Undue Diligence

and winning a big lawsuit when everything unravels. He is forced to work

for his client's competitor, a company developing a treatment for the

deadly Amazon virus that hit during the Olympics in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

But everything is not as it seems. Joe has seen patent extortion before.

The Patent Office hands out patents on non-inventions like candy on

Halloween. Since the cost of patent litigation is so high, defendants

pay the extorted royalty. But this time it is beyond the pale, holding

up a treatment for the virus. Joe is blindsided by events, then with the

help of a witty and sharp-tongued paralegal, Erika Dussex, unravels a

web of greed, fraud, and extortion that threatens the world economy. Joe

is forced to choose between his conscience and everything he holds dear

- his career, his firm, and the love of his life.