Need an Expert Witness? Look no further!

First a definition. “An expert witness can be anyone with knowledge or experience of a particular field or discipline beyond that to be expected of a layman.” Thus, an expert witness would appear in a court to explain or assess complicated scientific and technical issues. 

But why would a legal team turn to Real Wireless for expert witness services? 

Those of you who think that Real Wireless is mainly about wireless strategies and developing wireless technology may be interested to know that, while this is true, it also puts many of our consultants in a good position to advise as expert witnesses relating to telecoms… 

Patents  

A lot – but by no means all – of this expert witness work involves patents – specifically areas like novelty and credibility. That is, where a patent may have been infringed or challenged, we are looking at a patented technology, the prior art (any evidence that an invention is already known) and assessing factors that support or go against the case for the patent. 

We could also be assessing the patent’s value with respect to a standard. Anyone who claims to have patents in a standard that are standards-essential needs to declare them into the relevant standards body. Then they need to licence those patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory – FRAND – terms. Not everyone agrees on what constitutes FRAND, so we would advise a legal team on whether we believe a patent is standards-essential and reasonably licensed. 

But non-standardised technology is important too. Can a technology be described as a differentiating technology within a given technical area? That’s a question we can answer. 

Regulations 

Less technical areas also touch on our expertise in the regulatory field – like understanding the regulations around the deployment of wireless systems. Some disputes can emerge relating to the regulations around ‘code powers’: rights to install and maintain apparatus on, under and over land. If those rights are disputed we may be asked to offer our opinion and the supporting rationale. We may also advise when disputes arise around the costs for using a site or the liability when the performance of a wireless system declines unexpectedly – possibly due to new building construction. 

All of these capabilities have brought us to the attention of major telecoms vendors and companies – or, more accurately, their legal teams. However, very importantly, a legal team doesn’t come to us seeking support for their client’s view. They want – and we supply – an independent opinion, unencumbered by bias. 

A legal team is also looking for practical implementation experience. And we can help with that too. 

Reliable expert witnesses 

This is a capability that allows Real Wireless staff to stand out as reliable expert witnesses. We’re not career expert witnesses, we’re practising consultants – and that is useful in court. Yes, we do have a deep understanding of the technology ecosystem, how patents work and how standards work, but our experts have also worked in industry or academia – and still do hands-on work supporting and testing implementations as part of Real Wireless services. Such work ensures our continued understanding of the business economics around networks, as use cases and networks evolve. 

In other words, we don’t just discuss things like algorithms for radio resource management, the scheduler within a wireless system, wireless links, physical infrastructure, devices and sensors; we’ve worked on them or with them. 

Avoiding court  

One final point. The first aim of a good legal team is to avoid going to court. If our advice prevents a dispute escalating then that’s good for all parties. If not, we are equally comfortable offering our independent, informed opinion in court. 

Of course, our expert witness service is not our core offering. But it derives from our core offering and, we believe, has enormous value. The fact that legal representatives of some of the biggest names in the telecoms business think that too and have asked for our views is also a gratifying recognition of our reputation in the wireless field. 

As for the disputes we’re involved in right now, a lot of them are around patents and standards from ten years and more ago that are finally finding their way to market. You can therefore be certain that 5G, vRAN, ORAN and much more rolling out today will be part of disputes over patents, standards and licences in the coming years. 

You can also be certain that our expert witness capabilities will be required – and ready – to help resolve those disputes. 

More information on Real Wireless expert witness services and how to access them can be found here.