A patent licensing company called U.S. Ethernet Innovations LLC has moved for sanctions against Hewlett-Packard Co. and two of its outside law firms, arguing that they improperly made payments to a potential vital fact witness.
In a seven-page motion filed Monday, USEI’s lawyers at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd urged a federal judge in Oakland, Calif., to schedule a hearing on whether sanctions should be issued against HP and its lawyers at K&L Gates and Fish & Richardson. USEI alleges that the company and its lawyers "secretly entered into a ‘consulting agreement’ designed to entice this critical fact witness to switch sides for substantial sums of money and consult with them, and only them, on the substance of this litigation."
