Yet Another Prenda Gambit Fails: Judge Agrees To Sanctions Against Paul Duffy Over Bogus Defamation Lawsuit

from the oops dept

Remember back when Prenda sued everyone for defamation? The lawsuit targeted Alan Cooper (whose name multiple courts have now said Prenda forged) and his lawyer, Paul Godfread (while insisting the lawsuit was unrelated to the lawsuits Cooper brought against them), but also went after a bunch of blog commenters for anonymous comments they claimed were defamatory. Prenda even tried to subpoena Automattic (makers of Wordpress) to get the IP address of pretty much everyone who visited either fightcopyrighttrolls.com or dietrolldie.com. That subpoena failed. As did the lawsuit. Badly.

The judge has now approved Godfread and Cooper's request for sanctions against Prenda and Paul Duffy (who claims to be the sole lawyer behind Prenda, which has now been "dissolved").

U.S. District Judge John Darrah at a brief status hearing today granted the motion for sanctions that defendants Paul Godfread and Alan Cooper filed this past fall against Prenda and Paul Duffy, who served as the firm’s sole officer before it dissolved and now serves as its attorney in the matter.

There's still some effort to go, as the lawyers for Godfread and Cooper, Erin Russell and Jason Sweet (whose names you may recognize for other work they've done bringing down Prenda) have to submit an itemized fee list, followed by Duffy's response, and then the follow up response from Russell/Sweet. A hearing will then be held in June, meaning there's still plenty of time. However, it looks like another lump sum will be added to Prenda's large and growing tab.

Filed Under: alan cooper, erin russell, jason sweet, paul duffy, paul godfread