On Libel, Blognation, TechCrunch, TechMeme and Apple – How they All Come Together

If you expect a juicy post on the Sam Sethi vs. TechCrunch / Mike Arrington lawsuit, you’ve come to the wrong place.  I have no desire to dig deep into it, nor do I want to be exposed to lawsuits myself…  but there is something ironic in how TechMeme juxtaposed several news items today… but I am running ahead of myself.

Let’s get the bare basics first:

• If you follow the links from this CrunchNotes post, you can assemble the basic picture: TechCrunch and personally Michael Arrington aired some (dirty) laundry regarding Sam Sethi’s dealings with failed venture Blognation, including failed investments, unpaid writers, alleged lying..etc.  Sam Sethi filed a libel lawsuit against Arrington and TechCrunch in the UK.
• Dennis Howlett breaks the news that the UK’s High Court of Justice ruled in favor of Sam Sathi.  To clarify this ruling:  it is a default judgement against TC / Arrington, since they refused to play the game, i.e. participate in the legal proceedings in the United Kingdom, claiming  domicile in California.  Therefore this ruling does not say anything on the merits of Sam’s lawsuit, his dealings with Blognation or whether Arrington was right in airing some of the dirty laundry.  It’s a “you ignore us, we scr*w you back” message from the UK legal system.

This is how far I will go re. the libel issue – you can read upon it and draw your own conclusions.

OK, but what does Apple have to do with this?   Oh, so you haven’t forgotten my snarky title   Well, this is where TechMeme and the twists of random juxtaposing  ( or editorial intent?) come in the picture:

Just above the libel thread (which some also consider a freedom-of-speech case, a concept that is interpreted wildly differently from country to country) is another thread:  Apple tried to silence owner of exploding iPod with gagging order.  Apple is trying to force the owner of an exploded iPod to sign an NDA as a condition of settlement: not for meag $$$, just for the price of the dead iPod.    They are trying to suppress this consumer’s right to discuss the case.  The quoted article is from The Times, and – what a surprise! – this is happening in the UK.

Again, draw your own conclusions.

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