Bogus Lawsuit Plus Threats To Those Who Write About It Leads To Epic Response

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

btw, please let me know if my rate of posting is too high for this community. but this is an incredible article:

Reader Jason sent over a blog post that sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole, following the story through a variety of twists and turns. The key player in the story is Jonathan Monsarrat, who among other things founded the video game company Turbine (Asheron's Call, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, etc.). In early 2010, Monsarrat was arrested concerning events at a party in Massachusetts. The charges against him were later dismissed. However, there were various blog discussions among local bloggers and commenters. Not long ago, approximately three years after all of this happened, Monsarrat sued two named defendants and 100 "John Does" in a Massachusetts (not federal) court on a variety of charges, centering around defamation, but also including copyright infringement, commercial disparagement, deceptive trade practices and conspiracy. He's asking for an astounding $5.5 million.

Read the full story: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130517/02413623115/bogus-lawsuit-plus-threats-to-those-who-write-about-it-leads-to-epic-response.shtml

Comments

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

and I quote:

That, of course, is bullshit

Amen, brother.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

This is a beautiful article.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

Chances the author of this receives a Doe letter ...

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

Wonderful piece of writing.

[keithn.livejournal.com]

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!!!!!!

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

HAHA! Love it :)

[ziemela.livejournal.com]

At this point, I gotta wonder how Turbine feels about all this. Sure, he was a co-founder, but he's since cashed out, aye? Doesn't stop him from writing this in the press release linked to in the post below:

His videogames company, Turbine, created Lord of the Rings Online and was bought by Warner Brothers for $160 million in 2010.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I think I would be pretty uncomfortable if I was in their shoes right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see a disclaimer go up soon...

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

Turbine is likely bound by an agreement NOT to comment on the circumstances of his departure.

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

I feel like JonMon got more free publicity about the sketchiness of said party three years ago by suing everyone on Livejournal than he could have ever hoped for just by leaving the davis_square post be. As well, now the rest of the East Coast outside of Boston has been exposed to his tenuous connection with reality.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I don't know that "tenuous connection with reality" is going to be the conclusion most people walk away with.

That said, yeah, this case is pretty much a black hole; once people become aware of it, it sucks them in. This lawsuit was, I think, ill-advised.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

"ill-advised" is a wonderful understatement!

Streissanded!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Whenever I hear "The Streisand effect" I always think of the Mecha-Streisand episode of "South Park".

[audioboy.livejournal.com]

"No more Barbra Streisand ever!"

[bluesauce.livejournal.com]

Fun shit; I was talking to a friend who lives in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York. Said friend hasn't been to Boston nor met any of my Boston friends(bar one other musician who's unconnected to this situation). She's now read about Johnny, independent of me.

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

I live in Syracuse and I heard about this from one of my Boston friends. It is always good to keep up with the creepers in the greater region. They move sometimes.

[litia2005.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a massacre!

[ron_newman]

Techdirt has now published a followup article, noting that the plaintiff has voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit without any settlement.