3 ms·
Earthcomber Sues TechCrunch
- brandnewlow 18y agoLove 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.
- noonespecial 18y agoFTA: 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 18y agoPosturing at the sight of frivolity is now considered greatness? A former lawyer fighting a lawsuit is now courageous?
- olefoo 18y agoYou know how internet time is faster than normal time? Same principle ;-)
- noonespecial 18y agoWe'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.
- alaskamiller 18y agoWow, 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?
- amygrantfan 18y agoArrington the kingmaker is now posturing himself as Arrington champion of the little guy? You can't be both. He's subject to the same rule of law as everyone else. He's not above it, nor should he be. What's fantastic is the lemming responses from this group. Are you guys afraid of him? Did you read the LA Times story that he went back and CHANGED his original hack piece to soften it up? He also describes Techcrunch as a filter? But Techcrunch the filter isn't being sued. Techcrunch the Co-branded product is being sued. And who brought that to the public's attention? Arrington? Nope. His former employee reporter did. Still think this guy is champion of the little fella?
- vaksel 18y agowow these guys are morons.
- iuguy 18y agoThey'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.
- cdr 18y agoArrington is probably paying them to sue TC.
- brandnewlow 18y agoI can totally believe that. That would be awesome. How do we know Arrington didn't start Earthcomber to drum up attention for Loopt! :)
- olefoo 18y agoNever sue a man who buys ink by the barrel. s/ink by the barrel/has a subscription count in the sextuple digits/
- jonursenbach 18y agoProps for regex.
- ld50 18y agodownmodded 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/
- fallentimes 18y agoIn general, even though I disagree with much of what he says and does, I love how Arrington treats lawyers and retarded legal battles.
- jfornear 18y agoHe knows drama like this makes for a good story. I love MA drama.
- humanlever 18y agoDoes 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.
- iigs 18y agoArrington, 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.
- sama 18y agoearthcomber ftw!
- amygrantfan 18y agoDoesn't Arrington have a financial interest in Loopt? I thought he is an investor?
- amygrantfan 18y agoTaking 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.