Patent Law

Down & Outed

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Rick Frenkel had a juvenile impulse to blog anonymously. The juvenility was not so much anonymity per se, it was blogging as he did - trying to out others with staying masked. The inevitable occurred - Frenkel pissed off attorneys, including the legendary Ray Niro, who put a bounty out for Frenkel's identity after Niro took umbrage. Frenkel outed himself just before being outed. Niro wasn't the only one displeased.

Two east Texas attorneys: T. John "Johnny" Ward, Jr. and Eric Albritton, have sued Frenkel for defamation; you don't get three guesses where. Ward is the son of the amazing Eastern District of Texas Judge T. John Ward, who put the district on the map as a premier patent litigation venue.

Frenkel works for Cisco, at least for now. Cisco first let freedom ring: "Cisco does not interfere with their expression of free speech whatsoever;" but, in light of the lawsuits, has now released tepid rebuke: "Comments made in the employee's personal blog represented his own opinions and several of his comments are not consistent with Cisco's views."

It likely would have been a lot easier, and a lot more fun, to have just hired high-priced hookers on out-of-town trips, like another crusader who wished he could have remained anonymous. Blogging is a rough game, whereas hookers can be downright delightful, not that I'd know anything about that. We patent bloggers are a chaste lot.

Belatedly deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, Frenkel's blog, Patent Troll Tracker, is now by invitation only.

Other coverage: Patently-O; 271; The Prior Art; Forbes.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on March 12, 2008 (boomark / email).