Undue Diligence

Author: Paul C. Haughey

ISBN 1-58939-831-9 (Softcover)

396 pages

Joe Nile, a brilliant patent attorney, is on the verge of making partner and winning a big lawsuit when everything unravels. He is forced to work for his client's competitor, a company developing a treatment for the deadly Amazon virus that hit during the Olympics in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But everything is not as it seems. Joe has seen patent extortion before. The Patent Office hands out patents on non-inventions like candy on Halloween. Since the cost of patent litigation is so high, defendants pay the extorted royalty. But this time it is beyond the pale, holding up a treatment for the virus. Joe is blindsided by events, then with the help of a witty and sharp-tongued paralegal, Erika Dussex, unravels a web of greed, fraud, and extortion that threatens the world economy. Joe is forced to choose between his conscience and everything he holds dear - his career, his firm, and the love of his life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Haughey is a practicing patent attorney with the law firm of Townsend and Townsend and Crew, one of the largest patent firms on the West Coast. At Townsend, he has seen first-hand the abuse of patents so prevalent today. He is a former managing partner of the firm and still serves on various management committees. His sense of humor and proclivity for April Fools stunts has gotten him in hot water more than once. His mother once said that he was so stubborn, she would have to kill him to get him to eat his peas. Like many lawyers, he'll take the side of an argument he doesn't believe in just for the sport of arguing. He was an electrical engineer with Hughes Aircraft before becoming a patent attorney. He has been writing for fifteen years, but this is his first novel.