Receipt of Marketing Materials Does Not Establish Attorney-Client Relationship Warranting Disqualification of Counsel

The court denied defendant's motion to disqualify plaintiff's counsel and rejected defendant's argument that defendant was a current client. "Although there is no allegation that [counsel] performed any legal work for [defendant] for at least a year before this suit was filed, [defendant's] in-house counsel . . . stated in her declaration that '[e]ven after [an unrelated] action had settled, I considered [counsel] to be [defendant's] intellectual property counsel.' However, the only evidence that [defendant] points to as support for [in-house counsel's] belief is that she continued to receive marketing emails from [plaintiff's counsel], such as announcements of webinars. By itself, the receipt of such marketing materials does not establish the existence of an ongoing attorney-client relationship, but merely indicates that [counsel] was interested in keeping its name before [defendant] in the event that [it] needed representation on another matter."

Erfindergemeinschaft UroPep GbR v. Eli Lilly and Company et al, 2-15-cv-01202 (TXED February 26, 2016, Order) (Bryson, C.J.)