A 2018 decision by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts highlights a risk faced by law firms tempted by the prospect of business from a new client whose interests are, or may be, adverse to those of an existing firm client. Altova GMBH v. Syncro Soft SRL, 320 F.Supp. F.3d 314 (D. Mass. 2018).

A Client Comes Calling with a New Matter

The court described the background as follows. In late June 2017, the Boston based intellectual property law firm, Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers, was approached by Altova GMBH about representing it in a patent infringement action against one of its competitors, Syncro Soft SRL. Sunstein had been representing Altova in unrelated trademark matters which were not adverse to Syncro. However, as is not uncommon in the world of IP law firms, the firm also had been representing Syncro Soft in various matters going back to 2004. And one of those matters had been a 2009 copyright (not patent) dispute with Altova, since completed.