Richard "Rick" G. Frenkel (born 1966 or 1967 Michael Orey

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

, March 27, 2008. Consulted on April 4, 2008.) was an in-house

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

counsel and director of intellectual property at

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

.Asher Hawkins
''Shut Up, Already!''
Forbes.com, March 11, 2008. Retrieved on March 15, 2008.Michelle Massey
''Patent troll tracker sued for defamation''
The Southeast Texas Record, March 13, 2008. Retrieved on March 15, 2008. He was once the anonymous author of the Patent Troll Tracker

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

, focusing on the subject of "

patent troll In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...

s" and "a must-read blog among top intellectual property litigators".

Dispute

In October 2007, Frenkel posted anonymous comments through his Patent Troll Tracker blog about a

patent infringement A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

case in which Cisco was the defendant. Frenkel claimed that the plaintiff, a company named ESN, filed a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

one day before the patent in the lawsuit was issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (which if true would have meant that ESN did not have legal standing). Frenkel also suggested that ESN's local counsel may have improperly convinced the Clerk of Court of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...

to change the date on the docket to reflect that the case was filed the next day. At that time, a $15,000 bounty for his identity had also been offered Niraj Chokshi
''Mystery patent blogger is Cisco in-houser''
Legal Week, February 26, 2008. Retrieved on March 15, 2008. by Chicago attorney Raymond Niro Sr.

Litigation claims

After Frenkel publicly revealed his identity on February 23, 2008, in the entry titled "Live by anonymity, die by anonymity", the attorneys for ESN, T. John Ward, Jr., the son of

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

federal Judge T. John Ward, and Eric Albritton, filed

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

actions against Cisco and Frenkel. "The attorneys

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

seeking

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognized at ...

for

shame Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, d ...

embarrassment Embarrassment or awkwardness is an emotional state that is associated with mild to severe levels of discomfort, and which is usually experienced when someone commits (or thinks of) a socially unacceptable or frowned-upon act that is witnessed ...

humiliation Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being Humility, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It is an emotion felt by a person whose social status, either by force or willingly, has ...

, mental pain, and

anguish Anguish (from the Latin ''angustia'' "distress") is "extreme unhappiness caused by physical or mental suffering." The feeling of anguish is typically preceded by a tragedy or event that has a profound meaning to the being in question. Anguish can ...

. Further, the attorneys state injuries to their "business reputation, good name, and standing in the community, and

ould Ould is an English surname as well as an element of many Arabic names. In Arabic contexts it is a transliteration of the word wikt:ولد, ولد, meaning "son". Notable people with this surname include: English surname * Edward Ould (1852–190 ...

be exposed to the

hatred Hatred or hate is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Hat ...

contempt In colloquial usage, contempt usually refers to either the act of despising, or having a general lack of respect for something. This set of emotions generally produces maladaptive behaviour. Other authors define contempt as a negative emotio ...

, and ridicule of the public in general as well as of his business associates, clients, friends, and relatives."

Issues

The case raised questions about the risks of blogging anonymously, and received wide publicity in the

blogosphere The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can pu ...

as it was thought that the lawsuits could result in precedents to be applied to future

gers. Subsequently, Cisco updated its policy on employee blogging.

Trial

The Albritton case went to trial in

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

on September 14, 2009. After Judge Richard A. Schell ruled that Albritton had to prove

actual malice In United States defamation law, actual malice is a legal requirement imposed upon public officials or public figures when they file suit for libel (defamatory printed communications). Compared to other individuals who are less well known to the ...

to be eligible for punitive damages, the litigation settled. The Ward case—which was filed against Cisco and not Frenkel—settled in January 2010.

Career change

Frenkel left Cisco in August 2008 to join the

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as a patent litigator.''Cisco Blogger Decamps To Wilson Sonsini''
Zusha Ellison, The Recorder, August 6, 2008. Consulted on July 24, 2010. He was a partner with the firm. At the time he joined the firm, he said he was done with blogging. As of 2022, Frenkel was a partner at the law firm of Latham & Watkins.''Richard G. Frenkel Attorney Biography, Latham & Watkins''
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Richard G. Frenkel, ''Intellectual Property in the Balance: Proposals for Improving Industrial Design Protection in the Post-TRIPS Era'', 32 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 531, 541 (1999
(pdf)

Primary sources

*Ward v. Cisco and Frenkel Case No. 2007-2502-
(pdf)
*Albritton v. Cisco and Frenkel Case No. 2008-481-CCL
(pdf)
* Dennis Crouch
''Troll Tracker, Defamation, and Splitting the Bar''
PatentlyO blog, March 12, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Frenkel, Richard Living people American male bloggers American bloggers American patent attorneys Year of birth missing (living people) 1960s births