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MARKET WATCH
Dot-coms have speculators and lawyers seeing dollar signs--again [by Frank C. Lee] Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, some Internet entrepreneurs like Google are turning profits. And where there is money to be made and business to be done, there are lawyers.
“The impact of the recession and the burst-
bubble burst in Silicon Valley. Stock prices
ing of the dot-com bubble was very strong
fell; so did investors’ faces. But plucky e-
and is still being felt today,” said E. Patrick
commerce portals with “virtual storefronts”
Since its Aug. 19 initial public offering,
Ellisen, a partner at Foley & Lardner in
like Amazon.com eventually posted profits
Google’s stock has traded in the range of
Silicon Valley. “Things in general, though, are
and are now hitting their strides.
$95.96 to $201.60. And according to Depart-
turer,” Mr. Pohlen said.
ment of Commerce figures, e-commerce ac-
beginning to turn around in the Valley.” “We had friends who lost their jobs during
counted for 1.7 percent of all U.S. consumer
With many Fortune 100 companies in this
the recession,” said Gary E. Weiss, a partner-
sales in the second quarter of 2004.
location known as one of the premiere high-
in-charge of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s
tech corridors in the country, Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley office.
After the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and bust of 2000, venture capital funding all but
stretches roughly from San Jose to just south of San Francisco in an area of California
“You can measure the loss in any number
dried up. Now, however, investors are ready
about 50 miles long and 10 miles wide.
of ways. For example, I commute from San
to put their toes back in Internet waters.
Francisco, and it was an hour-and-20-minute “Companies were being created daily. Money
commute. Now, it’s a 45-minute commute.”
“Certainly venture-capital investing has been up in the last two years, compared to
was flowing quite freely. Companies were going public very quickly,” said Patrick A.
Mr. Weiss has represented clients such as
four years ago, when it seemed like anyone
Pohlen, a partner in Latham & Watkins’ Sili-
Lucent Technologies and Handspring, Inc., in
with a coherent business plan--and some
con Valley office and a member of the firm’s
civil and criminal matters involving trade se-
even without--was getting funded,” said Mr.
corporate department.
crets, inevitable misappropriation, industrial
Ellisen.
espionage, and employee raiding. Mr. Pohlen is one of the nation’s leading
A member of Foley & Lardner’s intellectual
attorneys in representing high-growth tech-
“But we don’t merely represent companies;
property department, Mr. Ellisen focuses his
nology and life-science companies and the
we represent people who worked there too.
practice on intellectual property and general
financial institutions--venture capitalists and
And it was very difficult to watch, especially
commercial litigation, as well as intellec-
investment banks--that finance them.
people you were close to, while we lost cli-
tual property protection, counseling, and
ents entirely,” Mr. Weiss said.
exploitation.
ent in that a lot of it is about measuring risk
A deluge of dot-coms with too much capital
“Something like 20 percent of employees in
vs. reward,” said Mr. Pohlen, whose firm’s
and “get-rich-quick” dreams led to the Gold
Santa Clara County were laid off during the
clients include Yahoo and Adobe.
Rush folly of some, whereas those with “why-
recession,” said Mr. Ellisen, who is expe-
hasn’t-someone-thought-of-this-before?”
rienced in copyright, trademark, and trade
“The bond that is created with a tech
business ideas are in the black, like NetFlix.
secret matters.
company is just so different because you’re
com, an online DVD-rental service.
“In terms of servicing tech clients, it is differ-
“There were businesses built on the
there, literally, from the beginning as he has an idea and tries to get funding, for example,
“Good companies make it through tough
overly optimistic premise on how integral
and that bond is unique, I think.”
times, and then they start getting profitable
the Internet would be in people’s lives--that
again, regardless of whether you’re an Inter-
everybody would be shopping on the Internet
net company, an airline, or a car manufac-
whether they owned a PC or not.”
It seems like only yesterday that the dot-com
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