Porn Troll Panics, Dismisses Pending Lawsuits

JayRott writes "According to Ars, 'The embattled copyright trolling firm Prenda Law is seeking to contain the fallout from a looming identity theft scandal by voluntarily dismissing lawsuits filed by the shell company AF Holdings. A Minnesota man named Alan Cooper has charged that Prenda fraudulantly used his name as the CEO of AF Holdings, allegations that have attracted the attention of a California judge. Ken at the legal blog Popehat broke the news that Prenda attorney Paul Duffy has sought dismissal of at least four pending infringement cases involving the Prenda-linked shell company AF Holdings. All four dismissals occurred in the Northern District of Illinois.' I don't see how Prenda thinks this is going to make one lick of difference to an already angry Judge."

Comments

Re:Too late to run and hide now

[tqk]

I've been watching this story unfold at Techdirt.com. It's the most farcical slow motion train wreck I've seen in quite a while. It speaks volumes about USA's litigious culture, the Imaginary Property regime, and the miniscule amount of value added to an individual through managing to graduate from law school and be accepted to practice law. To think that these guys spent tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for their educations, and this is what the idiots end up doing with them. Astonishing.

Kudos to the judge. I've seen a few posts from guys wishing they could have a womb implanted so they could have his children.

Who are the owners and operators of Prenda Law?

[Spy Handler]

Let's have some names. And addresses and phone numbers. Then maybe some elite Anonymous operators can obtain their credit card numbers and order a bunch of goatse porn and have it delivered to their homes.

Re:If you notice on the front page of ""slashdot""

[mwvdlee]

Sadly, copyright and patent law has a LOT to do with nerds. Especially those of us who develop software either for a living or as a hobby.

I can't include any code in a commercial project without first checking whether the license allows my intended use and what I need to do in order to comply. Similarly I don't release any significant amount of code to the public without first attaching an appropriate license to it (or atleast explicitely releasing to the public domain).

If I don't, some asshole (like the one in TFA) that has never produced any net positive to society will try to turn my efforts into a net negative. Some minimal understanding of copyright and patent law should be a minimal requirement for any software developer.

It's the price you have to pay for allowing border-line sociopaths to walk around freely.

Re:It will make a difference ... a bad difference

[shentino]

Why not just flat out arrest them for contempt of court?

If this is getting into criminal territory I expect to hear some handcuffs clicking shut.

Re:It will make a difference ... a bad difference

[PRMan]

It seems like Duffy is dropping all the cases with or without their approval. I think the prisoner's dilemma has already begun.

Re:I'll slam BOTH, thank-you....

[loneDreamer]

In particular, I have a friend who IS a good, honest, thoughtful lawyer, and HIS opinion after working in the field is that lawyers, in general, should be pushed in front of a bus. My astonished question was: Hey man, that includes you, you know. His answer was: Nevertheless, it would be for the common good.

United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II

[Required Snark]

The federal judge hearing the case is a real piece of work. He is a former US Marine and LAPD police officer. He was appointed to the bench by first by Schwarzenegger and then by George W. Bush.

Here is a site where people can anonymously comment on their experiences in his court room. He gets a score of 2.5 out of 10. He has a few high ratings, and lots of one and two ratings: http://www.therobingroom.com/Judge.aspx?ID=1555

This is a rather articulate comment from the site:

Judge Wright, a jurist largely devoid of judicial, or "people" skills, is an equal opportunity abuser. Routinely arrogant and abrasive, he pontificates down at the lawyers unfortunate enough to have to appear before him. He rules with an iron fist, and a tin-foil mind. He has demonstrated beyond doubt that that he has a short fuse, a hair-trigger, and poor marksmanship (because he rarely manages to hit the right target) with his slings and arrows. What he does hit, however, he hits hard and hits mercilessly! He appears to delight in making lawyers come in for motion "hearings," which are nothing more than a 45 second diatribe by a judge who clearly has not read the papers or done his homework. If Charles Dickens were still alive and writing today, he would be hard-pressed not to create a judge-character based upon this bench-warmer. I also have no doubt that his % of cases reaching trial is very low, caused by parties who have either precipitously been thrown out of Court during motion practice, or by parties settling in a last-ditch effort to avoid the caprice, uncertainties, vagaries, and whims which a trial with Otis presiding portends. There should be a flashing red neon sign above his Courtroom door that warns lawyers, in Dantean terms: "All hope abandon ye who enter here."

I can't imagine a more appropriate court for Prenda Law. It will be a collision between out of control bottom of the barrel scum sucking lawyers and a judge who's legal background is inadequate and has a tendency to use the bench to crush anyone who appears before him. It's literally karma in action, with Biblical style thunderclaps and lightning. What could possibly go wrong?