scrappycat - I concur with your summary of that aspect.
I am not a lawyer but have had several years experience in the civil courts regarding commercial claims, including a case that went to the House of Lords. The rules of court are complex in the extreme. legal opinions can always be found that are opposite to another lawyers view. the laws governing such cases as this are not anywhere near as clear as we would wish. the rules of how cases are conducted are getting better but at present they favour anyone with deep anough pockets to drag out matters as long as possible. SEO might have a huge costs liability assuming that they lose on all fronts (I suspect that tjey will not lose on every aspect) but weigh that up against having to settle early. Such a settlement would trash their sp.
IMO - best to try to ignore the court case as far as possible until the RNS.