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Law firm sued for $150 million over misfiled headphones patent

by | Jan 24, 2020 | Legal Malpractice |

Florida residents who enjoy listening to music on headphones may be interested in a recent lawsuit that was filed against a law firm over a technology patent for a listening device. A consumer electronics company, Muzik Inc., has filed a lawsuit in New York against the law firm Perkins Coie for an alleged patent cover-up.

Muzik engaged the help of a patent lawyer at the firm in 2014. The electronics company had developed a design for headphones that were able to control phones with voice-recognition, were compatible with social media apps and had touch-sensing technology. The features were similar to those in Apple Air Pods. The suit claims that the law firm acted incompetently, thus preventing Muzik from earning lucrative profits.

The suit alleges that a lawyer for the firm failed to file four critical patents. It is believed that the lawyer may have covered up the failure to file the patents by generating false patent numbers. Court records state that the law firm continued to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees while breaching their duty of care to their client. The client is seeking $150 million in damages due to alleged legal malpractice.

Law firms have the responsibility to exercise the proper duty of care when representing their clients. If a law firm is negligent and breaches this duty of care, it may have committed legal malpractice and be responsible for damages. In this case, the law firm might have covered up its failure to properly file the patents. This may have cost the client millions of dollars in potential profits. A judge might award the money to the technology company because of the actions of the law firm.