NASABA wrote a letter to Chief Judge Folsom addressing comments made during a closing argument in DataTreasury Corporation v. Wells Fargo & Company et al.. The letter in part states, "At the very minimum, it is difficult to imagine an attorney, witness, or party of South Asian ancestry mounting a full and fair defense against a claim of patent infringement knowing that the merit of the defense may be questioned in a closing argument that equates the defense with a claimed lack of innovation in his country of origin. What is even worse, it is an argument that equates such a defense with a hatred of the United States and the barbarism of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on this country. This argument is a mixture of fear-mongering and prejudice that has no place in any trial in this Court, least of all a patent trial."
Some legal blogs have commented on the letter:
http://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2010/04/adult-supervision-required.html