Lawyer Puts $10k Bounty on Blogger's Identity 286
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Raymond Niro of Niro Scavone Haller & Niro is fighting back against criticism from the Patent Troll Tracker blog by offering a $10,000 bounty for the identity of the person behind it. He thinks the blogger might work for Microsoft, Intel, or has connections to a 'serial infringer' and that could 'color' what they say."
Oota Goota, Troll Tracker? (Score:5, Funny)
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El tortas no es una mentira!
Re:Oota Goota, Troll Tracker? (Score:5, Informative)
Business address: Suite 4600, 181 West Madison Street, Chicago, IL 60602-4515
Phone: (312) 236-0733
Fax: (312) 236-3137
Unfortunately, he has the same name as the firm's president and senior partner (Raymond P. Niro, Sr.), so it's hard to separate out their records.
They appear to have homes in Barrington, IL, Arlington Heights, IL, Chicago, IL and Snowmass Village, CO (perhaps they like to ski).
For some reason, even though the law firm is in Chicago, the president's address in its corporate filing shows his home as 2401 Spanish River Road, Boca Raton, FL 33432, phone (561) 362-7371.
Another address seems to be 1005 N Arlington Heights Rd, Arlington Heights, IL 60004-5669, phone (847) 749-1208.
Their addresses within Chicago are likely to be:
Raymond P. Niro, Sr. - 181 W Madison St, Ste 4600, Chicago, IL 60602-4635, phone (312) 236-0733
Raymond P. Niro, Jr. - 25 E Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60604-2201, phone (312) 362-8701
Oh, and just in case Raymond P. Niro, Sr., his wife Judith, or Raymond P. Niro, Jr., are reading this - all this information is publically available, so don't even think of suing.
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The outer half.
So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:5, Informative)
But then, if he's a patent troll, he's rather defined as "not being able to STFU and do something useful," now, is he?
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:5, Interesting)
After reading his blog [blogspot.com] it's evident that this bounty is the only thing this lawyer can do. This blogger is good with what he writes and knows his limits. They won't be able to force blogspot into divulging that info without a warrant in my opinion though I am not a lawyer, I still have a soul.
Have they tried asking Mr. Troll Tracker nicely? He lists his e-mail as trolltracker@gmail.com
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Whaddaya think, would it work? I really could use the $10k...trying to save up for a wedding, and it's slow going.
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:4, Insightful)
That court at least was of the opinion that if I was doing something anonymously then I clearly knew I was doing something wrong.
(Completely missing the argument that what I did was legal, and I was trying to avoid being in court making the argument that it was legal because I knew one of the other parties was a litigious psychopath... in my opinion
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If you line up against a murderer, expect to be murdered! Oh wait, there goes the entire penal system's reliance on the people standing up for themselves.The fact is, in all of the situations you list... no, you shouldn't expect to be "anythinged". Punching, kicking, litigating, and murdering without cause is not ok.
I also suggest you read up on the whole freedom of the press and anonymous sources thing.
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can say anything without "giving" you the ability to respond. You have to locate and do that on your own. But more importantly, free speech cannot happen if there is fear of repercussion. I'm sure that plenty of people have seen things that they though were wrong in their life but failed to speak out against it because they though it would cause bodily harm, financial harm, or some other harm. I could easily get into the holocaust and other hot topics but lets just say that there are people who see things happen at their job that is illegal or unethical but fail to say anything because they would lose their job and probably be blackballed out of the business. Anonymous reporting of things like this is key to speech about it.
Anonymous tips to the police and news stations about drive by shootings that manage to miss everything but the three year old kid inside a neighbors house playing with the family cat is key to getting heinous crimes solved without fear of retaliation from the thugs who did the shootings.
Free speech without freedom of response is not only meaningful, without it is detrimental to a safe and working society.
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Presumably if he had a legitimate case, he wouldn't bother with that, he would file suit against the anonymous blogger and try to get the courts in force the ISP to release the records. Since he apparently hasn't done so, presumably he thinks nothing illegal is going on, he just wants to out the blogger publicly.
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Or dig up dirt with which to discredit the blogger. If you can't beat him with facts, get him with his own dirty laundry.
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-nB
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:5, Insightful)
True... but you still have pay for *your* defense - even if you 100% in the right. That sucks.
That's what I do (Score:2)
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Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:4, Informative)
"In law, defamation (also called vilification, slander, and libel) is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressively stated or implied to be factual, that may harm the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government or nation."
notice the "false claim" and "implied to be factual" parts.
even the law websites out there classify libel as: "A false and defamatory statement concerning another." Notice again the "false" part.
Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... (Score:4, Informative)
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Unfortunately, truth is not a good defense (Score:2, Insightful)
In our times, it is money, not the truth, that shall set you free.
Except... (Score:2)
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You know, I heard that the anonymous lawyer is Kevin McBride... Or was it David Boies?
It's obvious who it is (Score:5, Funny)
(Attention lawyers: I'm _kidding_! Put the subpoena down!)
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I'm not a big fan of "if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear" reasoning, especially used like this. You damn well *do* have something to fear: you can be completely right, speaking nothing but truth and exposing a genuine fraud, con, or scam, and get sued into the stone age by the very people
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No. Would you feel safer insulting a 260 pound rugby all-star in a pub, in his neighborhood, just because you're anonymous? Of course not. You would assess the situation and decide, ahead of time, that maybe insulting a 260 pound rugby all-star in his home pub is probably not a good idea regardless of anonymity.
If you're face-to-face with someone, you can be identified... That's not anonymous. Try another example.
If you start posting logs, with pictures, of all the pr0n that Slashdot users have ever looked at, and you get a bunch of bible-thumpers at your site, you'll quickly create a mob of people who think that Slashdot is one of the most horrible deviances on the planet (which it very well may be)--especially if you include goatse.cx. Except that, if you put a similar blog in sight of other Slashdot users, they say,"Yeah, so? That's weak. We've got pr0n archives twice as large, and twice as varied, on our local hard drives."
...and?
The logs would still be accurate. You can't say it didn't happen, which is what's happening here: revisionist history.
So one lawyer's blog attempts to defame another lawyer for *gasp* things that lawyers do all the time and you're all taking the bait like the target conspired with Saddam Hussein and ObL to nuke all of north America.
Ye gads, man. Look at the definitions of "libel" [m-w.com] and "slander"... [m-w.com]
You'll note they mention "false charges or misrepresentations" and "unjustly unfavorable impression(s)"... in little words, a lie.
Weird world you live in where an ugly truth is trumped by a pretty lie.
This is getting rediculous (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not even been a week since The smartphone was patented [slashdot.org], and now we've got people wanting to sue for criticising patent trolls. I thought America was the "land of the free". Oh wait, it is, if you've got millions of dollars in your pocket and a lot of lawyers.
What's saddening is that this stuff never makes it to the mainstream media.
Re:This is getting rediculous (Score:5, Insightful)
That's a common mondegreen... it's actually "Land of the FEE". Don't sweat it, I used to believe it was "free" myself.
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(See previous references as to why Jesus hates the poor. Let's remember, Jesus only loves money, and those with lots of it).
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Don't believe the hype.
IMO, freedom is never something you have (despite what someone else or some piece of paper says), but always something you fight for (despite what someone else or some piece of paper says). Tyranny isn't the enemy of freedom, complacency is. But then again, I'm a pretty cynical bastard.
Quick Fix For This Sue Happy Society (Score:2)
The simple solution is a plaintiff is only entitled to actual damages and make all punitive damages awarded to the government. This gets the punitive portion back to it's original purpose punish the loser to protect the public. It also forces the plaintiff to demonstrate they have been materially impacted to get ac
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* Some restrictions apply. Company may alter terms of the agreement without notification. No purchase necessary; for freedom without purchase, place a self marked voting ballot in the box. Freedom is provide as-is. User takes full responsibility for use of freedom. Approximate cash value is 1/10 cent. Freedom is subject to all Federal, State, Provincial and Municipal laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.
Scam him! (Score:2, Funny)
Laugh at said lawyer.
Untill he realises it and offers another 10k bounty for your identity.
great publicity (Score:5, Insightful)
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Tu quoque (Score:3, Interesting)
ad hitlerum (Score:2)
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Doosh... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is douchebag lawyer speak for "companies that spend money researching, developing and selling products." Unlike his clients who think up obvious ideas and rush to file a patent, without ever doing a bit of work. It's scumbags like this that exacerbate the terrible state of our patent system. I for one can't wait until there's real reform and this guy's out of business.
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And of such girth that he needs his name mentioned 3 times on every business card.
Re:Doosh... (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't hold your breath. For the most part it were elected lawyers who made the law in the first place. Make a problem like the patent system, then profit by it.
I too would like to see all software patents expired. It is hindering innovation and diversity in this business. Even if a patent is blatantly prior art, frivolous and meaningless, it can bankrupt most in just defending off an attack by the vultures. Thus, kicks the little guys out.
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I'm no fan of the patent lawyers, but simply reading your wish of "I too would like to see all software patents expired. It is hindering innovation and diversity in this business" makes me think we would lose a lot. Companies invest a lot developing not-fun-to-code stuff that ends up being lucrative. To get rid of software patents would mean large companies would have little R & D incentive in software.
Seth
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Software is still protected by copyright, so the difficulty of writing code ("not-fun-to-code") is still there for anyone doing a reimplementation; what's made easier is coming up with the ideas.
Thing is, though, that ideas in software aren't all that they're made out to be -- getting the implementation right, and ha
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note that connections to serial infringers require less wires than parallel ones.
he's not so dumb...
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Eliminating patent examiners, as they are now, would also be a great start. Have people volunteer from various fields of expertise, and when reviewing a patent, pick 12 randomly to review the application and vote on whether to approve or deny the patent. This would eliminate stuff like "s
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I have. Still working on the patent application for the method, though. More later.
No Harm, No Foul (Score:5, Insightful)
Since Mr. Niro has not brought legal proceedings against this blogger, I can only quote the next best legal authority on this matter:
Ha, Ha!
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He's hoping to save himself that $10k by publicly posting a bounty on this poor chap's head, scaring the blogger into quitting.
IANAL, but isn't that sort of practice illegal?
SB
Copyright Solution (Score:5, Interesting)
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Not a bad idea, actually... I'd skip the last half of that, but the blogger should turn himself in for the bounty. The patent-troll lawyer has nothing. He would not only have to (incorrectly) prove the claim false, but also demonstrate that the phrase "patent troll" itself has some specific legal or technical meaning that
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While that's true, what the lawyer is probably counting on is that the blogger doesn't have the resources to raise a defense against any lawsuits. Unfortunately, money often matters much more than the law in the US legal system.
-Mike
Re:Copyright Solution (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it Rumplestilskin? (Score:5, Funny)
$10k is next to nothing (Score:2, Insightful)
we can win this. (Score:4, Funny)
I'm just speaking hypothetically, of course. I'm pretty sure someone else holds a patent on this sort of spam, and the lawyer involved has set an elaborate trap for an infringement suit.
Nothing to worry about ... (Score:5, Funny)
I really don't see the problem, do you? I'm certain it will all be legal, so there's nothing to worry about. No. Really.
Say it with me: (Score:2)
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By the way, I am Spart a cus.
Can we cut to the chase? (Score:2)
If I were the blogger... (Score:2)
Excellent (Score:2)
3 ????
4. Profit!
Flip this shit around. (Score:5, Interesting)
Vigilantism is not only necessary, it is justified. We need to seek out the personal information of this lawyer, his entire firm, and the President and board of directors of the companies that employ them. Publish their names, home addresses, any phone numbers that can be found, their license plate numbers, the names of their family members, the schools their children attend. Everything. This is War, ladies and gentlemen. Of a more dire and extreme sort than any in history. Only by securing true strategic objectives can the enemy be worn down. We must destroy not just his willingness, but his ability to fight. Destroy the ability of those who drive the conflict to live their lives in the most basic way and victory is assured.
We, the greater whole of society, are everywhere. We surround them. We can destroy them. All that is required is the will.
I admit it... (Score:2)
Huh... (Score:3, Interesting)
The importance of what is said vs. who says it (Score:5, Interesting)
[http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2008/01/j-carl-cooper-and-technology-licensing.html]:
"As a practicing patent attorney with a large corporation, I can see why PTT and other commentators might want not to divulge their name. His anonymity works for me, because the subject of our interest shouldn't be who PTT is, but rather whether the US patent system is functioning effectively and fairly. And PTT's remarks on patent predators aren't any less germane because the sharks are identified by name, and he/she isn't. Forget that it's Niro (or Acacia, or whoever) that PTT comments on, and focus on the fact that they and others are manipulating an imperfect system to the detriment of both the system and its participants.
BTW, there are those who might defend the abuses written of here as nothing more than "arbitrage". I don't agree. Arbitrage smooths out market irregularities caused by assymetrical information or unbalanced supply and demand. It is ethical, and even helpful, where a market is efficient and the market rules are clear and fairly enforced. The swamp of legal, political, technical and economic uncertainties that trolls are rooting around in (and helping muddy up) is more like an armed prospectors' land-grab than what the patent system set out to be: A reward of exclusivity in return for the useful sharing of information. Vigorous enforcement of patents on trivial or useless "inventions", by contingency-fee opportunists, doesn't make them any less trivial and useless. And bundling or accumulating them under shell corporations, the better to leverage them against companies for whom the expected value of a loss at trial (however unlikely) exceeds the price of a settlement, does nothing to better the "market" for IP. It doesn't promote adoption or commercialisation of technology. It doesn't raise capital in support of yet more innovation. It doesn't improve the function of the patent system. It's extortion, pure and simple.
This isn't an abstract, theoretical discussion. It won't be long before Congress, made up of individuals who understand neither the purpose nor the functioning of the US patent system, begins to tinker with it as if it were a tax code with which additional revenues could be extracted and assets could be more equitably redistributed. Trolls cheapen the patent system in a way that makes legislative erosion even more likely. The abuses PTT writes about call the patent monopoly and its proponents into disrepute, and thereby weaken the rights appropriately reserved under other patents to those who really have made a technical contribution to society. As far as I'm concerned, PTT can call the trolls by name. The moneys they've extracted from productive members of society should be enough consolation for them.
Blog on, PTT!
"
Bulverism strikes again (Score:4, Informative)
I confess (Score:2, Funny)
Gimme my ten grand, punk!
Well (Score:5, Informative)
ethical quandary (Score:4, Funny)
I'm the blogger (Score:3, Funny)
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I'm Spartacus.
$10K please.
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Re:Reality check (Score:5, Insightful)
My girlfriend is a true African-American
She told me flatly that she could cure all of them of their desire to be called "African Americans" by the simple expedient of sending them to her home country for a few months. Most of them would come back here and would count themselves lucky to be Americans. Bad as things can be for many people in the United States, there are places that are worse. Much worse.
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Re:Reality check (Score:4, Interesting)
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A friend of mine was born and raised in Africa, by white parents who were also born and raised in Afica. He has now moved to the US. Does that qualify him as African-American?
A friend of mine had gas because he ate some poison. So they took him to the hospital and pumped his stomach. Does that make him a gas pump?
Re:Reality check (Score:4, Insightful)
If a person is born in America and stays a US citizen, they're American.
Heritage is all screwed up. How many generations have to be born in America before you consider it part of your heritage?
Re:Reality check (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Reality check (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Reality check (Score:4, Insightful)
On those little quizzes, always select 'other' as the discussion as to why you chose other can be lots of fun. Its a racial question that does not account for South Americans, mulatto etc. If your grandfather was black, your grandmother was chinese and your mother was south american, what race do you belong to? How do you answer the quiz? select 3 or more categories?
ALL PC terms are insulting.
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Re:Counter-Offer (Score:5, Funny)
- The D.A.
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