A lesson of what not-to-do from Joseph Schlessinger (the "signaling guy" and head of Pharmacology at Yale) at the Yeda vs. ImClone Patent trial. Yeda provided detailed records of their development of Erbitux, ImClone provided no records, only Joseph Schlessinger's account of a twenty year old conversation. The court stated:
We find Schlessinger's account of this conversation not credible for several reasons. First, nearly twenty years have passed since the conversation occurred, such that we doubt Schlessinger remembers its details, especially considering the contorted testimony Schlessinger offered on cross-examination, in which he seemingly attempted to "remember" those details that would bolster defendants' case.
And from CNN Money:
By contrast, she [Judge Buchwald] repeatedly assailed the testimony of Schlessinger, who testified that he'd been nominated for a Nobel Prize and is now the chair of pharmacology at Yale University's School Of Medicine. "Schlessinger's explanation... can most generously be described as strained," Judge Buchwald wrote in her opinion.
Elsewhere, she commented that "This exchange represents one of many instances in which Schlessinger exhibited great reluctance to acknowledge a fact that he perceived to be injurious to the defendants' case." In various places, her opinion dismissed his testimony as "not credible," "contorted," "incredible" and "wholly unsubstantiated by any contemporaneous records."
Result: ImClone lost.
Lesson: Keep good lab records and don't count on Nobel Prize nominations for your testimony.
[HT: MOTYR]
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