friday, March 1, 2013
Conflict of Interest? #9
A UK judge, Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob, who ruled in favor of Samsung against Apple has been hired by Samsung. Just last year he issued an order forcing Apple to promote Samsung's products as a punishment for not complying with the initial ruling. Although the judge retired in 2011 and became a professor, according to Section 9 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, ex-judges can still be invited to sit on the bench. This, I believe poses a issue of a conflict of interest. After having ruled in favor of a party and then consequently being hired by that party, the Judge is showing a lack of integrity, regardless of its legality. For an industry that is so heavily regulated, it's ironic that such such seemingly questionable deals would be allowed in the first place.
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It's hard to say whether or not is a conflict of interest; these people are still professionals. Also, can you imagine the complexity of enforcing conflicts of interest? That seems somewhat intractable.
ReplyDeleteWhile complicated, I do not think that this specific example represents a conflict of interest. While the judge did rule in favor of Samsung, the fact remains that he only became hired by Samsung a year after issuing that decree. Also, I think that it's virtually impossible for large tech companies to hire legal professionals that did not, at one time or another, have some sort of dealing with the company in the many years of industry experience that they would have. Given the necessity of hiring someone that has years of experience in the legal technology space, it makes sense to hire someone that has a favorable view of your company; it's just smart business.
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