Deere sues AGCO

   / Deere sues AGCO #31  
You never experienced the joy of working with economists? How sad is that?;)

Steve

Engineers are like that. They often have to be reminded that having the correct key technically, will not open or unlock the legal doors. I have worked with Engineers, Physicians, Chemists, Nurses, other attorneys and some just plain nut cases. Engineers gave me the most problems; thank goodness I had the last say in the matter. In all fairness, the Engineers were pretty good in keeping us from blowing ourselves up or getting gassed.

He did mention Nut Cases, so economists should be covered:D:laughing::p
 
   / Deere sues AGCO #32  
I'm glad you showed up.

What is the proper way to object to testimony based on an opinion from someone who has not been qualified as an "expert witness"?:)

Steve

I was, thankfully not a trial lawyer, but normally the presenting attorney goes through a lengthy voir dire, reciting the education, experience of the witness and ultimately making an oral motion to have the Court recognize the witness as an expert in his field. I would probably offer an objection something like the following: "Objection...the witness has not been qualified as an expert; I therefore move that the Court strike his testimony as irrelevant".

The one instance that I recall, our witness was an MD and former Director of the City/County Health Department. When we (the Asst. D.A.) attempted to qualify him, the opposing attorney very graciously said "Your Honor, we will stipulate up front that the witness is an expert in his field".
 
   / Deere sues AGCO #33  
He did mention Nut Cases, so economists should be covered:D:laughing::p

That category consists mostly of "good ol' boy" who got their job through political pull or some other suck-up method. It gets difficult when they have some real authority and an ego to boot. I usually just told them that I just give them advice, they didn't have to take it.
 
   / Deere sues AGCO #34  
What really doesn't make any sense in the whole thing is a comment made by a Deere representative, he says and I quote Let's suppose there was a cool little add-on that you could give your Toyota and make it feel and ride like a*Lexus, Lexus wouldn't want that to be on the market."

I don't know but maybe this guy isn't very knowledgeable about the auto world, but Toyota and Lexus are one in the same, Lexus is just a higher end Toyota and a lot of parts are interchangeable. So his arguement is pretty much pointless. On top of that, there's aftermarket and 3rd party support, where as, not much that I know exists in the agricultural world.

If what Precision was making was almost a complete carbon copy of what John Deere is making and actually infringes on patents, fine sue away. But if it's just retaliation for not being able to buy out competition, then I hope they either lose the suit, or it gets tossed out of court.
 
   / Deere sues AGCO #35  
Usually patents are to a lesser degree about shutting down a direct competitor and more broadly used as a chilling move for anyone considering similar action.

At least it's that way in the software world, the large companies carry a huge patent portfolio. It's a form of mutually assured destruction in which they can easily bring 5-6,000 patents to bear and make you defend against all of them if you don't have a similar portfolio.

Still it'll be interesting to see how all this plays out with Deere.
 
   / Deere sues AGCO
  • Thread Starter
#36  
Speaking of patents,I learned the 10 millionth US patent was issued this month. This article has some interesting trivia about our patent system.

It was news to me that Abraham Lincoln held a patent, the only POTUS to do so.

Steve
 
   / Deere sues AGCO #37  
What really doesn't make any sense in the whole thing is a comment made by a Deere representative, he says and I quote Let's suppose there was a cool little add-on that you could give your Toyota and make it feel and ride like a*Lexus, Lexus wouldn't want that to be on the market."

I don't know but maybe this guy isn't very knowledgeable about the auto world, but Toyota and Lexus are one in the same, Lexus is just a higher end Toyota and a lot of parts are interchangeable. So his arguement is pretty much pointless. On top of that, there's aftermarket and 3rd party support, where as, not much that I know exists in the agricultural world.

If what Precision was making was almost a complete carbon copy of what John Deere is making and actually infringes on patents, fine sue away. But if it's just retaliation for not being able to buy out competition, then I hope they either lose the suit, or it gets tossed out of court.
If Deere is using lawyers already on the payroll - I expect they figure they have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Correct me if this is a bad assumption?
 
   / Deere sues AGCO #39  
Why would the DOJ deny the sale to Deere, and then turn around and let AGCO buy it???
 
 
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