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Author Topic: Life360 CEO Uses ELI-like Tactics to Defeat Patent Troll  (Read 2388 times)

Matthew Chan

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Life360 CEO Uses ELI-like Tactics to Defeat Patent Troll
« on: March 23, 2015, 08:08:50 PM »
First, I don't want to claim that I "invented" unorthodox, unconventional, and controversial techniques to beat back copyright extortionists. However, I can honestly say that many of the tactics and strategies I have publicized, implemented, and disseminated on ELI over the years is based on my observations and studies of power structures, organization structure, human behavior, influence, etc. In other words, I am a strategist. It is my job to look at challenges in different ways and create effective unconventional solutions to unconventional problems.

I am always happy to see other people that have come up with similar strategies to beat back bullies and their lawyers. ELI has been calling out and publicly beating on bad lawyers for their role and culpability.

Take a read of Life360 CEO's strategy to vanquish a patent troll.  It is great reading and has some life lessons about standing up to obnoxious, greedy bullies.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/23/i-beat-a-patent-troll-and-you-can-too/

Some great quotes, ones that I absolutely can relate to.


"They thought I was bluffing. They were wrong."

"There were three non-traditional things I did during our troll fight that any company facing a troll can and should do."

"I can’t promise you’ll win, but you will definitely send a message that you are not interested in settling and in fact, will make it as painful as possible for the troll, sending a clear message that you are not a willing target for future litigation as well."

Go Nuclear (I love the term, "go nuclear"!)

"There is nothing that trolls or predatory law firms hate more than being publicly called out for what they are. They expect that you’ll listen to your lawyers, stay quiet and pay them to go away. In our case, we refused to let AGIS Inc. and its lawyers Mark Hannemann and Thomas Makin of Kenyon and Kenyon LLP, hide in the background. Throughout our battle, we frequently publicized their role in this case with various influencers and media and it really got to them."

Go With Your Gut And Commit To It

"This is about right and wrong, and that will help you sleep better at night. Always remember you are fighting the good fight and while that may sound cheesy, but it’s really important when things get hard.

There were some advisors who encouraged me to settle, so I wouldn’t have this costly distraction, but that is a very short term view. You are far less likely to become a target if you have a prior record of making it very difficult for the troll versus paying up each time.

While this win was not without cost, we have strong evidence that our hardline approach is working.  We’ve received two other demand letters since the AGIS suit was filed, and when they saw the extreme defense we mounted against AGIS, they went away."


Corporations are made up of people and their lawyers.  It is important to identify, name them, and call them out very publicly and put the heat on them.  (No, I don't mean to set them afire, pull a gun, or any physical or violent act. That is for those dipshits who want to claim I made a "physical safety threat".)  As I have said many times, most employees are gutless wonders when they are called out singularly. They are used to being under the protection of their corporate mommy's wombs.  That means Googling and Binging your little heart out to gather information and doing your research when necessary.

Today, most of Getty Images legal employees and copyright compliance are in hiding. They don't sign their names to anything. They won't even make public statements by name.  Articles written about them is always by some nameless "Getty Images spokesperson."

This is why we haven't heard from Hawaiian Art Network and their lawyers for years.

If you are not willing to be at the front, you can always become part of larger group such as the ELI Community for mutual defense and protection with combined resources, ideas, strategies, information, people, and money. 
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

 

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