Cruise lines might be hurting for business at the moment, but that's not the case for their IP lawyers.

Carnival Corp. has enlisted Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to sue a contractor whom it accuses of selling its guest engagement technology to rivals such as Norwegian Cruise Line and Virgin Voyages.

Contractor DeCurtis LLC has enlisted Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Freeborn & Peters to level its own accusations that Carnival fraudulently obtained patents on the technology and unfairly tried to monopolize the market on it.