The key to understanding what Judge WARD will do was given to all by ronran when he stated in that most of the time these matters are decided on the basis of the written presentations made to the Court... By the time the judge convenes a Markman Hearing, his clerks have worked overtime to feed him with information and analysis on what issues are presented for a decision, and what is the applicable law relating thereto. If the issue are "technical", like those in this litigation, the Judge may have had confrences whith other judges in the district that may have expertise in that area of the law, and may ask them to sit in on the "grilling" of counsel during the Hearing, (there was indication that such was the case here), who could help with drafting the final written decision... Judge Ward is no slouch. He didn't get his reputation of Rocket Docket for not knowing what is before him. In fact, I venture to say that the Hearing itself has less than 10% chance to have any effect on the final written decision. And from the excellent reports of those present this seems to be the case here... Finally, much speculation is made here about Mr. Cook and the defense counsel... As to Mr. Cook it seems to me he acted like a consumate professional. He presented the points he wanted emphasized. He did not assume the judge was ignorant, and lectured him on the fine points of Mr. Despain's explanations, which were presented to the Court in writing. And, he reserved the right to file further answers to questions raised by the judge in writing... In Court Hearings, often the judge will direct questions to the party who has raised points in their written filings which have caught the Court's attention to see how the parties respond. And Mr. Cook's reponse was perfect, with the defense attorney's getting caught with an out of context statement which was not appreciated by the judge... All said the confidence exuded by the lackrones regarding winning the Markman seems to have been justified... GLTA... Gil...