New Career: Expert Technology Witness

Expert technology witnesses help educate judges and other people in courtroom on the specifics of technology. Lawsuits over who can profit from ideas and innovation are increasingly a foundation of the technology industry. As a result, competition that once played out in the marketplace is now routinely carried on in the courtroom. That has touched off a quiet race among companies to assemble teams of expert witnesses - the technical specialists and technology-savvy economists who will help sway judge and jury on the intensely complex merits of a patent case. The demand is so great, that some, apparently, have turned it into careers, New York Times says
A thriving industry in expert witnesses, who are paid as much as $1,000 an hour, has become part of the fabric of the global patent system and the increasingly contentious legal combat that surrounds it. Federal courts now routinely have an early role in hearing expert testimony related to claims. In many cases, the federal courts, after holding preliminary hearings, reject a portion of a lawsuit, based on expert testimony, before it goes to trial.Pending patent legislation now under discussion by Congress could move much patent litigation into an arbitration system, where the process is more compressed and the role of expert witnesses is thereby reduced. This is clearly an important fraternity that needs to be nurtured. As the tech sector is seeing lot more action - several related affairs like mergers & acquisitions, IP infringements, security concerns all need a good support system for resolution in litigatious developments.