Round Table Group has unveiled a new expert witness search feature that allows potential clients to search for potential expert witness candidates before formally entering a search request. While the search is comprehensive, it still only a sampling of the bevy of different experts continually recruited by the firm.

Patent expert witnesses are in high demand. Continued advances in technology and the highly competitive nature of the business world ensure that patent litigation will continue to grow for many years to come. Traditionally, finding a qualified expert with specialized knowledge in the scientific field subject to your litigation has been difficult. Accordingly, many expert witness referral firms place an increased emphasis on providing a large panel of patent experts in all relevant fields to assist attorneys in their time of need.

Such assistance, however, does not preclude you from looking for an expert yourself. Let's say you have a potential need for a semiconductor expert. Where should you go first? One of the Internet's free expert databases or a simple Google search? No way. Shame on you for even thinking that. Head to Amazon.com. When evaluating the qualifications of an expert, courts tend to give greater deference those who have published extensively in the field related to the patent in issue. Amazon sells a bevy of technical books on almost any scientific field you might need. A simple search for "semiconductors" turns up literally thousands of books. It is then a small matter of contacting a book's author, who is usually easily located in his or her respective university directory.

Give Amazon.com a try next time you are thinking of using an expert. And while you are there, buy a DVD, or a vacuum cleaner, or a hairbrush for your dog. Or some other item you do not really need. Your patent expert searches can help turn the economy around!

Nick

Medical expert witnesses in Maryland could see rules tightened in connection with their ability to testify in court as an expert. In 2004, Maryland issued a law that prevented any doctor who devoted more than 20% of their professional time to working on personal injury cases from testifying as a "medical expert." Soon the Maryland Court of Appeals is expected to clarify as to what sort of professional activities may make up the remainder of a doctor's time to qualify. Check out the full AMA story.

A pair of lawyers from Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. have written an excellent article providing advice on how to successfully use regulatory expert witnesses in product liability actions. The article highlights the importance of proper FDA regulatory analysis as well as providing a proper regulatory history of the product in issue. It's in the latest edition of the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. 

Patent expert witnesses can help your client determine whether a competitor's new product infringes upon their patent. Perhaps need to find an expert witness to determine whether or not allegations made against your client's product are true. How can you find a top quality expert with the specific knowledge you need?

Dennis Crouch, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Missouri, recently conducted an analysis regarding patent litigation.  His findings indicate that our fictional product infringement description above is a very real problem for many practicing patent attorneys.  He observed that the number of patents being litigated has substantially increased over the last 20 years. "More complaints are being filed and more patents are being asserted with each complaint."1

One way to help ensure that your patent cases reach a successful conclusion is to seek help from an expert witness referral firm such as Round Table Group (RTG).  Round Table Group fulfill requests for patent experts more often than any other type of expert, says RTG's Nick Zafran, who has been researching and compiling the company's extensive billing data.

RTG's research has shown that patent experts bill for more hours than any other category of expert witnesses. "A medical expert often reviews a single person's medical file," says Zafran, "but for patent experts, there can literally be hundreds or thousands of pages of documents to review."

Top-four fields and their rates

When seeking a patent expert, consider billing rates for the top-four fields:

1. Computer scientists.

They examine computer systems, Internet protocols, software source code and operating systems--and earn an average of $425 per hour, according to Round Table Group data.

"They're the most in demand, and the stakes involved in these cases are a lot higher," says Zafran, "so they feel that their rates can be higher."

2. Biomechanical engineers.

These experts review cases dealing with medical devices like heart valves and stents and earn an average of $386 per hour. "It's a very big area now, especially for us," says Zafran.

3. Electrical engineers.

They consult on cases that involve electrical devices, among them circuit boards, semiconductors and electronic power systems. These experts earn an average of $353 per hour, according to RTG data.

4. Mechanical engineers.

Cases typically involve mechanical devices such as pulley systems or automotive components, and engineers earn an average of $291 per hour.

Technical jargon translation

Patent cases usually settle, says Zafran, but attorneys nonetheless seek experts who can translate technical jargon into layman's terms. Round Table Group can make this step of the process easy.

"We can set up a phone interview so an attorney can get a sense of how well someone speaks," says Zafran. "If you went to one of the standard free lists to find an expert, you're not going to get that."

Attorneys also seek experts who have some--but not too much--experience. "They prefer experts that have specific expertise without appearing to be a hired gun," says Zafran.

"Finding someone who has experience with your product who doesn't go from case to case is hard to find on your own."

It is important to note that expert witness referral firms commonly present a rate higher than what an expert demands. The amount varies but is typically around $100. In exchange for this, expert services firms locate and vet hard-to-find experts in all specialties. These experts, at the top of their field, are often not listed on any free "expert" databases.

...excerpt from article written by RTG contributor Lisa Fields.

1  Patently O, patent law blog, Published March 17, 2008: http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2008/03/patent-litigati.html

Psychiatric expert witnesses are some of the most commonly used experts in litigation today. Accordingly, many expert witness referral firms focus heavily on providing a wide array of psychiatric experts in all relevant sub-disciplines to assist attorneys.

However, in case you are interested in defying the natural order of the universe and looking for an expert yourself, head over to Psychiatry Online. The site has an excellent search function that allows one to search, by keyword, eight leading psychiatric journals published by American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. (APPI). As an example, a simple search on "competence" turned up several thousand online abstracts, with author names included. It is then a small matter of contacting the author of an abstract, who is usually easily located in his or her respective university directory. When evaluating the qualifications of an expert, courts tend to give greater deference those who have published extensively in the field related to the psychiatric concept in issue. Give it a try.

Nick

The following is part one of a comprehensive guide detailing the use and retention of expert witnesses. It was written by Round Table Group's very own Toby Edwards.

What is an Expert Witness?

Definition of Expert.

"An expert witness is a person with proven specialized knowledge of a specific area, permitted to testify in court about an event or events even though they were not present."

Other Definitions of Expert:

Geographic issues: Tennessee, for instance has a rule requiring expert witnesses to be from Tennessee or a contiguous state, for medical malpractice cases.

Daubert: In 1993 the US Supreme court ruled on a motion arising from Daubert vs. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals.  In Daubert, the Supreme Court ordered federal trial judges to become the "gatekeepers" of scientific evidence, determining whether an expert's testimony is both relevant and reliable.

Relevant: pertinent to the case.

Reliable: the expert must have derived his or her conclusions from the scientific method

UK: The Expert must remain neutral, and answers to the Court. Indeed there has been at least one case where an expert was given a hefty fine for slanting testimony.

Why do you need one?

This is the biggest question you should ask yourself.

Generally, you need an expert when a critical argument of your case relies on a specific point of knowledge that laymen don't have. Thus a general point that 'boiling water can scald a hand' is laymen-knowledge. A specific point that 'hands exposed to boiling water over a 3 second duration can cause third degree burns' would need an expert.

It is only Monday. Let the despair begin. If you are like me sitting around your office too upset that it is only Monday to do any meaningful work, but still wanting to be slightly productive to justify ducking out early, check this out. The ideas come from the fine people at Daubert on the Web and are some clever Daubert "brainstorms" that the author wishes "somebody else would try first." I must admit, many of the ideas do seem to be innovative. Perhaps they are too ingenious for a Monday. lf so, then my apologies.

Don Coker, the author, is a banking, management and economic consultant with over 20 years of experience, and a long time member of the Round Table Group expert witness network.


A Primer on the Valuation of Intellectual Property, Intellectual Capital, and Intangible Assets

By Don Coker


    The most common types of Intellectual Property, Intellectual Capital, and Intangible Assets that need valuation are:

●    Patents - Single patents or groups of patents that refer to a common technology.

●    Software.

●    Trademarks - This includes recognizable logos, brand names, etc.

●    Copyrighted assets such as written works, art works, music works, etc.

●    Favorable factors such as favorable supplier contracts that offer an advantage over what a competitor would have to pay for the same materials.

●    Customer relationship assets such as a core customer base, etc.

●    Customer-centered assets such as customer lists, existing customer orders, etc.

●    Workforce-related assets such as a trained workforce, loan origination network, established stockbroker network, established insurance agent network, etc.

●    Real Estate related assets such as leaseholds, air rights, water rights, etc.

●    Goodwill - The net present value of the excess earnings of a company (due to its superior performance) when compared to the earnings of other similar companies.

    There are many other assets that can be categorized as Intellectual Property ("IP"), Intellectual Capital, Intangible Assets, or other similar terms.  In the interest of brevity, I will refer to all of these categories as simply "IP."

    There are four key issues that need to be kept in mind when valuing, or reviewing a valuation of, IP assets:

1.    Generally, the best reflection of the value of an IP asset is the Net Present Value of the reasonable future cash flows that will be produced by the asset. This means that particular attention must be paid to the future life of the asset.

2.    Quite often, the most accurate methodology for valuing IP assets is to value them as if they were a stand-alone business.  For example, a group of patents that all relate to a better copying machine would most likely be marketed as a bundle since some of the patents may rely on other patents within the group of patents.

3.    In some cases, the value of an IP asset relates to an advantage that the asset provides over a competitor's similar asset.  For example, a favorable long-term supplier contract should be valued in terms of the net present value of the advantage in pricing produced by the contract over its life.

4.    In some other cases, the value of an IP asset relates to the cost that was expended to develop the asset compared to what a competitor would have to spend to develop a similar asset.  For example, the value of a trained workforce should be roughly equivalent to what it would take to reproduce a similar trained workforce.

    There are many other complicating factors that are present in the valuation of IP assets, just to mention a few:

●    Is the asset to be sold or licensed for some finite period?

●    If the asset is to be licensed, will there be a single licensee or multiple licensees?

●    If the asset is a patent, how many years has the patent been in use and how many years of
    patent protection remain?

●    If a patent application has been filed but a patent has not been granted yet, there is a risk that the patent application for the subject technology may be worthless.

    Keep in mind that a unique group of skills will be required in order for a valuation consultant to produce a credible Intellectual Property valuation.  Some of those skills include:

●    Knowledge of the IP creation, ownership, and transfer process.

●    Knowledgeable in many types of valuation methodologies.

●    Knowledgeable in the principles of financial mathematics.

●    Knowledgeable in corporate financing techniques.

●    Knowledgeable in how to determine and analyze market factors.

●    Knowledgeable in business organization, business systems, and business management techniques.

●    Do not think that a C.P.A. can perform a credible IP valuation. As you can see from the above cited list of skill requirements, many of them are beyond the areas of training, experience, and competence of a C.P.A.

    Keep in mind that this article only hits some of the high points of IP valuation since it is a very diverse and complex subject, reflective of the diverse and complex nature of IP assets themselves.  If you require an IP valuation for any purpose, take it seriously and make sure that you hire someone that understands the nature of the IP assets to be valued

About the Author

    The author of this article is an experienced financial professional with extensive experience in IP valuation matters, and is available to discuss your IP valuation needs.

●    The author of this article has extensive experience in the valuation of IP assets and in corporate finance.

●    He has been called on by the Internal Revenue Service seven times to value 28 IP assets with a combined value of over $21.55 billion.

●    His background in banking and finance includes employment and extensive training with Citicorp and Ford Motor Credit Co. and entities that are now Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Regions Financial, and Guaranty Bank.

●    He has personal experience with the creation, filing, and transfer of IP assets.

●    He is widely published and quoted in the media.

●    He has been engaged as an expert witness consultant for over 400 cases nationwide by attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants since 1989, and has testified over 100 times.

●    His clients have included 8 of the top 10 banks in the country, 12 of the top 45 banks in the world, and 33 of the top 250 law firms in the country.

●    He has extensive experience as a consultant to various arms of the United States government as well as numerous foreign governments.

    Call or e-mail to discuss your IP valuation needs.