Defense Counsel Disqualified Based on Seventeen-Year-Old Prior Representation

The court granted plaintiff's motion to disqualify counsel for one defendant where defense counsel's firm represented plaintiff's predecessor 17 years ago. "Some of the invalidity defenses, if pursued, could involve factual inquiry into [plaintiff's] activities in the relevant time period, and it is conceivable that information about related factual matters could have been shared with [attorneys at the firm being disqualified]. . . . [I]t makes no difference that seventeen years have passed since [defense counsel's firm] represented [plaintiff's predecessor], when the lawsuit will in part concern events that occurred twenty years ago."

EON Corp. IP Holdings LLC v. FLO TV Incorporated, et. al., 1-10-cv-00812 (DED September 24, 2012, Order) (Andrews, J.).