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Lawyer Puts $10k Bounty on Blogger's Identity

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the turn-yourself-in-for-ten-grand dept.

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."

9 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. So long as said blogger is truthful.... by KublaiKhan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Truth is a defense for libel. So long as the blogger in question has not made any actual false statements, and has couched all opinions as such, rather than as facts--then he should STFU and GBTW.

    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?

    --
    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure dome decree
    1. Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ... lawyer who apparently is unable to engage any of the numerous detective firms out there who could find his information for much less ... Unable? I thought exactly the opposite when I read this. I think this Niro lawyer probably wants people to know he's taking this route. I figured it was a lawyer showing his true colors. He's making a public announcement that typically comes from gangsters who have grown too powerful. It is something to the effect of:

      "I am the law. I have so much money and disposable income that I pay any problem away without batting an eye. You want to start a blog criticizing me? Well, this is how I deal with you. I don't have time for warrants and regular channels. I will find out who you are and make you pay. Let this be a lesson/example for the rest of you." And that, my fellow Americans, is the stench of corruption. Fix it or face becoming a victim yourself.
      --
      My work here is dung.
    2. Re:So long as said blogger is truthful.... by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Freedom of speech without freedom of response is meaningless.
      No, it is just as powerful as any free speech.

      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.
  2. great publicity by nguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thanks! I hadn't heard of this blog before, but now that the $10k bounty has been offered, I know about it. Great publicity!

  3. Is it Rumplestilskin? by blanchae · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can I have the $10,000 now?

  4. Re:Reality check by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would have reservations if I was a Native American.

  5. Re:Reality check by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean that Americans (who happened to be black) invented them. I don't mean anything derogatory by that, but making such distinctions only serves to demean those individuals and their works. The implication is that there's something so noteworthy about a black person achieving anything of substance that their race must be mentioned. Of course black people have made significant contributions to our society, our culture and our technology. So have French, Greeks, Germans, Italians, Russians, Czechs and millions of others of all nationalities. Why does their ethnic background matter so much to some people? They were all citizens of this great nation, all helped to make it what it is today. That should be enough.

    My girlfriend is a true African-American ... she came to the U.S. about twenty-five years ago from that continent, earned her citizenship, and has the right to call herself an African-American. But she doesn't. She calls herself an American and she's proud of that. This is her country now. As for me, I was born here, but I don't go around brandishing my ethnic roots. That would be complicated, since I'd be something like a "Greek-Irish-German-with-some-other-stuff-mixed-in-American". Not so easy on the ears.

    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.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  6. Flip this shit around. by Cadallin · · Score: 5, Interesting
    We already know who this Lawyer is, and who his firm is and who they work for. There is an exceptionally expedient way for society to deal with this. It is unfortunate that it is necessary, but we must reconcile ourselves to fact that societal institutions have been corrupted. We must search for means to enact reform, and if they have forced us to take plays from their books, then so be it.

    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.

  7. Re:Oota Goota, Troll Tracker? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro, Ltd.
    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.