Lawsuits Suck for TechDirt.com

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,533
Boy, I know what it feels like to put together a solid stories based on facts only to be awarded with a $20M lawsuit on reporting the truth. So were the days of the Phantom Console. (Behind the Infinium Phantom Console & Inside the Infinium Labs Phantom Console) Of course kicking their ass feels good too. That all said, our brothers over at TechDirt.com, which is a site I read often, are now the focus of a $15M lawsuit for "mocking" the guy that says he invented email.

In the new lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Boston, Ayyadurai claims that a series of posts on TechDirt amount to libel - in part because the posts call Ayyadurai a "fake email inventor" and a "fraudster" and calls his claims to have invented the technology "bogus."

One thing I have learned, if you are going to call bullshit on something in a factual way, you had best have evidence close at hand. Now opinions are a totally different thing. The bad thing about this is, even if you are correct and well within your rights, the guy with the biggest wallet often wins.

Whether or not you agree with us on our opinions about various things, I hope that you can recognize the importance of what's at stake here. Our First Amendment is designed to enable a free and open press — a press that can investigate and dig, a press that can challenge and expose. And if prominent individuals can make use of a crippling legal process to silence that effort, or even to create chilling effects among others, we become a weaker nation and a weaker people because of it.

If freedom of expression and the press is to actually mean something, it needs to be protected, not stomped on with baseless lawsuits that silence independent voices and opinions.

You can DONATE to TechDirt at this link!!!
 
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Tim Roberts and the story surrounding it was to blame / thank for me registering an account on these forums finally, as I recall.
 
The Phantom console stuff was 2003!? It does not feel like it was that long ago. I was reading [H] before that time but that article, along with some others that called out BS, made me love the site and kept me reading.
 
Tim Roberts and the story surrounding it was to blame / thank for me registering an account on these forums finally, as I recall.
It was indeed some amazing journalism. I remeber actually being hyped for this console.
 
jeez I remember that. I assume that was back on the very old original H site? I remember the forums at least being quite different. Glad you got through it. I've never heard of this guy, I thought POP was invented by the goofballs at Xerox back when they were coming up with new technology and giving it away like candy along with the original OS's. Apparently it was more military. To me the Guy who invented POP is clearly the originator Ray Tomlinson.

I will say this - I read recently that in the UK Libel is on the defendant to prove his/her own innocence so at least there's that.
 
HardOCP was a pack of yellow journalists? And here I was thinking there wasn't an Asian among the lot of you.
I am not sure if Tsing Mui is Asian, as I have never met him face to face, but I just figured he is. :)
 
I will say this - I read recently that in the UK Libel is on the defendant to prove his/her own innocence so at least there's that.
The law has changed here in many states. Today, if I won that same suit, I would be entitled to collect the entire amount I spent on defense. IIRC the total bill was around $235,000. I had paid it all in cash, I had emptied out every account I had, cashed it all in, I was 1 month from being done when we got the victory. Even though the law was different back then, the judge decided that Infinium was so out of line in its charges and the way it handled the case, he awarded us $50,000. And thank god for that, I was about to lose my house.
 
Did someone mention the Phantom?




Chad Dyle
www.dylefilms.com

We did that while the lawsuit was still going on. My lawyer got wind of us find that prototype (one of five in world) and smashing it on stage. He called and he was pissed. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU NOT CALL ME AND TALK TO ME ABOUT DOING THIS?!?!?" My answer: "You would have said, no." He laughed at me and said fair deal. Him and I have been buddies every since.
 
Damn it's been a long time. That first piece was a very well put together, factual account, fun to read through it all over again - if this [H]ardOCP thing doesn't work out, you'd do great as an investigator. ;)
 
Wow- I think that was the first reason I came to this site? I'm too old to really remember, but thanks for bringing this up for TechDirt...

If anyone here has never read their site, it is one of the BEST places covering IP law/ judicial and corporate overreach, and all kinds of other things- they are one of the few objective news spots around, and call people out on both sides of the aisle. Please donate anything you can, because they truly deserve it. Ughhhh....
 
TechDirt is one of the site which I got a lot of news about the TPP. It is a daily stop for me and my web browsing.
The way I view people/companies like this is that what was stated is probably true and the filer of the lawsuit has no credible or concrete evidence to counter the defendant's statement. So instead, sue them out of existence.

"The purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than win.
The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on
somebody...,will generally be sufficient to cause professional decease.
If possible, of course, ruin him utterly."

- Hubbard, L. R. (1955, March). The Scientologist, a Manual on the Dissemination of Material. Ability, the Magazine of Dianetics and Scientology, volume III (1), 40-66.

There is a statement Gizmodo made about Ayyadurai and his claim to inventing email.
"Just because you create an airplane called AIRPLANE, does not make you Wilbur Wright."
 
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Been a fan of TechDirt for a long time now, sad to see they're having to deal with yet another stupid fucking person and I'll see if I can donate something to their cause. They're one of the rare websites out there similar to [H] that provides truly useful info whether "the masses" appreciate it or not.
 
I remember all of that going down with [H], and that was what sealed the deal for me when it comes to know what tech site to trust.

This really sucks for Tech Dirt, I'll throw some bucks their way.
 
This guy "won" against Gawker because it was part of the deal with Hulk Hogan so now he starts against other news sites.
Ever get the feeling that our future is looking more & more like something from those dystopian sci-fi films from the 80s
where a few rich assholes are out to screw everyone?
 
20M settlement from those phantom tools that's awesome.
 
"The purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than win.
The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on
somebody...,will generally be sufficient to cause professional decease.
If possible, of course, ruin him utterly."

- Hubbard, L. R. (1955, March). The Scientologist, a Manual on the Dissemination of Material. Ability, the Magazine of Dianetics and Scientology, volume III (1), 40-66.

Until you're actually in that situation with someone using the law to harass you, it's hard to imagine the level of stress, and the feeling of helplessness, as "the law" goes through its process. Really takes the shine/aura off the whole system.

This guy "won" against Gawker because it was part of the deal with Hulk Hogan so now he starts against other news sites.Ever get the feeling that our future is looking more & more like something from those dystopian sci-fi films from the 80s where a few rich assholes are out to screw everyone?

Hey, when $ = speech, by logical deduction some people get more speech than others.
 
Threw a few bucks at them, I hope they get through it. This smells to high heaven and the ties into the new administration make me queezy. Good luck guys!
 
Threw a few bucks at them, I hope they get through it. This smells to high heaven and the ties into the new administration make me queezy. Good luck guys!
Me too. I doubt it will make a real dent in the legal bill however. :(
 
If Techdirt and Hardocp would stop with the flipping fake news you wouldn't have to worry about this. /s

(sorry crossing topics above, but I'll throw them a few $ just to fight this new movement of calling bullshit to any reporting if it goes against the "company" line)
 
The Phantom looks like a silver prototype for an Xbox One :jawdrop: Is the hammer hammer of the gods still around? I think it'd be interesting to see how today's content/game streaming consoles hold up under pressure compared to their black sheep cousin that never was:blackeye::angelic: lol
 
Is the hammer hammer of the gods still around?
You are the first person that has ever asked me that.

The [H]ard[H]ammer was given to the person that actually sourced the Phantom Console Prototype. There were only five in the world, and I never asked how he got it, did not want to know. He still has it to my knowledge.

PhantomSmash.JPG
 
Waiting for someone to release an article about Star Citizen and the Chris Roberts scandal.
 
Is there a way to donate that would keep the money out of the enemy's hands if Techdirt loses?


most if not all the money is going to go to lawyers, they aren't cheap especially something like this. so they'll drag this crap on until techdirt goes bankrupt and are forced to shut down or settle which most likely will be them filing for bankruptcy anyways. so the odds of your money going anywhere else but to the lawyers is pretty slim.
 
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