Earlier quoted context omitted.
Jesus Christ, $50k to pick the company name?? You could launch a whole new product for that much.
Sure, but what will you call it?
I can tell you with a modest $10K fee.
Fucking Sue Me (2011)
61–70 of 200 posts
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#62There's a simple reason why this works for small businesses: nobody sues a guy with no money. So if you're a sole proprietor scraping by and you piss off a giant company with lawyers enough that they want to file a lawsuit against you, well, what's the upside for them if they win? Tens of thousands of dollars in expenses on their side, and roughly zero dollars in recovered costs from the business they destroyed or th…
Q: Does LLC or Inc. allow the organization to take the hit (or fold) while leaving the founders relatively safe?
Yes, that's the entire point, it shields you from all liability. If you perjure yourself, you're still personally liable, but for things such as money owed by the business, you're not personally liable unless if you personally guarantee something (i.e. a company credit card that you guarantee with your social).
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#63Relevant Hark! A Vagrant: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=206
I downvoted your post because it only contained a link to a web comic. If you had provided some of your own opinions on the blog post or why the comic was relevant to the blog post, I would have refrained. I like to explain my downvotes when the downvoted post is not an obvious troll.
I think you're being silly. And I don't think that's what downvotes are for (not that I have a say in the matter, because I don't have the button). Explaining why the comic is relevant would be like explaining the joke itself. That hardly every works.
Would you downvote a comment with just a link to a paper about the technology being discussed in the article?
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
An additional upside for them is, it sets an example. If MegaCorp gains a reputation for being revenge-driven life ruiners, then future contractors will know the stakes are serious, and they'll be less likely to violate their contracts. Not that I consider that strategy cost-effective in general. For one thing, it's bad PR. (Unless you're some kind of wizard that can spin it like, "we're principled and don't let bull…
They will also be less likely to attract future contractors.
Playing the devil's advocate here: if contractors self-select themselves out of being hired because they're not sure they can get the job done, then all the better! The remaining applicant pool will be stronger on average.
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Jesus Christ, $50k to pick the company name?? You could launch a whole new product for that much.
$50k to pick a company name sounds pretty low for most companies. Names are important. Granted I reject the idea that you need to pay some high-falutin' corporation to name it ("Agilent", anyone?), but $50k to do some background searches, patent searches, general lawyer review? Doesn't seem too bad to me.
For a company that doesn't have a market presence or a product yet? If this was Bell Atlantic rebranding as Verizon or similar, $50k does seem quite cheap. I doubt many (any?) startups have paid $50k to come up with a company name since the money is just better spent elsewhere as your name as no meaning yet.
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#66The lesson, or at least the lesson I've learned from dealing with lawyers at companies big and small, is that lawyering is a practice in making sure nothing can possibly go wrong. In a way, lawyers are the QA team for the legal world. They know that the shit hitting the fan can potentially be very expensive, so they will go to extreme lengths to prevent any possibility of that happening. But just like you cannot rely…
>The job of an engineer is to take the cost of materials, the budget, the expected longevity of the bridge, the project schedule, the prevailing environmental and geological conditions of the siting, etc. and balance all of these different variable against each other to arrive at a solution
I'm not a lawyer, but I would assume that a good lawyer adopts an analogous process: they take the value of the contract, the prevailing legal conditions, the case history, etc., etc. and balance all these different variables against each other to arrive at a solution.
I think the problem with many corporate lawyers is the same as with many corporate programmers working at large, traditional corporations: risk takers are heavily penalized, and those who make traditional, low-risk decisions are rewarded. You know, the whole "nobody ever got fired for using Java" bit.
But lawyers working in private practice, or partners in firms with a lot of power, will presumably be willing to balance risk against reward, and try to optimize accordingly.
Lawyers: please correct me if I'm assuming incorrectly here.
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#67The only downside to this article is the URL with profanity in it...apparently it can't make it through my corporate firewall!
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#68Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#69There's a simple reason why this works for small businesses: nobody sues a guy with no money. So if you're a sole proprietor scraping by and you piss off a giant company with lawyers enough that they want to file a lawsuit against you, well, what's the upside for them if they win? Tens of thousands of dollars in expenses on their side, and roughly zero dollars in recovered costs from the business they destroyed or th…
Q: Does LLC or Inc. allow the organization to take the hit (or fold) while leaving the founders relatively safe?
Yes, that is the point of them.
If you are planning on creating one you should speak with an accountant and attorney to make sure you know the rules. If a corp or LLC is being used simply as a front a suing party can "pierce the corporate veil" and come after you personally.
Re: Fucking Sue Me (2011)
#70There's a simple reason why this works for small businesses: nobody sues a guy with no money. So if you're a sole proprietor scraping by and you piss off a giant company with lawyers enough that they want to file a lawsuit against you, well, what's the upside for them if they win? Tens of thousands of dollars in expenses on their side, and roughly zero dollars in recovered costs from the business they destroyed or th…
Someone with 500k and a few employed certainly has money. This story was sheer luck and is only showing off that.
I don't think you fully appreciate how expensive it is to go to court.