The FATAL Decision

That evening at home I did a lot of soul searching. Something was drastically wrong, but I didn't know what. The next morning I was suppose to go in and testify on behalf of Gamma Supplies. Since the technical issues were in the grey area and were not black and white,I could support Gammma Supplies' position or I could sink the whole Gamma Supplies' defense. It was really a matter of which side I wanted to take.

The non-technical issues were likewise unclear and rather muddy. While Gamma Supplies had presented to the courts and Better Supplies the image of a small company that had accidentally stumbled into Better Supplies' area of patent coverage, I was well aware of Tennelands participation and had other evidence that Gamma Supplies attack on the Better Supplies patents was well planned and orchestrated. One document I was given was a letter from Better Supplies' attorneys dated April 1976, which stated that Gamma Supplies should seek legal counsel because of the legal action Better Suppliesw was pursuing. However, in my snooping around in the lab, I had come across a lengthy letter from Dan Game to Rave, Darth and Arnold Cline, dated October 17, 1975. The letter detailed a complete strategy for defeating the Better Supplies patents. In fact, on page 8, Dan states:

“....it might be to Gamma's best interest to take license thereunder at a very nominal paid-up royalty, since a nominal royalty might be more
economical in the long run than defending a patent infringement
lawsuit.....”

However, the actions of the people at Gamma Supplies supported the story that Gamma Supplies had just stumbled into the whole affair, and that was the story I was suppose to present. One thing I was sure of was that the litigation had industry wide implications and a lot of people besides Gamma Supplies would benefit if the Better Supplies patents were broken. Regardless of my status at Gamma Supplies, it was in my best interest of my career to support the Gamma Supplies cause. I could not let my intense dislike for Darth and the Clines be the deciding factor. I had to believe that more rational people were behind the orchestrated attack on the Better Supplies' patents and that in the long run, it would best for me to give a supportive testimony.

However, Darth's condescending attitude toward me should have been a warning that maybe the people who were behind the orchestrated attack on the Better supplies patents were NOT SANE and RATIONAL. The ideas that I might be dealing with CRIMINALLY INSANE people did not cross my mind at the time.

There was one other consideration in deciding what to do about my testimony. Dan Gane had explained to me that the deposition was a preliminary questioning procedure from which the attorneys extracted information which they used for questioning during the actual trial. He did point out that in cases where a witness could not appear for the trial the deposition could be presented at the trial as that witness's testimony. Since I saw no reason why I would not be able to appear at the trial, I believed my deposition would not be my final word in the legal proceedings. Thus, Gamma Supplies would still need my services.
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For anyone reading this story, I have a question: What would you have done? I can tell you that you are missing one critical piece of information that I didn't have either at the time of the decision.