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Charles Carreon Drops Case Against the Oatmeal
Dynamoo writes "Charles Carreon has reportedly dropped his lawsuit against the creator of The Oatmeal, Matthew Inman. This bizarre lawsuit (dubbed a SLAPP suit by the EFF) kicked off after a dispute between Inman and FunnyJunk.com which spun rapidly out of control. Perhaps Carreon has seen sense, but it turns out that there might be an even more bizarre twist in this tale."
Kudos to Oatmeal for winning this round, but this fight may not be over. Carreon seems to have shown himself to file odd lawsuits but being a lawyer, he isn't a complete idiot. Note that he dismissed his lawsuits without prejudice, which means that he can file them again at any time. He may just be waiting for the bad PR and public focus to go elsewhere before refiling. But kudos to Mr. Inman in the mean time.
Sources say his lawsuit against the cream of wheat will proceed.
If you haven't seen the text of the Inman suit against Carreon it is required reading. Someone is going to jail for this one.
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
How do people manage to become lawyers while maintaining the maturity of a preteen girl? (and by that I reference the ability to hold a meaningless grudge and carry it out to all kinds of extremes)
You need to understand the type of person who becomes a lawyer. To become a lawyer, you have to be reasonably intelligent and hardworking. People like that could do something with their lives that would make the world a better place, but instead these people choose to become parasites on society. They choose a profession to enrich and advance their own interests, despite having a negative effect on humanity as a whole.
Then the worst of them become politicians.
I especially like the way Mrs. FunnyJunk.com rants about how obviously Inman is a murderer, or at least is morally indistinguishable from Jared Lee Loughner (the gunman in the 2011 Tuscon shooting) even if technically he hasn't shot anybody (yet). Because that's NOT defamation of character, unlike ranting about how much FunnyJunk drag their heels on removing copyrighted works, which is the most vile sort of slander imaginable.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
Tell that to the lawyers working for the EFF. In case you didn't notice, they did an admirable job defending The Oatmeal in this case, and your rights online in general.
When I went through the process of registering as a professional engineer, one of the requirements was to pass an exam on legal theory (focusing mostly on contract law). Studying for that test was a real eye-opener for me. I had been expecting to be horrified by how disconnected and counter-intuitive the legal system was, but instead I was surprised by how reasonable the rules were. There is a strong emphasis on fairness, clear language, and preventing the litigants from using the legal system as a bludgeon. (Damages in a contract dispute, for example, are supposed to be calculated based on the actual cost of remediation, as opposed to "some arbitrarily large penalty.")
Naturally, like any large and complex system, the legal system is susceptible to hacking and abuse... but for every crooked lawyer concerned only with making money, I'd argue that there are dozens of others genuinely concerned with serving society... you just don't hear about them because only the most outrageous cases make it into the news. If anything, I believe more technical and computer-savvy people should pursue careers in the legal system, to better protect the our rights in the digital age.
Procrastination Man strikes again!
being a lawyer is a noble profession. no one likes lawyers until they realize they are at a point in their lives where they need one. the role of the lawyer overall is to represent their client, zealously and loyally. that's likely the primary reason that the general public dislikes them: they take on the undesirable role of being an advocate for another, and this almost always means that the lawyer will be an adversary to whoever is in opposition to their client.
but here's the thing: at one point or another, every single person will find themselves in need of an advocate to protect and ensure his or her legal rights. that remains true whether the client is a hardworking laborer or even one of the vaunted rich CEOs. in the actual world, the system can be lopsided, with wealthy persons being able to afford high-powered lawyers. nevertheless, there ARE lawyers willing to try to ensure that disparity is mitigated, if not eliminated.
the parent post tries to paint all lawyers as people who have chosen to do evil. there couldn't be anything farther from the truth. if anything, the majority of lawyers are in the very business of making the world a better place, by defending the common person or the outcast when no one else will. lawyers make sure their clients know and understand the law. most importantly, lawyers make sure that people know and do not lose their rights. that is one of the most fundamentally HELPFUL things a person can do, especially in nations founded on the rule of law.
parent post ignores the scores and scores of attorneys who choose to work pro bono or for non-profits or public interest firms. it just happens to be that the most visible lawyers are the loud and controversial ones. they are just that, loud and controversial, and give the less visible attorneys a bad name.
tough having to choose between modding parent as flamebait and replying in argument.
being a lawyer is a noble profession. no one likes lawyers until they realize they are at a point in their lives where they need one.
The problem is that too often the point where you realize that need is when some other lawyer is coming after You.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
being a lawyer is a noble profession.
Spoken like a true lawyer.
Hmmm... Let's check your blog
i’m a first-year law student
You could have mentioned this little tidbit of information but evidently decided not to. There may be noble lawyers out there (the EFF perhaps) but I would not hasten to include you in that group.
no one likes lawyers until they realize they are at a point in their lives where they need one.
That's te first reason that no one likes lawyers: the legal system is set up so that you need to retain a lawyer, and they are not cheap (Wikipedia: Surveys suggest that fees range from $150 to $1000 per hour when billed hourly). Apparently, justice is not an affordable commodity: it is often cheaper to cave in than to fight, not just in civil cases (settling) but in criminal ones as well (plea bargains). Public defenders are so overworked and underfunded that they cannot realistically do their job and since a consequence of the adversary system is that the side with the better lawyers often wins regardless of merits, lawyers are seen as either thugs or extortionists, depending on the side they are on.
And who do you think perpetuates such a system? Lawyers.
the role of the lawyer overall is to represent their client, zealously and loyally. that's likely the primary reason that the general public dislikes them: they take on the undesirable role of being an advocate for another, and this almost always means that the lawyer will be an adversary to whoever is in opposition to their client.
No, the primary reason that the general public dislikes them is, like I wrote above, the better (read: more expensive) lawyer will likely win regardless of merits in a large percentage of cases. The general public wants justice , not a game inherently biased in favour of those who learned to game the system or can afford to pay somebody to do that for them.
but here's the thing: at one point or another, every single person will find themselves in need of an advocate to protect and ensure his or her legal rights. that remains true whether the client is a hardworking laborer or even one of the vaunted rich CEOs. in the actual world, the system can be lopsided, with wealthy persons being able to afford high-powered lawyers.
Replace "can be" with "is extremely".
In a perfect world, *every* lawyer that practices privately would be required to serve as public defenders similarly to the jury duty of regular citizens (and for similar compensation). A lawyer that tried to avoid that duty or did not perform it *exclusively* and to the best of their abilities would be disbarred on the spot.
Some countries have socialized medicine and yet not a single one seems to have socialized justice. I wonder why.
nevertheless, there ARE lawyers willing to try to ensure that disparity is mitigated, if not eliminated.
[citation desperately needed]
Out of the 760,000 or so practicing lawyers in the US, how many are such valiant defenders of the poor as you paint them to be? (I assume you have data to back up your numbers).
the parent post tries to paint all lawyers as people who have chosen to do evil.
No, they just chose to perpetuate an evil system, and profit handsomely while they're at it.
if anything, the majority of lawyers are in the very business of making the world a better place, by defending the common person or the outcast
Wow, you make lawyers look almost as beneficial to society as payday lenders.
when no one else will.
Because you monopolistic fucks