Litigation legend Herbert F. Schwartz was featured on the cover of the June 1999 issue of Managing Intellectual Property as "The Billion Dollar Man." Called "simply the best," Herb won over $900 million in damages from Eastman Kodak for his client Polaroid in 1986. Last year he was at it again. Although the exact terms have never been revealed, he is thought to have negotiated a deal worth more than $1 billion for Digital Computer in the settlement of their patent dispute with Intel, the magazine reports. His victory over Eastman Kodak remains the largest ever damages award in a patent dispute: $925 million. During 1997 and 1998 Herb represented Digital Computer in a suit against Intel, alleging that technology used to improve the performance of Intel's Pentium chips infringed Digital's Alpha patents. He was also called in by storage technology company Storageteck which had just lost a $70 million jury award. Herb got the verdict thrown out and the case has now gone to appeal. On top of this, the magazine reports that Herb, over the past 12 months, has been in court on behalf of Motorola (three times), Zeneca and Compaq among many others. The head of patents at Hoechst Marion Roussel in Frankfurt says that Herb is "one of the smartest men alive and the best patent litigator in the U.S." Herb practices with Fish & Neave. It is the only outfit he has ever worked for since his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in the 1960s. Herb still teaches Patent Law in Pennsylvania once a week. His book, Patent Law and Practice, is a must read for judges and patent lawyers everywhere. Need I add that Herb was designated "Litigator of the year" by the folks at Managing Intellectual Property magazine. And if you sometimes wonder why the price of Pentium chips isn't coming down any faster than it already is, ask Herb.
Ben Woznick writes that he continues to work for BBN/GTE, soon to be merged with Bell Atlantic, having been there over 20 years. For the past couple of years Ben has been in the Professional Services group doing network and related system consulting. Ben says that he had been working on a Master's degree in Government at the Harvard Extension School for the last six or seven years and finally completed it this spring. Ben's thesis topic was "Tony Blair in Context." Ben says that he was very grateful To MIT Professor Stuart White (the current holder of the Class of 1957 Career Development Professorship) who invited all of us to attend the Blair's Third Way conference which Professor White organized in the fall of 1998. Ben says that he attended and picked up several useful ideas for his thesis. He also met a number of the authors whom he had been reading. Ben says he sees Arnie Orange and Lionel Fray from time to time. 20
Graham Lusk writes from Omaha that he retired this year as a research scientist with Conagra. Graham and Sally are spending more time traveling, attending family reunions, visiting with the children and their grandson, William Graham Lusk.
Clearly the Class of 1957 homepage on the Internet is one of the very best. Martin Zombeck received the following e-mail from the Class of 1955 Webmaster: "I have been given the distinct honor of designing and developing the Class of 1955 web page. After looking at what other classes have done, we thought yours was the one we would like to emulate. We would like to use your page as a template. If this is ok with you, would you let me know" etc. Congratulations Martin!
For a nostalgic and free vacation visit the Class of 1957 website at http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1957/ ---Alan M. May, secretary, 3601 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas, TX 75219; (w) tel: 214-521-8533; (h) tel: 214-528-8812; (w) fax: 214-521-8544; e-mail: alanmay@wtd.net