

Earthcomber Sues TechCrunch - qhoxie
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/08/earthcomber-sues-techcrunch-out-of-spite-pisses-me-off-personally/

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noonespecial
FTA:

 _We will not be bullied, and people who file frivolous lawsuits need to be
put down. I would rather run TechCrunch into the ground and go out of business
than let this guy win._

I'm not usually much of a Michael Arrington fan but _much_ respect for this
stand. This "we don't negotiate with terrorists" approach, if applied more
broadly by more companies would go a long way toward fixing both the patent
system and the legal system. It takes mad courage. Go Mike.

~~~
alaskamiller
Posturing at the sight of frivolity is now considered greatness? A former
lawyer fighting a lawsuit is now courageous?

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noonespecial
We're talking about a system where fighting a suit has a certain fixed cost,
along with an added element of risk. (Risk because the system is broken enough
now that the outcomes are often near random).

The "best" thing to do is settle for less than the fixed cost + your
willingness to gamble. This creates a system of minor extortionists knowing
that by simply filing suits and collecting settlements they can sap wealth
from businesses that create it almost without effort.

Whats best for the one business (to settle) is not best for all businesses
because it perpetuates the broken status quo.

What it takes to stop this cycle is for individuals to stand up and say "No.
That's a step to far", even if it means loosing more than taking the
"rational" option of settling.

To put it slightly more succinctly, to say as nations do "We will not
negotiate with terrorists". There's a reason we take such a hard stance on
that. Once you give in once, you'll be giving in forever. It takes courage.
Even for a former lawyer.

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alaskamiller
Wow, that's a lot of koolaid slinging.

People fight lawsuits all the time. People fight frivolous lawsuits most of
all. The article makes it appear that the connection between Mike Arrington
and the company is extremely tenuous. Great. Fighting that doesn't take
courage, just business sense. There are far better profiles in courage,
especially against better caliber patent trolls and slimy ambulance chasers.

Have you contributed to ACLU yet?

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brandnewlow
Love him or hate him...Arrington's the man. He's built an empire off of his
personal connections, blood, sweat and tears and is raking in the cash. Mad
props. The guy's writing drives me nuts and I think he seems like a jerk, but
c'mon, what he's done is really impressive.

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olefoo
Never sue a man who buys ink by the barrel.

s/ink by the barrel/has a subscription count in the sextuple digits/

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jonursenbach
Props for regex.

~~~
ld50
downmodded for incorrect implementation.

Never sue a man who buys ink by the barrel. s/buys ink by the barrel/has a
subscription count in the sextuple digits/

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fallentimes
In general, even though I disagree with much of what he says and does, I love
how Arrington treats lawyers and retarded legal battles.

~~~
jfornear
He knows drama like this makes for a good story. I love MA drama.

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iigs
Arrington, congratulations on upgrading Earthcomber from "Who?" to "Oh yeah,
those guys that sued TechCrunch... What ever came of that?"

They may not get their money's worth from this publicity stunt but it by far
wasn't the worst way to spend their cash -- more money has definitely been
spent on less exposure in the past.

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humanlever
Does it really matter where you incorporate any more?

From what I understand (which may be wrong), most companies that incorporate
as Delaware corporations, do so in part because DE has a solid business law
system in place.

At the top of the complaint it shows that both defendants are incorporated in
Delaware, yet whoever filed the complaint tried (and succeeded) in making a
case for whatever goes down to take place in IL. Is that even reasonable?

While I'm sure it won't hurt TC or Loopt to take a road trip, if another
startup wound up in a similar bind, I can definitely see the cost of fighting
an out-of-state battle putting them over a barrel.

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amygrantfan
Taking Arrington's version of events as truth is a dangerous undertaking. He's
biased and has a clear conflict of interest.

I also love the fact that everyone is afraid of him bc he's a lawyer. Star
Jones is also a lawyer, people. Get my drift. Beside's Arrington's an M/A
lawyer, which is lawyer with a "small l" in the litigation community. You
know, worker bee.

And, he's kinda fat.

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amygrantfan
Doesn't Arrington have a financial interest in Loopt? I thought he is an
investor?

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vaksel
wow these guys are morons.

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iuguy
They're both morons in a sea of moronity, although I find it hard to believe
that someone would sue techcrunch for press exposure. That is exceptionally
dumb.

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cdr
Arrington is probably paying them to sue TC.

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brandnewlow
I can totally believe that. That would be awesome.

How do we know Arrington didn't start Earthcomber to drum up attention for
Loopt! :)

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sama
earthcomber ftw!

