hether a $500 million damages award against Genentech Inc. stands will probably come down to whether the California Supreme Court interprets a 32-year-old contract as establishing a fiduciary relationship between the biotech giant and a research center.That issue was the focus of Tuesday's oral argument in the long-awaited case, as the court's justices attempted to nail down exactly what constitutes a fiduciary relationship in a patent contract. All seven justices -- including 1st District Court of Appeal Justice James Lambden sitting in for recused Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar -- asked tough questions without tipping their hands about who would prevail.
Attorneys for both sides were well-regarded appellate specialists. Jerome Falk Jr., a partner in San Francisco's Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin, represented Genentech, while Peter Davis, counsel in the San Francisco office of Reed Smith, presented arguments for City of Hope National Medical Center.
It was on television too, although viewing the archive requires blasted Windows Media Player...
