A Northern District of Florida court denied a motion to disqualify plaintiffs’ outside counsel based on an alleged violation of a prosecution bar because, although the issue was “not free of doubt,” the court did not find a “clear violation” of the protective order. In reaching its decision, the court explained that disqualification is a “high bar” requiring compelling reasons and that motions to disqualify based on violating a prosecution bar, therefore, should only be granted “if the violation was clear.” Here, the court found it was unclear whether outside counsel prosecuted patents “related to” the asserted patent, in violation of the order, because the scope of “related to” was not clearly defined.
| less than a minute read
Court Declines to Disqualify Outside Counsel Absent Clear Violation of Prosecution Bar

/Passle/69038f535e183f94cf091320/SearchServiceImages/2026-02-20-20-54-42-076-6998ca12227998ce7821a7ca.jpg)
/Passle/69038f535e183f94cf091320/SearchServiceImages/2026-02-20-20-51-47-249-6998c963ce035ff86e6405b9.jpg)

/Passle/69038f535e183f94cf091320/SearchServiceImages/2026-02-19-21-42-29-167-699783c5ff07facd13d34790.jpg)