Just a housekeeping item: the ridiculous patent infringement lawsuit brought against us and mobile social network Loopt (details here and here) by Earthcomber is history. The company walked away from the lawsuit.
We criticized being included in the lawsuit because we are nothing more than a search filter on Loopt. And the Earthcomber founder appeared to include us out of spite for not giving them as much press as they wanted. From my earlier post:
I called Earthcomber President Jim Brady this morning to verify the lawsuit. At first he wouldn’t answer – all he did was try to explain how he’s been wronged by Loopt. When pressed he did confirm that the lawsuit was filed, but quickly added that he didn’t really mean to press it with us. He wants to go to court with Loopt, but is willing to quickly work something out with us to make this go away, he told me, hinting that he’d like to partner with us. He also said he’s been desperately trying to get me on the phone but hasn’t been able to, so he decided to sue us instead.
The problem with using a lawsuit as a negotiating tactic is that you can’t put the cat back in the bag. The door is open, and it has to play out. In other words, suing someone to get them to return your calls is not exactly a sign of brilliance.
I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on the specifics of the patent claims, other than that they are absurd, since our lawyers have asked me not to. But I will say this – adding TechCrunch to a lawsuit based on the fact that we are a search filter (see image to left) in a product seems a little absurd to me. I’ve asked our attorneys to spend whatever it takes to kill this lawsuit, and to find a way to counter sue this guy into the stone age.
Did Earthcomber also sue iMeem, RockTheVote and NRDC, the other filtered search options? No. Because that doesn’t get them all this free press.
I’m just glad the whole thing is over, we have better things to focus on than this.
To use a lawsuit as a means to get press coverage seems like the grossest abuse of legal procedures and taxpayer money to me.
How much does it cost to defend yourself against such frivilous lawsuits in the US? Are you able to recover your costs from the plaintiff if he/she files such a frivolous lawsuit?
It has to be proven frivolous and can be very difficult and costly to do… Similar to how difficult it is to making a case for Slander.
Most of the time, it’s easier (and less expensive) to just walk away.
You are nothing more than a spammer tying to get free advertising into your blog. Just another Indian trying to get over on the system.
Do you think they deserved to be on TC page ? Arent they getting some free publicity ?
Yeah..They don’t deserve TC anymore.. Say them F*oFf..
http://www.smartbloggerz.com
Did Earthcomber also sue the other filtered search options? No. Because that doesn’t get them all this free press.
So you get back at them with a post dedicated to EC containing 2 valuable links to their site?
No mercy!
Dead Pool.
You can tell from their logo that Earthcomber tends to make bad choices.
hahahahahaha zing!
To PR agents,
Sue Techcrunch to get on it.
please don’t
That’s actually a good idea.
Launch a stupid startup, sue Forbes, CNN, Techcrunch, Mashable (dumbest crowd on the net, but they’re good buzz) and Slashdot, and you’ll have 100k users by the end of the first month.
…. and then they’ll realise your product was a waste of time (because you spent more time suing people than building a decent product) and 95% will not bother going back.
Great idea.
It is amazing when you hear stuff like this. It seems like people will sue for anything these days.
Congrat’s Mike – I am glad that headache is gone for ya!
Cheers – Eric
you should just ban them from ever appearing in another TV post (and ban their website from appearing in any comment)
Meh:
Ban Earthcomber?
Kinda like how you’ve been banned from seeing a woman naked?
Forever is a long time, chump.
Aren’t there any consequences to just raising a lawsuit then dropping it? Otherwise, wouldn’t more companies just do this to get on TC?
@Mike Arrington:
Why do you have to retain outside counsel to defend against something that seems so easy and straight forward? It seems that all that had to be done was to file and answer followed by a motion to dismiss or possibly a motion for summary judgment. It’s not like there are any real issues of facts or law for that matter.
I meant fact, not facts.
Any word on the Loopt vs. Loop’d lawsuit?
Lawyers love to sue. It makes them $$$$.
Gosh I’m glad I’m not american.
Lolz..I hate EarthComber more from now..It sucks..They sent a comment on my blog that “You Suck I suck blah blah blah”…EARTHCOMBER go comb your hairs…Lolzz…
IP traced as:205.188.117.68
I have no dog in this fight. But you DO suck, Typhoon.
Your blog is retard bad.
Have you considered jumping off a building?
You really should.
Typhoon:
You are just a kid. And your site is actually quite good for a teenager. No joke. My bad. You don’t suck.
My apologies.
Oh..really? Are you really accepting that apology. If yes? Why you sent me a stupid mail with a bogus reply back mail. If you really have to send me a mail. Baby do it properly.
Again, I apologize.