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Experts on their Expertise
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Given that he is one of the world's leading experts in digital video,
audio and imaging, it is ironic that Cliff Reader believes lawyers often
come to him wearing blinders.
So narrowly
focused are they on the technology involved in a case, they fail to see the
broader sales and business environment in which it is marketed. Yet sometimes,
it is this broader context that holds the key to a case.
For Dr. Reader, his ability to see how the technology fits within
the broader business context is central to his value as an expert, he believes.
He has experience in both areas, having not only developed digital-media
products but also having worked in the thick of product sales, marketing
and distribution.
"People contact me for my technical skills," he explains. "They
initially cast the problem to me as how can they take the right technical approach
to minimize their combined technology and licensing costs. I'll tell them they're
missing a piece – the marketing."
"From the very outset, my career always had one foot in the technical
side and one foot in the business-development side," he says. "Until
1990, the greater weight was on the technical side, but then it switched to
sales and marketing."
A Licensing Work-Around
By
way of example, Dr. Reader recalls a company that faced prohibitively high
licensing costs to market a new product that included a DVD player. The
company's core products were outside this market, so it was not party to
any DVD patent-pooling or cross-licensing agreements.
Its main
competitor for the product would be a major consumer electronics company that
was a member of the pools. By all estimates, the company faced a licensing
cost of at least $10 per unit more than its competitor. In the intensely competitive
consumer electronics market, Dr. Reader recounts, this would have put the company
at a horrible cost disadvantage.
Initially,
the company's solution was to have the component manufactured in China, where
production costs were the lowest. But the Chinese manufacturers also had no
patents in the pools or cross-licensing agreements, and could not provide any
indemnification.
Dr. Reader
provided technical and marketing expertise while a financial-services company
did the modeling. Brainstorming in that way, they devised an alternative approach
to recommend to the company.
Rather than subcontract the manufacture of the component directly
to China, the company would contract it to a major manufacturer that was
already a member of the DVD licensing pools. The contract would provide
for that manufacturer to subcontract to designated companies in China and
provide indemnification. That would reduce risk and keep both manufacturing
and licensing costs low enough for the company's product to be competitive.
Avoiding Crisis Mode
This
example illustrates how an expert with technical and business experience
can help a client take a broader view of a problem. But Dr. Reader
believes that law firms often overlook another key strength that
he and other technical experts bring to the table – a talent for
project management.
Project
management is an area in which lawyers sometimes lack strong skills, Dr. Reader
says. Engineers, in contrast, are particularly adept at this, and their aptitude
carries over into the litigation context.
**Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Reader's
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"When we're talking about very technical patent litigation, where
you need to do an enormous amount of technical management, you have
something that has a lot of characteristics of an engineering project."
Dr. Reader
recalls numerous cases in which the lawyers and he were working up to the wire.
Some of these crises were unavoidable, but others could have been avoided through
more careful project management, he believes.
The danger of working in crisis mode, of course, is that time can literally
run out – the
deadline arrives before the work is ready. Short of that, the worry is that
the pressure of deadline will leave something overlooked or result in a strategic
miscalculation.
"That doesn't normally happen, because usually everyone goes into a crisis
mode successfully," Reader says.
Still, working in crisis mode also causes cost concerns. "If you're
doing everything in crisis mode, then you're not working efficiently," he
explains.
To the extent that project management can help avoid last-minute
scrambles, lawyers should take advantage of their experts' skills
by engaging them in the planning, Dr. Reader advises. "I can make
the process more efficient if I am brought on in a timely way and given
a more authoritative role in how to manage the whole activity."
Of course, that does not mean that the lawyer should turn over the
reins entirely to the expert. "It has to be a team effort," Dr.
Reader says. "Experts should be relied upon to give critical input
as to strategy."
"Experts should be used in a project management role," he continues. "Engineering
experts have experience in project management. If you bring them in as part
of the team, it should produce a better result."
Background
With more than 35 years in the field, Dr. Reader is often the go-to guy
for lawyers and businesses needing high-level, top-down digital-media expertise.
But while
he started his career with a focus on the technical aspects of media, he soon
found himself becoming more involved in the business side. It started with
his work writing bid proposals for government projects. Later, he took on direct
responsibility for marketing, direct sales and product management.
Since
2001, he has worked independently as a consultant and expert witness. Much
of his focus is on projects involving patent litigation, licensing, prior-art
searching, and portfolio development.
Among his
most interesting projects are those that draw on both his technical and marketing
expertise. Often these involve issues of product licensing and development.
Here is where he is most able to help attorneys see the forest when they are
focused on the trees.
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