Prenda
Prenda v. Godfread et al: motion for sanctions and a new powerful set of counterclaims have been filed
I’ll continue covering the most significant and/or interesting Prenda-related events when I have time.
Motion for sanctions
On 09/09/2013 Cooper’s and Godfread’s counsel Jason Sweet and Erin Russel filed a powerful motion for sanctions in the Prenda v. the Internets (ILND 13-cv-01569). Don’t forget to browse the recapped exhibits. Exhibits A and B are hearing transcripts: I’m sure you’ll find a striking difference (in ethics and professionalism) between Duffy’s and Russel’s dialogues with the judge. Other exhibits are interesting too.
In every conceivable way, Prenda and Duffy have crafted their own doom. Lying to courtofficials, presenting false documents, making material misrepresentations on the record in this Court, filing documents in this Court with full knowledge that they lacked legal merit, pursuinglegal arguments that lack merit, all while under siege by state and federal courts issuing crushing sanctions orders, and at all times following a course of action from which any reasonably prudent attorney would run. […]
First amended counterclaims
On 9/18/2013 an equally powerful amended set of counterclaims has been filed. There are two major parts in this document.
The story
The first part of the document is a new short and concise iteration of the previously told story of Prenda’s theft of Alan Cooper’s identity (and of the subsequent retaliatory lawsuits).
The vermin have built rather a non-linear system of stinky burrows, and this document describes only one cross-section (Cooper- and Godfread-related), purposely leaving out the side stories (even the story related to the very same case — the one that triggered the EFF involvement). I already wrote a plethora of compliments to Jason Sweet, like
[…]as usually, a memo accompanying this motion is an excellent, refined iteration of a guide to Prenda’s shameful history of deception and abuse.
I cannot help repeating myself this time, yet this variant of Prenda’s story is told in a way worthy of mass media attention, beyond tech blogs.
The counterclaims
There are five counts:
- Declaratory judgment pursuant to Minnesota Anti-SLAPP immunity;
- Invasion of privacy — appropriation;
- Civil conspiracy;
- Defamation;
- Abuse of process.
Yes! The brand new counterclaim has been added: defamation. The bizarre nature of this Prenda’s lawsuit has been clear to any honest person: it is Prenda who defamed and harmed Alan Cooper and hundreds and hundreds of other people, damaging their careers, ruining families and relations with neighbors. Not the other way around. It is obvious to anyone that Prenda deliberately entered the libel-proof territory long time ago: you cannot defame a proven crook.
Fight © Trolls 
Prenda is done when its puppet-masters are stripped of their legal licences, their tragicomedy of a business model used as a precedent for judges to stamp out reckless copyright enforcement for profit, and said puppet-masters rendered unable to show their faces in public (or set up another shell company) without being booed out of the room.
This is not being vindictive (as such, I did not include any desires for monetary or physical penalty) – this is about restoring belief in the justice system.
I don’t argue with that (I added “mostly” before done). I just wanted to stress that I don’t feel like if I write less about Prenda the fight will slow down: the fire is burning, so many people are at it, which gives me a room to concentrate on Lipscomb.
In any case, do keep us apprised of any and all insults toward your mother, family, nationality, pets, hometown, or automobile that may show up in your mailbox, especially if they are from Jacques Nazaire.
Absolutely. Can’t blame you for focusing your attention elsewhere. Several thousand eyes are now on Steele/Hansmeier/Duffy/etc… the flare is attached, and many people of many crowds other than the anti-trolling bunch have comfortable seats with popcorn in their laps.
Train Wreck Prenda makes for good, entertaining fun, but there’s plenty of other troll camps just as dirty that deserve the same level of scrutiny.
Keep up the good work 🙂
The Malibu cases are different than the Prenda cases as Lipscomb has real clients unlike Prenda so called “clients” ~wink wink nudge nudge~ . With that being said I will say that Lipscomb seems to be a little more together then the Prenda gang is.
Although I don’t agree with Lipscomb’s methods and we all know there might be some suttle differences they are still trolling. I wonder who is seeding these torrents they are suing over, I don’t think we have really heard that yet.
Lipscomb activities are becoming more known as well as the tactics but you have to wonder if Malibu is more interested in the end game from these suits then they are about actually making revenue from their content the old fashioned way so to speak.
Ruh-oh! Looks like the Prenda gang is going to be in for another round in the MN courts, and after the last fiasco, I don’t see this going to well for them. Steele’s fractured ego wasn’t going to leave the Alan Cooper thing alone, nope he decided to sue and look how well that’s gone so far.
While I am sure the Prenda gang would love to get out from underneath this, I don’t see it being that easy. Could they pony up some cash and settle, sure… but would they… Duffy and Hansmeier I am sure would like to see it happen, Steele though, I doubt it…that would get in his grill if he had to concede to Alan Cooper ( the real one, not the figment of someones imagination ) and have to cough up some cash to boot.
While I love the fact that Erin and Jason are taking it to the Prenda gang, I just hope the Judge looking into this gets the facts straight and doesn’t get it like what happened the last time with the Judge being a little confused about the details.
I can’t wait to see the reply from the Prenda gang to this. How do they manage to refute all the allegations will be a tough for them to do. I would suffice to guess that there will be very little in the way of fact but a lot of filler and bluster put into their replies.
I would also guess we will see a lot of denials and then some of the delay tactics we have seen elsewhere, this though is not going to be that easy for them to get out from under. The mere fact that Prenda has so much trouble on many fronts in multiple jurisdictions must be causing old John some sleepless nights.
I wonder if John is starting to realize that retaliation against those he perceives as doing him wrong is doing him more harm then good. For instance there is the suit that John filed against Alan Cooper ( yes, the real one) then you have the complaints filed with the Calif Bar against Gibbs.
I said way back when after it became known that a complaint was filed against Gibbs that it would be rather detrimental to do this to someone who was in the know how the Prenda operation worked. Did anyone not think that Gibbs wouldn’t have Land-line and mobile bills of LD calls from the Prenda gang, correspondence and e-mails and I would bet that Gibbs has courier receipts amongst other items to back up who and how he got his orders and under what direction to take in these cases as to how the litigation was to be taken.
The mere fact that the Prenda gang has chosen to try and use litigation to deal with those it deemed has wrong it, sure makes a person wonder how long before theses folks are part of a Grand Jury investigation into a possible RICO case., and I won’t even bring up how the IRS Criminal Division is probably wanting to have a chat with them as well.
Then you have lawyers like Goodhue and Nasaire who are in deep in the cases that involved Prenda and the Judges in them seem to smell that something stinks in the room. There should be some interesting times coming up.
Good comment, I agree with everything except one thing: IMO while Duffy is a spineless buffoon, Steele’s and Hansmeier’s inflated egos are nearly equal in size, thus I expect them both sawing off more branches they are sitting on. Also, while it is widely believed that the older brother Peter only helped them them in their scam, I think that his involvement as brain power (as well as his ego) is seriously underestimated and underinvestigated.
I would have to agree with you that Peter is more involved that most think, they are much closer than Paul leads on in the courts / depos.
Excuse me, but who’s Pierre on page 18?
Pierre?? In which document? I can’t find a Pierre in either document linked in the article.
The second doc, page 18, #4. Autocorrected “Prenda” I guess. For this reason I use “add to dictionary” feature in all spell-checking enabling editors all the time.
Typo. This document has too many typos. The only excuse for Jason is that it is a rare exception, not a rule.
Apparently there is something wrong with my reading as well as my page search ability to miss that when specifically looking for it.
After some experimentation when doing a search even on the full screen Scribd reader, it only searches what is currently on the page, not the whole document.
Might just be me but the introductory part of the Amended Counterclaims reads like an FBI Press Release.
Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing months of hard
work due to no backup. Do you have any methods to stop hackers?