By Lisa Shuchman, From Corporate Counsel

The lawyer who last week sued the Electronic Frontier Foundation for defamation after the nonprofit wrote about his invention in its “Stupid Patent of the Month” column has dropped his lawsuit.

Attorney Scott Horstemeyer, who filed a complaint against EFF and staff attorney Daniel Nazer last Monday, dismissed the suit three days later.

“We are pleased that he has decided to abandon his misguided and counterproductive litigation,” EFF’s deputy executive director and general counsel, Kurt Opsahl, wrote on the organization’s website.

Although Horstemeyer dismissed the case, he did so without prejudice, and EFF said the two parties did not negotiate a settlement or agreement of any kind. Horstemeyer therefore could still refile a complaint.

“We stand ready to defend if he does, but for now consider this matter to be over,” Opsahl wrote.

Last week, Horstemeyer’s attorney, Sanford Asman, and Bryan Cave attorney Eric Schroeder, who represents EFF, held a phone conversation and exchanged letters regarding the lawsuit, according to documents published on EFF’s site. On June 4, Asman informed Schroeder that Horstemeyer had agreed to drop the case after learning that EFF would in the future have Michael Barclay, a registered patent attorney, review posts by Nazer and others. Schroeder described Nazer as “unqualified … to opine as to issues of patent law.”

Nazer is a graduate of Yale Law School who clerked for U.S. District Judge William Sessions III. Before joining EFF, where he holds the “Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents,” he was a legal fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, an associate at Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco and a fellow at the Fair Use Project within the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.

In a letter dated June 5, Schroeder responded by saying EFF was gratified that the lawsuit was dismissed but noted that Asman had “mischaracterized” their conversation.

“Neither EFF, nor I, ever agreed that it would change any processes in response to anything you said on that call,” Schroeder wrote. “I did inform you that EFF thoroughly reviews its articles before publication, and I informed you that EFF would most certainly reject any suggested change to its editorial processes going forward.”

Schroeder then reiterated that EFF stood by its post and would not change its procedures. “To be clear, EFF does not agree to any particular procedure for review of its blog posts, and retains its editorial discretion,” he wrote.

In its Stupid Patent of the Month post, part of an EFF campaign to highlight flaws in the U.S. patent system, Nazer not only challenged the validity of Horstemeyer’s patent, but also said the lawyer, who is the man behind a nonpracticing entity that sends out demand letters and has filed more than 100 patent suits, “has shown advanced skill at gaming the patent system.”

Photo by Lord Jim, via Flickr

For more on this story go to: http://www.corpcounsel.com/id=1202728673549/Lawyer-Drops-Stupid-Patent-Suit-Against-EFF#ixzz3cZiH1rqr

See iNews Cayman related story published June 4 2015 “Lawyer sues EFF for calling his patent ‘Stupid’” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/lawyer-sues-eff-for-calling-his-patent-stupid/