Stupid Lawyer Tricks, Streisand Effect Edition

In yesterday's update I pointed out that Apple and Samsung's lawyers are behaving badly at the behest of their employers. Sometimes, though, lawyers get to behave badly all on their own. (Seriously, if you don't already read Lowering the Bar you should.)

In this case patent lawyer Scott Horstemeyer appears to be demonstrating the Streisand Effect at his own behest by suing the EFF. Why? Because the EFF called one of Horstenmeyer's patents crap, awarding it their "Stupid Patent of the Month" award.

Well, yeah, but stupid patents are a dime a dozen and I - despite being an EFF supporter - hadn't heard about this until Horstenmeyer decided to call attention to it by filing suit. The EFF promptly put up a notice that it had been sued, and then created the "Scott A. Horstemeyer v. Electronic Frontier Foundation" page.

Horstenmeyer took a bit over a week to realize what direction this was likely headed and voluntarily dismissed his own lawsuit. The EFF wrote a final "...and by the way, you're wrong" letter that's pretty funny to read. Probably the end of this and one hopes a shining beacon of education to other lawyers tempted to call attention to their own failings.