Prenda's Paul Duffy Claims To Be 'Too Devastated' By Nelson Mandela's Death To Comment

from the wtf dept

Fri, Dec 6th 2013 2:44pm — Mike Masnick

Yesterday, lawyer Nick Ranallo, one of the many lawyers who's been instrumental in taking down Prenda Law, filed a notice in the Navasca case, saying that they (he and his client, Joe Navasca) were satisfied that Prenda had paid up the attorneys fees owed, which Judge Chen had ordered back in July. The amount was $22,531.93, which is significantly less than other courts have told Prenda to fork over in other cases (totaling up to about $500,000 last I'd checked), and it appears that Team Prenda decided to fork over the cash, perhaps out of the nearly $2 million the company took in last year.

But the really incredible part in this is that when reporter Joe Mullin, from Ars Technica, reached out to Prenda's Paul Duffy to comment on whether or not Prenda had paid up the fees, Duffy responded in the most bizarre way possible:

I hope you are doing well. I am devastated by the loss of Nelson Mandela and I hope you join with President Obama in remembering his legacy. He ranks with Mohandes Ghandi, Dr. King and President Kennedy in the struggle for human rights over the past 50 years. There are larger issues than the ability to steal porn... You seem like a nice guy. Thanks.

Yes, the copyright porn trolling lawyer, whose firm has been implicated in setting up bogus honeypots to shake people down, in forging signatures and in efforts to publicly embarrass people (oh, and whose wife more or less admitted that her husband was engaged in interstate extortion) is now claiming that he's "devastated" by the loss of Mandela, and talking about "the struggle for human rights." That's a laugh. I'd guess he's a bit more devastated about the hundreds of thousands of dollars he's on the hook for and the criminal and tax evasion charges he may be facing before very long.

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Filed Under: joe navasca, nelson mandella, nick ranallo, paul duffy
Companies: prenda, prenda law

49 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 2:52pm

Stealing porn
"There are larger issues than the ability to steal porn... You seem like a nice guy. Thanks."

There are larger issues than obtaining settlements from people who "steal" porn, but look at all the money you've made doing just that. Then again, you seem like an asshole, so it's really no surprise. Thanks.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:08pm

I think it says a lot when they couldn't just respond with a simple "no comment".
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- That One Guy (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 6:09am
  
  Re:
  It's a problem that all of the members of that pack of parasites seem to share, they just cannot keep their mouths shut(unless they are under oath anyway, in which case they have a tendency to collectively develop speech impediments and go mute).
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:16pm

Someone should make a movie
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- Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:22pm
  
  Re: Someone should make a movie
  About what happens when lawyers take over the world, similar in concept to Idiocracy, but the main premise would be that rather than everyone in the future being idiots, nobody would communicate ANYTHING in sentences shorter than 100 words or they would be completely ignored....
  
  Lawyers seem to have a need to over complicate things that should be relatively simple.
  
  It would be called, Verbocracy. (TM, Copyrighted, Patent Pending... one time use licenses of my idea available for the low low price of $1 million bitcoins)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 5:03pm
    
    Re: Re: Someone should make a movie
    They better be selling old fashions at Starbucks.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 7:28am
    
    Re: Re: Someone should make a movie
    And if you repeated ANY sentence that someone else had already used you'd be sued for infringement so sentences would get longer and more bizarre with randomly inserted words here and there to stave off the lawsuits.
    
    Also, because the world is run by lawyers, NOT being sued at least once a month would be 'felony interference of a business model'.....
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- OldGeezer (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 5:31pm
  
  Re: Someone should make a movie
  The Prenda story would make a great comedy. No writing required, just court transcripts and correspondence. You just can't write funnier shit than this. The line when Judge Wright instructs them to attend Pro Se classes is a riot. The audience would laugh their ass off and then stand and cheer at the final scene when they are loaded on the prison bus. Who would we get to play them? Unfortunately Moe, Larry, Curly and Shemp have all passed.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 2:25am
    
    Re: Re: Someone should make a movie
    I'd revive the everloving shit out of the Marx brothers for this.
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    - OldGeezer (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 5:49am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Someone should make a movie
      The secret word could be "IRS audit"
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Baron von Robber, 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:19pm

Is Duffy channeling...
Hunter S. Thompson?
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Tom Landry (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:27pm

I laugh at this and others who claim they are "sad' or "devastated" by Mandelas passing.

The guy made it to 95 FFS! Thats a win in anyones book!
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:29pm

there has been nothing but continuous lies and bullshit from this bunch of arse holes, but to use the death of one of the greatest men of our time is disgraceful. if all else fails, he should be jailed for 6 months simply for using this excuse!
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 7:29am
  
  Re:
  Don't worry they're all going to get their asses infringed on a regular basis in prison soon enough.....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cher, 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:32pm

Small penis alert
Small penis alert. Small penis alert.
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Christenson, 6 Dec 2013 @ 3:38pm

Creating "Excusable Neglect" here....
For whatever serious deadline the Prendanistas are just about to miss!

(Or was that "Excuses for Ignoring the court"?)

Where is THAT anonymous coward when you need her?
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- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 5:14am
  
  Re: Creating "Excusable Neglect" here....
  staring at my penis wondering how you missed it?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 7:29am
    
    Re: Re: Creating "Excusable Neglect" here....
    Forgot to bring magnifying glass?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 5:08pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Creating "Excusable Neglect" here....
      oooh zing burn... I might never recover.
      o_O
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Christenson, 7 Dec 2013 @ 10:32am
    
    I just thought I'd sow some doubt as to your identity if it is ever unmasked!
    Remember, I have zero PROOF as to what's between your legs, or even that you are a single individual. It's just not important to me.
    
    Now, I have to admit I like the counter theory of "Baffling e'm with Brilliant Bull****", just below, it would be sufficient!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 5:08pm
      
      Re: I just thought I'd sow some doubt as to your identity if it is ever unmasked!
      its just me and the voices in my head.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Frankz (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 4:25pm

More
All these little bits of news about Prenda are always great, but I can't wait for the really good stuff when we start hearing about any of the multiple criminal investigations by the DOJ, IRS, and the multiple Bar Associations they've been referred to.
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 7:31am
  
  Re: More
  Prenda lawyers you have been found GUILTY of extortion, fraud, RICO violations, obstruction of justice, obstruction of due process, lying to the courts of various states, we find you GUILTY and we hereby sentence you to be the legal team for the Obama Administration...now go fuck up some innocent lives...
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 5:35pm

The perfect defense.
If Johnnie Cochran can use the Chewbacca defense then by god I'll use Paul Duffy's Nelson Mandela defense the next time I fuck up.

Caught cheating
Sorry, Mandela

Forgot to take out the trash
Sorry, Mandela

Traffic accident insurance exchange
Sorry, Mandela

Intoxicated indecent exposure
Sorry, Mandela

Busted with drugs
Sorry, Mandela

Murdering a hooker
Sorry, Mandela

Cooking meth
Sorry, Mandela

Break your drug dealers bong
Sorry, Mandela
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 6:00pm

Paul Duffy and horse with no name just hate it when due process is enforced.
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Sheogorath (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 8:07pm

What he meant
I hope you are doing well, I think. I am pretending to be devastated by the loss of Nelson Mandela because it seems like the canny thing to do at the moment, and I hope you join with President Obama in remembering his legacy. He ranks with Mohandes Ghandi, Dr. King and President Kennedy in the struggle for human rights over the past 50 years, whereas I don't even rank with what passed from his bowels. There are larger issues than the ability to steal from people by threatening to expose their porn habits in a public setting... You seem like a much nicer guy than I am. Thanks.
FTFY, Paul Duffy.
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Sheriff Fatman, 7 Dec 2013 @ 1:39am

GANDHI, not Ghandi. G - A- N - D - H - I.
FFS!
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 2:34am

what does this have to do with "tech" ? or dirt, or copyright or anything else but a cheap Ad Hom attack on someone you don't like ?

this is pretty low brow even for Masnick !!
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- btrussell (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 4:06am
  
  Re:
  Some people have an attention span and can remember things from as far back as yesterday and like to know what follows.
  
  Are you going to use windows 95 until the copyright expires?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 7:33am
    
    Re: Re:
    No because assuming he's 20years old now, and Bill Gates lives another 40years then its going to be 2200 before the copyright expires on windows 95....
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- That One Guy (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 6:02am
  
  Re:
  'I SAID STOP LOOKING BEHIND THE CURTAIN!'
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 4:28pm
  
  Re:
  darryl greatly hates it when due process is enforced.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 5:16pm
  
  Re:
  Tech - Prenda and its magical tracking software.
  Dirt - The fact they created the events to profit from.
  Copyright - abusing an outdated law to extort money.
  Anything else - The longest running comedy on the Judicial system where the staunch "defenders of copyright" are shown once again to be lying cheating idiots undone by a group of people online.
  
  Or were you not keeping up with the story and just needed to flog your usual Mike bashing because it was time for you to feel special again?
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 5:53am

Duffy response is one of the best most briliant responses I have ever heard given to a reporter.

Think about it. If the reporter quotes him he does not look guilty by having said 'No Comment'.

The response can not be used in a court of law as it looks and feels like it is the answer to some other question the reported pasted into as the answer to the ask question.

The answer tells you nothing about the case or anything else controversial either for that matter.

In fact this is exactly the response my ex boss (40 years ago and dead now) would give when we would go through customs in a foreign country especially South America. In a case of selective memory instantaneously he would forget any and all languages except Southern Red Neck English. He was fluent in a at least a dozen. All answers would become tourist nonsense. As far as equipment smuggling was concerned we would take literally truck loads of essential test equipment used for power plant construction into and out of countries with little or no correct paperwork while tourist had their bags inspected for the slightest custom violation.
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- OldGeezer (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 8:57pm
  
  Re:
  I'm assuming the statute of limitations has run out or you would not be admitting complicity in illegal activities. In case you are not a regular techdirt reader, the authorities do have ways of tracking down people on the internet. That said, your ex boss had a pretty clever ruse.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous, 8 Dec 2013 @ 6:18am
    
    Re: Re:
    Miley Cyrus openly admits to participating in illegal activities. Has she been arrested yet?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - OldGeezer (profile), 8 Dec 2013 @ 11:44am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      So she's a pothead. Personal use is hardly a major crime any more. Hell, 20 years ago I got caught with a half ounce. I paid a fine and had to go to N.A. for a while.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - btrussell (profile), 8 Dec 2013 @ 1:23pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "I paid a fine and had to go to N.A. for a while."
        
        Sent to North America as punishment? :)
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        OldGeezer (profile), 8 Dec 2013 @ 2:05pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I'm sure you must be joking that you don't know N.A. is Narcotics Anonymous. Like A.A. only for dopers. In case you are wondering, I haven't used since. I had a good paying job that I nearly lost. They started doing random drug tests about that time so I stayed clean. They were kind of picky about that since I was running crane loads of heavy parts over people's heads.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        btrussell (profile), 9 Dec 2013 @ 3:29am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I figured it out, but no, didn't know at first. N.A. will always be North America first to me. Blame it on schooling.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous, 9 Dec 2013 @ 3:59pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        No Authority?
        (Hey, if One Direction is also known as 1D...)
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 6:17am

I don't remember Gandhi, King, or Kennedy heading a violent terrorist organization like Mndela's ANC.
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2013 @ 7:35am
  
  Re:
  President Kennedy was President of the United states, which includes the CIA and FBI and therefore classifies as a terrorist organization based on having enemies around the globe assassinated (Gandhi, Martin Luther King, etc)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
mcinsand, 7 Dec 2013 @ 3:35pm

December 14?
Am I correct in remembering that Prenda has to fork over or post bond for $261k on or by December 14? There is a thread on Popehat (use keywords 'Popehat,' 'Prenda,' and 'Hammer' to find it) that was discussing whether they would lose rights to appeal if they failed to come up with money or bond. Not that they would ignore court instructions or due dates, of course. It would be nice to have fireworks for Christmas, especially if this crowd was on the receiving end.
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sophisticatedjanedoe (profile), 7 Dec 2013 @ 9:01pm

Shari Duffy prepares to mourn on the Mandela memorial day, Tuesday December 10, 2013.
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- Duke, 8 Dec 2013 @ 5:49am
  
  Kudos to Shari for stepping up as the "earner" in the Duffy household -- $ 10 and $ 20 at a time. it's not the $ 3K a-pop (excuse the expression) that Paulie used to bring in, but it's better than going on the dole.
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- Hahaha, 20 Dec 2013 @ 2:54am
  
  Response to: sophisticatedjanedoe on Dec 7th, 2013 @ 9:01pm
  She is in denial. On Facebook, Shari Duffy confesses they have no money, yet goes out almost every night to what seems to be an overrated party.. Someone needs to tell her it's time to get a REAL job and take care of her kids because Daddy might be going to prison soon.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Dec 2013 @ 3:57pm

I hope you are doing well. I am devastated by the loss of Nelson Mandela and I hope you join with President Obama in remembering his legacy. He ranks with Mohandes Ghandi, Dr. King and President Kennedy in the struggle for human rights over the past 50 years.

Considering that the only one of those three who was even alive in the past 50 years was Dr. King, I have to wonder what Mr. Duffy is thinking.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2015 @ 6:36pm

Nelson Mandela now claims to be too devastated by Paul Duffy's death to comment.
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