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Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

"We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization"

Believe it or not, it is a business model.

I know quite a few slimeballs that will sue anyone big with money because they know that they often prefer to settle just to get rid of them.

(I call them slimeballs because it's the only way they know how to make money. They sometimes run for years with negative margins, but those settlements keep them alive.)

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If I remember correctly, according to the book Inside Intel (Tim Jackson), the lawyers in Intel's legal dept were reviewed by how many lawsuits they initiated per quarter. Not necessarily by how many they won, but how many they initiated. The goal, of course, to slow down any potential competitors.

It doesn't surprise me at all that there are companies who work like that. But it does surprise me to hear a company spokesman admit it so freely.

And that it would sue one of its own customers - not a competitor.

And yet this was the reverse--someone big with money suing someone small without it.

In this case, it is hard to think of it as a business model. They are blowing money on lawyers, getting bad press and suing someone who may not have 50K to pay back (if they win the case in courts). How do they justify spending so much money?

BUT... they're getting press. Have you heard of them before today? Doubt it. Now you do.

It's how Viacom became the company it is today.

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