Phew. Michael Robertson Finally Gets Sued
from the beginning-to-get-worried dept
For a little while there, we actually thought that Michael Robertson might have lost his touch. The serial entrepreneur had pretty near perfected his strategy for building startups: come up with a controversial business plan that totally undermines the business models of incumbents and then make sure you get sued for doing so, using that lawsuit as a publicity builder. He did it originally with MP3.com and then followed that up with Lindows (which eventually had to change its name to Linspire). Next up was SIPphone, but that one was so late to the game that it had to sue Vonage since no one was suing it. Nearly three years ago when Robertson started another music startup, MP3Tunes, we were sure that he would quickly get sued. In fact, it seemed even more likely when he hired Hollywood's most hated hacker, DVD Jon. Yet, for some reason, the two could not come up with a plan to get sued, causing DVD Jon to move on.After waiting so long, Robertson again tried to stir things up himself. Back in September he sued record label EMI for takedown notices the company had sent over MP3tunes' sideload.com, and the strategy finally paid off. EMI has returned the favor and is now suing MP3Tunes for for copyright infringement. Robertson, of course, can barely withhold his glee: "These guys rush off to court and tell the court that I am terrible and then they end up buying my company," which is indeed what happened with MP3.com... though, in this case, we'd hardly say that the labels "rushed" off to court. It looks like they had to be coaxed a bit. He also makes the following important point: "It is really a shame because instead of using these technologies to improve their business they make an enemy of every technology company out there." It sure took a while, but congratulations on finally getting the lawsuit.
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Filed Under: lawsuits, michael robertson
Companies: mp3tunes
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Yet, for some reason, the two could come up with a plan to get sued
I am guessing that should be "could not come up with a plan".[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Oops. Right. Fixed. Thanks.
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well...
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thought of something...
Also, #1... I agree that it should have been "could not come up with a plan"
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Trying to get sued
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Then your "important point" is something about big music companies making an enemy of the technology companies !!
Note that copyright infringement is technology agnostic.
Having a business case that requires to get sued is also technology agnostic.
Writing a "tech" blog and not getting sued is also technology agnostic.
We see from another story "One thing you can be sure of in the technology world today is that if you're even remotely successful, someone somewhere will attack you for patent infringement." does that mean techdirt is devoid of technology or just unsuccessfull ?
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Appeal to publicity
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