UK judge who issued ruling for Samsung against Apple hired by Samsung | Hacker News Reader

UK judge who issued ruling for Samsung against Apple hired by Samsung

fosspatents.com

55 pointsantr15 comments

An expert in intellectual property and one of THREE judges in the appeal. While it does seem incestuous, I don't know how niche this area is in general.

It is like reading about people jumping ship between regulators and industry, it certainly seems "wrong" from a common sense perspective but how many experts are there?

I don't think it's wrong at all even from a common sense perspective when you look at the facts.

If you are a company and you are in a lawsuit you are allowed to call an expert in to defend your position. Companies always choose an expert who is likely to agree with them (as do their opponents!).

This guy is an expert in both law and the particular kind of cases. He has also already shown to Samsung that he has a view on the matters that are in line with Samsungs interests. As a judge he comes across as a trustworthy expert.

Why not hire him? And for the judge, why not be hired? The case is done, he's not likely to rule between Apple and Samsung again for obvious reasons.

On the plus side, unlike many judges and prosecutors in various copyright cases at least he didn't get on the payroll until after the verdict...

Until next time.

I wonder how often corporations quietly let judges know that if they rule a certain way, there will be a high-paying position reserved for them 1-2 years down the road...

Probably not often at all. I don't know about UK bribery laws but that is very likely illegal both for the corporation and the judge.

> I don't know about UK bribery laws

As of 2010, more or less the toughest in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bribery_Act_2010 (which has been criticised as going too far for effectively criminalising e.g. corporate hospitality).

He couldn't wait a year to make it seem less suspicious?

What is suspicious about it?

I scratch your back, you give me job.

That will involve the judge also getting two other judges to risk career suicide in order to get a consulting job for one of them.

>risk career suicide

When is the last time a judge was fired or disbarred for failure to recuse himself over a conflict of interest?

Just a lazy slur then.

This article can't point to any evidence of impropriety, so it substitutes vague innuendo. Pretty weak.

The UK judiciary is famous for setting aside judgments when there's even a hint of the possibility of conflict of interest, certainly compared to other countries. E.g. the House of Lords in 2000 set aside its own ruling on the extradition of Pinochet ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinochet_(No._1) ) because one of the Judges was on the board of an arm of Amnesty International, who submitted an amicus brief in the case. Florian Mueller's 'lax British practices, this would never happen in the US' insinuation is amusingly ridiculous.

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