$10,000 Reward for Identifying an Anonymous Blogger

January 25, 2008 7:20 am JimReed Attorney Ethics

Although this post isn’t directly related to my usual posts regarding NY injury law, I nonetheless thought it was an interesting one that would be of interest to my readers.

A Chicago lawyer doesn’t like some comments that an anonymous blogger has been making about this attorney and his firm so the attorney has offered a $10,000 reward for whoever reveals the identity of the anonymous blogger. Kind of reminds me of the “Wanted” posters for the bad guys in the old Western movies!

I personally dislike the idea of anonymous blogging and feel that if you feel strongly enough about what you are saying than you should be strong enough to sign your name to it. We all know it’s easy to talk tough behind someone’s back or anonymously but the real test of one’s conviction is to do it face-to-face or by signing one’s name.

With that said, I understand that many very interesting blogs are anonymous because the writer’s circumstances force them to post anonymously because otherwise they would be promptly fired.

So this really creates a dilemma and I would be very curious to hear back from my readers as to how they feel about anonymous blogging– is it a good thing or bad thing? Please post your comments and we can have a discussion regarding this interesting dilemma……

Here’s the link to the story that pasted below: http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/partner_offers_10k_bounty_for_bloggers_identity

Partner Offers $10K Bounty for Blogger’s Identity

Posted Jan 22, 2008, 05:28 pm CST
By Martha Neil

A Chicago lawyer who is being criticized, along with his law firm, in an anonymous Internet blog supposedly authored by a fellow attorney has offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who can provide him with the identity of “Troll Tracker.”

The anonymous blogger, who claims to be “just a lawyer; interested in patent cases but not interested in publicity,” has criticized Raymond Niro and his 30-lawyer IP boutique, Niro Scavone Haller & Niro, for representing clients who own patents but don’t necessarily make products. Instead, the firm earns licensing fees from users of the patented technology—and potentially sues users if they don’t pay up, explains the Chicago Tribune.

Although Troll Tracker claims a First Amendment right to criticize the firm anonymously on the blog, Niro says the blogger should take responsibility for his or her views. Plus, he points out, knowing the identity and affiliations of the blogger likely would affect the way that readers perceive the Troll Tracker’s critique.

“I want to find out who this person is,” says Niro, who initially offered a $5,000 reward in last month’s issue of the IP Law & Business trade magazine, and has since upped the ante to $10,000. “Is he an employee with Intel or Microsoft? Does he have a connection with serial infringers? I think that would color what he has to say.”

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4 Responses

David M. Gottlieb, Esq. Says:
January 25th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I think it’s a colossal waste of time. What does he hope to get out of it? What will he do once he finds the blogger’s name? And finally, will anyone really care?

Congrat’s you’ve called out an anonymous blogger. So what?
Eric L. Johnson Says:
January 26th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Sounds like he’s getting some great publicity for the $10,000 that he will probably never have to spend.
David M. Gottlieb, Esq. Says:
January 26th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
While he will get some great publicity, I don’t think it will be good publicity. It’s similar to the cases where a big corporation sends a cease and desist letter to a blogger, only to have it draw unwanted and negative attention to the corporation.
David M. Gottlieb, Esq. Says:
March 30th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I stand corrected:

Revealed Patent Blogger, and Employer, Sued for Defamation
Posted by Dan Slater

WSJ colleague Bobby White, who covers Cisco from San Francisco, passed along this update on the Patent Troll Tracker saga:

patentLate last month, we posted on Rick Frenkel, a lawyer and the director of IP litigation at Cisco who outed himself as the author of the widely-read Patent Troll Tracker blog. The blog follows companies said to holding patents solely to sue for infringement. (Now the blog can be read only by invited members.)

The next day, both Frenkel and his employer, Cisco, were slapped with a defamation suit. The suit stemmed from a blog post Frenkel wrote in which he alleged irregularities in a patent case in which two Texas lawyers, Johnny Ward and Eric Albritton, represented ESN against Cisco. The post questioned whether someone had tampered with the date of a patent filing. Frenkel concluded: “This is yet another example of the abusive nature of litigating patent cases in the Banana Republic of East Texas.” (Click here, here and here for past posts on the patent landscape of East Texas.)

According to news reports, Ward originally filed a defamation suit last November, wanting to depose managers at Google, which hosted the then-anonymous blog. When Frenkel revealed his identity, Ward amended the suit. Albritton filed his own suit against Frenkel and Cisco on March 3 alleging defamation. Meanwhile, the original case in question, ESN vs. Cisco, was dismissed by agreement of the parties this past November.

Albritton wasn’t immediately available for comment, while Ward requested that we contact his lawyer, Nick Patton, who has not yet returned a call.

As for Cisco, where Frenkel still works, a spokesperson says: “We would like to underscore that the comments made in the employee’s personal blog represented his own opinions and several of his comments are not consistent with Cisco’s views. We continue to have high regard for the judiciary of the Eastern District of Texas and confidence in the integrity of its judges.”