Amazon In-House Lawyer Beats Disqualification Bid in Patent Suit

An in-house attorney at Amazon.com Inc. can continue to participate in the defense of a patent infringement suit brought against the online sales giant over search engine patents by MasterObjects Inc., a federal court in California said.

MasterObjects filed suit over patents allegedly infringed by Amazon’s product search feature on its website. In February, MasterObjects sought to disqualify Amazon attorney Scott Sanford, saying he may have concealed a potential conflict of interest by excluding part of his work history on his LinkedIn profile. MasterObjects also sought to disqualify Hueston Hennigan LLP, which works closely with Sanford and Amazon.

The profile ...