Signs That You May Have a Problem Client (a.k.a. "Alternatives To Appeal in Patent Litigation"):   former Silicon Valley chief executive was indicted Tuesday for allegedly plotting to kill a San Francisco federal judge at the same time he was serving time in Santa Rita jail for trying to flee the country to evade perjury charges.

Amr Mohsen, the founder and former CEO of Sunnyvale-based Aptix, is accused of soliciting a hit man to murder U.S. District Judge William Alsup, whom he blames for his criminal troubles and the loss of his once-promising high-tech company.

Alsup had served as judge in a civil suit brought by Aptix against a rival valley firm three years ago, and took the unusual step of triggering a perjury probe by asking prosecutors to review whether Mohsen and Aptix falsified documents and lied in the nasty patent fight. 

Mohsen's problems stem from allegations that he fabricated critical evidence to support Aptix's long-running, high-stakes patent lawsuit against San Jose-based Cadence Design Systems over chip design technology. Alsup, in the midst of a civil trial between the two companies in 2001, dismissed Aptix's case after concluding that Mohsen and possibly other executives falsified documents.