A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Motion to Withdraw

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This is a "weight-shift controlled personal hydrofoil watercraft" U.S. Patent No. 9,359,044

Here at IP/DE, we try to have substantive, funny posts where we can all learn something about litigation in DE while being mildly amused.

Sometimes, though, all we get to be is mildly amused. This will be one of those posts.

Just look at this oral order:

ORAL ORDER: The deadline for Waydoos brief in opposition to the Motion for Permanent Injunction is extended to five minutes after I resolve the pending motion to withdraw (assuming I permit withdrawal) or until a date to be set (assuming I deny permission to withdraw). I note that the record to date appears to support the conclusion that Waydoo is …

Any time someone moves to withdraw, the question is: Will the client be able to convince the next set of lawyers that the client will pay?
Any time someone moves to withdraw, the question is: Will the client be able to convince the next set of lawyers that the client will pay? Micaela Parente, Unsplash

Having to move to withdraw because a client won't pay is the absolute worst. You have ethical duties to your client, but you can't work for free. You are stuck in a position where you need to tell the Court enough that it will let you out—but you can't tell it everything without violating the ethics rules. The local rules also place some procedural hoops in the way of a motion to withdraw. It's tricky!

Even worse is when the other side opposes your withdrawal, because then you are potentially …