My Response to Michael Robertson's Spin-filled Blog Post

Robertson tries to spin the story, but Wikipedia has the facts.

In Jun of 2011, Michael Robertson posted a blog on his site entitled "Jury Finds Kevin Carmony and Chad Olson Liable for Fraud and Conspiracy."  I thought I'd respond here.

Anyone who followed this matter knows this was Robertson's feeble attempt to spin the story and try to clear HIS name in this matter, since it was he who ended up losing and being found liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars.  However, rather than me trying to defend myself, I figured the best defense is the truth, as reported on Robertson's own Wikipedia page with footnotes to the actual rulings:

In 2008, Robertson attempted to sue Linspire's bank, Comerica, in an attempt to get Comerica to refund severance payments which had been made to laid-off Linspire employees. Robertson alleged the severance payments were actually funds which had been embezzled by the laid-off employees. The San Diego Police Department investigated and quickly came to the conclusion that this was a simple dispute between Robertson and Linspire's CEO at the time, Kevin Carmony, and no embezzlement or other crime had been committed.^[10] Robertson lost the lawsuit without it getting past summary judgment.^[11] Robertson then filed a civil suit against the six former employees directly, for which he was counter sued. The jury sided largely with the employees, awarding a $238,000 judgement against Robertson.^[12] A smaller judgement of $80,000 was awarded to Robertson, however, this judgement was vacated and set aside by Judge Taylor.^[13] Judge Taylor stated in his ruling, “It is plain to the court that Linspire [Robertson] was not required to act in the protection of its interests as it did. Rather, Linspire [Robertson] approached this case as a vehicle for a test of will as between Robertson and Carmony.”^[14]

In an effort to defend the names of the former employees being sued by Robertson, a website critical of Robertson called Freespire.com was launched in February 2008. The Freespire.com site states that it is "dedicated to shedding light on the REAL Michael Robertson," and discloses information and facts about Robertson. In an attempt to have the Freespire.com site taken down, Robertson had Linspire (renamed as Digital Cornerstone) file a lawsuit, claiming the site violated trademark law. In 2010, Robertson lost the lawsuit with the court saying the site did not infringe on any trademarks and was protected as free speech. Judge Judith F. Hayes stated in her ruling, "...the Court finds the general purpose of the website to be a free speech forum wherein Defendant criticized the management of Plaintiff."^[15][16]

Bottom line, Robertson and his massive ego (which even the Judge commented on in his ruling as being Robertson's motive) unsuccessfully attacked his former employees, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, was ordered to pay attorney fees, and the only judgement that went his way (which is what his blog post was about), was vacated and set aside by the Judge.  But, of course, Robertson failed to do a follow-up blog about that part.  I, nor Mr. Olson, ever had to pay Robertson one dime in this matter.  Robertson lost at every turn, and I was NEVER found guilty of anything, and the only small civil judgement was set aside.

Kevin

PS:  To read the details of the case and the final outcome in more detail, including exact figures Robertson was ordered to pay, go here.  Also, visit freespire.com to read about the REAL Michael Robertson, as told by dozens of people who have worked closely with him.

Michael Robertson Fails in Final Appeal to Kill Free Speech at Freespire.com

Michael Robertson fails to get government to step in and

kill free speech at Freespire.com, a website critical of Robertson.

Those of you who have been following Michael Robertson's attacks on free speech, by attempting to take down the Freespire.com website, will be pleased to know he has failed at his last and final attempt. This week, Robertson thew in the towel and abandoned his appeal in the case. Freespire.com, the free-speech gripe site dedicated to exposing the "real" Michael Robertson, can now safely live on for years to come.

It is estimated that Robertson spent over $100,000 in his legal attacks to see Freespire.com take down. However, in a previous blog, I had vowed to put my free speech to the test, and see if I could win this appeal without spending one dime on attorney fees, so I represented myself in this matter. I stayed true to my commitment, and am pleased to see that my free speech didn't end up costing me one dime to defend. American's are very fortunate to live in a country where wealthy bullies like Robertson can't buy your free speech for any amount of money.

For those of you not familiar with this case...Freespire.com was launched as a means to expose the real Michael Robertson, and as a resource for anyone thinking about having dealings with Robertson. Understandably, Robertson wouldn't want people finding this site. However, given America's strong First Amendment protections of the press and free speech, Robertson was forced to be clever, and tried using Trademark law to have Freespire.com taken down. As I reported in April of last year, Robertson lost those attempts in court after spending thousands in legal bills on his failed attack. Upon losing the case, he filed an appeal, which he has now given up on.

Honestly, this is the first smart thing I've seen Robertson do in years. I've seen him waste over a million dollars losing in court time and time again (more details of this in my next blog). As with so many of his attacks, the Freespire trademark case was groundless (read the Judge's strong ruling against Robertson here). However, that hasn't stopped Robertson in the past, and it seems to me that his lawyer, Ed Cramp has played Robertson for the fool, making loads off of Robertson. (Although Cramp, like so many of us, may also come to regret ever having met Robertson...read why.)

I was quite surprised to see Robertson finally make a smart decision and stop wasting money on this. One can only speculate as to why he dropped this case... Is he running out of money? (You know what they say about a fool and his money.) Did he stop paying his lawyers? Did he finally figure out all he was accomplishing was bringing more light to Freespire.com while making his lawyers rich? Did he realize I wasn't spending a dime on this? Did he decide he has bigger things to worry about, like the massive copyright infringement case against him from EMI?

The Future of Freespire.com

Now that Freespire.com is safe from Robertson's attacks, look for the site to become even more dynamic. (Visit Freespire.com now to see the beginnings of it's new look.) In addition to the several facts already there, here are just some of the topics you'll be able to read more about in the coming months at Freespire.com:

• My next blog post, "Michael Robertson's Million Dollar Ego," with tabulated figures, facts and details of just how much money Robertson wasted attacking former employees, and see the final "scoreboard" of who won and who lost.
  
  
• Blow by blow accounts of the insurance fraud investigation involving Robertson and his lawyer, Ed Cramp (w/Duane Morris).
  
  
• Updates on Robertson's failure to speak with Linspire shareholders in years since he ran the company into the ground, with millions of dollars still un-accounted for to the shareholders.
  
  
• Timely updates on the EMI copyright infringement case against Robertson. Having worked at MP3.com and closely with Robertson for many years, as well as having been deposed as a witness in the EMI case, I have a unique perspective and access to timely updates for all the developments in that case. For example, find out how Robertson argued that he was involved in all the major decisions at Linspire (where he had little involvement and wasn't the CEO), and yet claimed to have little involvement (read: liability) in the EMI case, where he WAS the CEO of MP3tunes. Don't fall for the spin from Robertson, get the true facts at Freespire.com.
  
  
• Inside perspective from former employees on how Robertson treats them, who he gives special attention to, and who he attacks and his underhanded methods in those attacks.

So, bookmark Freespire.com, and link to it from your websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking pages. (The more links to the site, the higher up it will appear in Google searches to help inform others who may be considering dealings with Robertson.)

With someone like Robertson, you know there will always be interesting reading, so stay tuned to Freespire.com for the latest news on the REAL Michael Robertson.

Kevin

Jury Vindicates Former Linspire Employees of 3-Years of Attacks by Michael Robertson!

Once again, Michael Robertson's bullying has been put to an end
by the greatest legal system in the world. Yesterday, a jury vindicated
four former Linspire employees who were being wrongly abused and
attacked by Michael Robertson. He knew these employees had
done nothing wrong, but used them as innocent pawns in his attacks.

Many of you who follow my blog do so to keep tabs on the litigious antics and bullying of multi-millionaire Michael Robertson. You also know that I started blogging about Robertson only after he started attacking former Linspire employees who I knew to be honest, good people. I've never had any problem with Robertson disagreeing with me or what I did as CEO for Linspire. It was his attacking these blameless employees that bothered me. Those employees deserved being stood up for as Robertson tried to roll over them.

When asked why he was attacking all these good people, Robertson would say, "Just wait until I get my day in court. You'll see the truth." Well, Robertson not only got his "day" in court, but he got three weeks, and we now do have the truth. Yesterday, after being in the court house for three weeks, the jury returned their verdict. Read on....

Quick Summary of the Case

Three years ago, I was the CEO for Linspire. Michael Robertson had stepped down two years earlier, and had virtually no involvement in the running of the company since. However, after the Linspire employees brought in a VERY profitable year, Robertson suddenly decided he wanted to be involved. He first asked me to have Linspire transfer $1,000,000 to himself and $500,000 to his father-in-law, the two preferred shareholders. I explained to Robertson that he couldn't just take money out of the company like that, and that there were around 100 other shareholders to consider. If he wanted a distribution, the company would need to offer it to ALL shareholders, not just Robertson. I then came up with a stock-buy-back plan which would have gotten his father-in-law the $500,000 Robertson wanted him to get, BUT in a legal, fair and equitable way, taking ALL shareholders into account.

Robertson rejected my stock-buy-back proposals. I believe he realized that the only way he could get his hands on the majority of the money (without having to share any with the other shareholders), was to run the company into the ground, liquidate it, and then he and his father-in-law, as preferred shareholders, would be first in line to get paid from any liquidation proceeds. (Which is exactly what he did, and in ten short months, millions of dollars from the company magically disappeared and the company was sold. To this day, shareholders have been given no accounting as to what happened.)

Robertson next wanted me to lay off several long-term, dedicated Linspire employees with only two weeks of severance (even though they had just turned in an VERY profitable year). I refused and told Robertson I wanted no part in such a selfish act. I told Robertson that I wouldn't come into work the coming week so that he would have plenty of time to fire me, take the CEO position back, and then fire the employees as he saw fit. Robertson never did fire me or any of the employees, but rather, called me a week later insisting I come back to the office and do his dirty work, fire the employees, give them two weeks of severance, and transfer $1.5 million to him and his father-in-law. Again, I refused, this time telling him I would return to work and execute the layoffs, but that I would give the employees a fair and reasonable severance, not the two weeks he wanted. That is exactly what I did. I returned to the office and laid off the employees, giving them what I believed was the correct severance. As came out in court, as the CEO, I did intentionally navigate the situation to prevent Michael from stepping in and harming these employees (for which the Jury awarded some small damages against me). I stand by my authority as CEO to have taken the actions I did, and I am glad to have protected these good employees. When I laid the CFO off, he even agreed to take less in severance than he was due based on his employment agreement, which more than offset the additional severance I awarded the other employees, in essence, saving the company money AND treating the employees fairly.

Robertson, upset by my actions, absolutely refused to talk or meet with me (even after repeated attempts by me to meet with him to explain all that had happened), but instead, set about attacking me and the laid off employees at every possible turn. He did many despicable things to these employees, including filing a lawsuit, accusing the former employees of fraud, conspiracy, etc. simply because they were laid off and given severance by me, the CEO. The complaint asked for $318,000 in damages from the employees. The six employees involved were two VPs, one Team Lead, the Controller, the CFO, and myself (the CEO). The only one Robertson should have gone after was ME. I am more than happy to accept any judgment against me IF I did in fact do anything wrong, but I will never forgive Robertson for having gone after employees HE KNEW did nothing wrong. Dragging them into this was disgusting and shows exactly what kind of person he is.

The Jury's Verdict

As hoped, the jury completely vindicated the employees he dragged into this. As you'll see, they did find me responsible in a few areas and awarded a small amount of damages.

Here is what the jury found...

VP #1 - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of his severance.

VP #2 - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of her severance.

Team Lead - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of his severance.

Controller - Not liable on all counts AND Robertson was ordered to pay him $72,500 in damages. (The controller had an employment agreement for six months of severance which Robertson had previously refused to honor.)

The only thing that went Robertson's way was that I (CEO) and the CFO were found responsible in a few areas, and Linspire was awarded a small amount of damages from us (equivalent to about four months worth of the CFO's severance), but the damages were far from what Robertson wanted so the jury definitely didn't agree fully with Robertson's side of things. I still believe everything I did was within my authority as CEO, and the CFO did absolutely nothing wrong, as he was simply following my directions (which his employment agreement told him to do). So...

CFO - As I mentioned, he had an employment agreement for two years of severance, but Robertson wanted him to get only two weeks, later moving that up to 2.5 months (in trial he requested the CFO get NO severance). The CFO, however, agreed to accept only 12 months of severance when laid off, saving the company the other 12 months of his severance. The jury ruled that the CFO could keep all of his severance, but awarded damages to Linspire which equated to about 4 months of the CFO's severance. (Even though the CFO essentially ended up with 8 months of severance, well above the 2.5 months Robertson wanted him to receive, we are considering a post trial motion given that he had an employment agreement for two years of severance and was terminated without cause.)

CEO - Like the CFO, I too had an employment agreement giving me two years of severance. However, after laying off the employees, I freely resigned and walked away from my severance, wanting nothing more to do with Robertson. The jury found me responsible for the same items as the CFO and ordered that I be joined in those same minor damages.

The Bottom Line

Needless to say, I was THRILLED with the jury's verdict. Robertson attacked these good employees, out of spite, greed and ego, and wound up with essentially nothing but a big pile of legal bills. I have never cared what judgments came to me--I have always been prepared to live with any of the consequences of my decisions as CEO--but to see the employees vindicated was great. It's been a long three years of Robertson attacking these good people and blemishing their reputations. It was nice to see their names cleared.

So, the bottom line? As per the complaint, Robertson wanted to 1) take away ALL the severance from ALL the employees and be awarded $318,000 AND 2) not be forced to pay the Controller his severance of $72,500. After the jury's verdict, Robertson will end up netting only $8,833, all while having spent, I'm sure, hundreds of thousands in legal bills (ouch!) and quite likely being liable for more, since all the employees who were found not having done anything wrong are of course asking the judge for statutory indemnification and legal fees. It's certainly not fair that these faultless employees should have to pay their legal bills for just defending themselves against Robertson's baseless attacks.

Far more important than the financial victory, however, is these former employees have their good names back! Justice was served!

There were a lot of interesting things to come out of the trail such as why Robertson has never told the shareholders what happened to their investment in Linspire, how he feels about common shareholders who he called "second class" from the witness stand, the many despicable measures Robertson took in attacking these former employees, and much more. I will do a follow-up blog with some of these details, but for now, I just wanted to share this wonderful news and take some time to enjoy this favorable outcome.

This is the third loss Robertson has suffered in the courts relating to the layoffs. He lost against his bank Comerica and also against the gripe site Freespire.com. At least his lawyers are doing very well. =)

Thank you's

Thanks to my co-defendants. We have all grown closer together having had to go through this. You have all been wonderful, and as I said, I couldn't be happier for you with the outcome. (Pool party? =)

I want to thank the AMAZING lawyers Gil Cabrera and Greg Goonan who did such a wonderful job at representing us. More important than the outcome, as defendants, we were all so very proud of the way these fine men conducted themselves. There were actually points in their closing arguments that brought many of us to tears, as they advocated for us and the truth. If you ever need a great lawyer, these two are the best!

I want to personally thank all the jury members who had to spend THREE WEEKS of their lives in the court house dealing with this. America has the best legal system in the world, and at the center of it is our jury system. Thank you from me and all the defendants in this case!

I don't know if it's appropriate, but I have to do it, a BIG thanks to Judge Timothy Taylor. I was SO impressed with how he conducted every minute of this case. There was one part where Robertson's lawyer was hammering away at me, trying to make me look guilty because I couldn't find something in a document, but the Judge DID find it and pointed it out. I don't thank him for that, I thank him because he would have done the same for the other side. He is truly a wonderful example of what a smart, fair, and just judge should be. He WAS the smartest man in the room, as it should be.

Lastly, I want to give a special thanks to the many friends and former employees who showed up at the court house to support us these past few weeks! Seeing you there in support was greatly appreciated by me and the other defendants. It was so touching to have received so many emails, not only wishing us all the best, but actually saying you were "praying for us" and that the truth would come out. Thank you from all of us for those prayers. They were answered.

Kevin

Can Michael Robertson Buy Your FREE Speech for $250,000?

Is "free" speech really free? Or can someone like Michael Robertson spend $250,000 to buy yours? He seems to think so. I'm going to put it to the test. Is my free speech really "free?" We'll soon find out...

Michael Robertson thinks he's bigger than the 1st Amendment, you know, that thing that says government can't pass laws to deprive one of their right to free speech. Most countries don't have anything like our 1st Amendment, and it's one of the things that makes America so great. Robertson claims to be a champion of free speech, but when it comes to speech critical of him, he wants government (via the courts) to step in and help him kill it. Robertson has added himself to the long list of those who are trying to whittle away at the 1st Amendment, and usher in an era of political correctness where no one gets their feelings hurt by another's speech. He's the classic example of the bully who loves to dish the criticism out (see his blog, that's pretty much all he does), but can't take it himself.

For those of you not familiar with the Freespire.com case, Michael Robertson has been trying unsuccessfully for nearly TWO YEARS to kill free speech on the Internet at www.freespire.com. Freespire.com is a gripe site, "dedicated to shedding light on the REAL Michael Robertson." You can read the court history here, where you'll see that Robertson has spent an estimated $100,000 to $150,000 and lost at every turn. Fortunately, the 1st Amendment isn't an easy thing to bring down, and without spending a tenth of what Robertson has spent, Freespire.com has continued to win in the courts.

When Robertson lost in the final court case to try and bring down Freespire.com, knowing what an insecure egomaniac Robertson is, I predicted the following:

I won't be at all surprised if Robertson appeals, as he might still have a little money left. (What's that they say about a fool and his money? ;-) But, I'm happy to see Robertson wasting his money (as I'm sure his attorney Ed Cramp is too =), since I won't be the one spending anything, just like before. Doesn't Robertson understand that the more he attacks, the more attention he just brings to Freespire.com? He spends HIS money to bring more attention to the very thing he's trying to shut down. Doi!

Some of us who worked for Robertson have a saying, "Take the smartest, most logical thing to do, and plan on Robertson doing the exact opposite." It's what makes him so predictable. What would be the dumbest thing to do here? To appeal and waste more of your money to bring attention to freespire.com. So, what can we expect from Robertson...you got it. Mark my words.

Robertson is as predictable as a dumb donkey, and sure enough, today I learned that he has appealed this no-win case. He could end up blowing around $250,000 on this loser. (Don't you wish you had that kind of money to waste on your bruised ego?)

Putting Free Speech to the Test

I'm confident enough in our 1st Amendment (and Robertson's incompetence in attacking it), that I'm going to put my free speech to the test. I will not spend one penny on this case. I have already released Gil, my lawyer who had done such a great job on this case up until now. Even though Gil easily won this case on a very small budget, I believe one should be able to defend their free speech for, well, for free. Let's find out if it can be done.

I'm going to represent myself in this case, or with the assistance of any unpaid, "free" volunteers. If I win, then our 1st Amendment is alive and well. Should I lose, then I guess free speech isn't so free after all, and bullies like Robertson can buy yours for around $250,000, and we'll have to start calling it "quarter of a million dollars speech," instead of "free speech."

So, choose your team. Team Robertson or Team Free Speech. Let me know who you'll be cheering for.

Who knew all those years ago when I decided to name the Freespire OS by that name, it would take on a much greater meaning, that of an American's right to FREE speech. Long live FREE Speech, and long live FREEspire.com!

Kevin

Michael Robertson Loses. Free Speech Wins. Freespire.com to Live on for 100 Years!

When I left Linspire, I had every intention of just moving on with my life, but soon after my departure, Michael Robertson hit a new and disgusting low (even for him) by trying to have some good people arrested for simply having been laid off and given severance. (What kind of greedy person would do something like that?!?) Robertson tried to have these good people arrested and started attacking them, trying to destroy their good names, and doing everything he could to bring harm to these individuals. Well, I couldn't just stand by and watch. As the saying goes, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." So, I decided the world needed to know about the REAL Michael Robertson, and little by little, I started to share some facts about Robertson via my blog, and eventually started using Freespire.com to disseminate my writings.

If you review the history page of Michael Robertson's Wikipedia page, you'll see Michael ("Mykill") and his family ("Leslieaudra") remove anything unflattering from Robertson's page (not to mention libeling others with false acquisitions). Therefore, I felt it was important that there was a website to tell the real story about Robertson and where I could defend the employees Robertson was attacking...someplace that he couldn't whitewash and censor. That place became, and is, Freespire.com.

Understandably, given Robertson's unflattering history, he doesn't want the facts shared at Freespire.com to be public, but unlike Wikipedia which he could censor directly, he had no influence at Freespire.com. So, instead, he did what many wealthy, unethical men do, and tried to squash my free speech by filing a lawsuit against me and Freespire.com.

Yesterday, the Judge in the Freespire case came out with her final ruling. Here's what happened...

Trial Prep

My lawyer estimates that Robertson spent over $100,000 on the Freespire case (including a motion for summary judgment which he lost last year). I didn't spend even a small fraction of that. There's a saying among lawyers, "If the law is on your side, argue the law. If the facts are on your side, argue the facts. If neither are on your side, pound on the table." Robertson paid dearly for a lot of table pounding. =) Both the law and the facts were unquestionably on my side. Time and time again the courts have protected sites such as Freespire.com, for to do otherwise would be an infringement on one's freedom of speech (something Robertson pretends to care about, except when it comes to the free speech of others talking ABOUT HIM =). This made defending this case very easy, and very little work was needed or done on our part, but for Robertson, well, let's just say table pounding can be very expensive!

The day before the trial, my lawyer, Gil Cabrera, called me and asked if I wanted to get together before the trial and go over anything and do any prep. I told him, "We won't need any. If we stick with the facts and law, we win, and I know you're a pro at that. Let's let Robertson waste his money and put his lawyers' kids through college. I have better things to do with my money." I then told Gil that I'd meet him at his office a few minutes before the trial, and we'd walk over to the courthouse together. (Gil's office is only a couple of blocks away.) I told him that we'd prepare as we walked over. That's it. That's all the prep we did. I knew this was likely the least a client had ever let Gil prepare for a trial, but I told him he was good enough, and our case strong enough, it wouldn't matter.

The Trial

Gil and I arrived at the courthouse and walked into the courtroom. There was Robertson with THREE lawyers from his high-priced law firm, Duane Morris (Ed Cramp, Ed's partner, and Michelle Hon, an IP litigation specialist). They had posters prepared, documents stacked a mile high, and their game faces on, all poised and ready for battle. (Robertson fancies himself as quite the legal mind, even though he loses a lot more often in the courtroom than wins.) It was clear, Robertson was sparing no expense to try and shut down Freespire.com. I felt sorry for Ed and Michelle who had been handed a total loser case, but I was anxious to see them pound that table...and boy, did they ever! I have to say, Ed and Michelle did a great job, considering they had no case and the law was completely stacked against them. Ed tried to imply all sorts of sinister going-ons as he questioned me on the witness stand about "private" domain registrations, ooooohhhh, using aliases for negotiating domain name purchases, aaaahhhh, and bank wires to escrow companies located in the, shhhhhh, the Cayman Islands. Oh my! :-O

My favorite moment was when Ed Cramp had the entire court room on the edge of their seats. He was going to drop the big bomb on us all, that would blow the case wide open. We spent 30 minutes so Ed's big moment could be allowed in court (he was going to have me read from a confidential document). There were several high school students who were in the court room as part of some class project, so we had to wait for them to all sign confidentiality agreements before they could hear the big bombshell Ed was going to drop on the court. Well, the big moment finally came...we're all on the edge of our seats...I'm on the witness stand and Ed had me turn to a specific page in the ginormous trial documents book they had prepared. He asks me to start reading his big smoking-gun document. The only problem was, what he was reading, and what everyone else in the court is reading, were completely different. It was all I could do to not look at Gil for fear I would bust out laughing while on the witness stand, just three feet from the judge. From the witness stand I had a front row seat watching Michael, Ed and Michelle scratching their heads, scrambling, trying to figure out what had happened. Where was the missing, secret document? After a minute or two of silence, while the entire court waited for them to get it together, I saw Robertson turn beet red, and he started pounding on documents on the table (literally =), as he explained to Ed that someone had photo copied the wrong document! (I could picture how later that day, Ed would have to endure one of Robertson's famous, out-of-control, childish temper tantrum "bell ringings," something I had to witness dozens of times at Linspire. I could also image the big discounts Robertson would be demanding from his legal bill for this snafu. Poor Ed. Or is it "rich" Ed, who actually seems pretty happy to keep taking Robertson's money for no-win cases? ;-)

They finally got things sorted out and Ed was able to read the big zinger. Yawwwnnn. What a let down, just more nonsense. And so the trial went on...and on....AND ON, blah, blah, innuendo after innuendo being made by Robertson's team. A case that should have taken an hour or two, Robertson and Co. dragged on for an entire day, we even stayed past the normal closing time for the court.

The Verdict

After the trial, we had to wait a couple of weeks for the Judge to issue her ruling. When it arrived, as expected, it was a complete and total victory for free speech. Robertson lost. Free speech won. Judge Judith Hayes was spot on in her ruling. She didn't miss a thing, and correctly ruled "...the Defendant had a bona fide noncommercial use for the website, the Court finds the general purpose of the website to be a free speech forum wherein Defendant criticized the management of Plaintiff. ..the Defendant at no time harbored a bad faith intent to profit from a registered mark and that his use of the website undertaken to inform consumers and criticize Plaintiff's management constituted a lawful use of the site."

Oh, but wait! Michael Objects!

I guess Robertson didn't feel like he'd wasted enough cash on this dog case (or maybe Ed Cramp had another kid needing to be put through college), so they filed a TWENTY-SEVEN PAGE objection with the court, contesting the judge's tentative ruling. When we received a copy of their objections (27 pages of the same blah, blah they tried at trial), Gil suggested we really should respond. I told him, again, I had better things to do with my money than waste it on this ridiculous case. I typed up a paragraph, emailed it to him, he translated it into legalese, and that was our response. We then waited for the Judge's final ruling...

Judge's Final Ruling

Yesterday we received Judge Hayes final "Statement of Decision." It reads: "The Court has considered objections by Plaintiff, overrules the objections so noted and hereby issues its Statement of Decision." Translated, this means, "We read your TWENTY SEVEN PAGES of blah, blah, and free speech is still protected in this country. You lose. Free speech wins." (Click here for a copy of the Judge's ruling.)

For all the money Robertson paid the MULTIPLE Duane Morris attorneys, I'll take my ONE lawyer, Gil Cabrera, any day. Even though I didn't pay him to prepare to anywhere near the extent Robertson did his team, Gil easily won. I didn't pay to let Gil have all the resources that Robertson let Duane Morris ring up (motions for summary judgment, prep time, research, nifty white posters, 27-page objections, multiple attorneys at trial, etc.), yet in my opinion, he clearly out lawyered them where it counts--in the courtroom. Gil beat Robertson's team with one hand tied behind his back, while Robertson gave his troops a tank. Gil won by sticking to the heart of the issue (non-commercial free speech site), regardless of all the nonsense Robertson's team threw out there. Sure, Gil DID have the law and the facts on his side, but he still did a great job in delivering them, and it's clear by the outcome that the Judge didn't miss a thing. Kudos to Gil for making sure the real issues didn't get buried in the mud Robertson's side was throwing at the wall.

I won't be at all surprised if Robertson appeals, as he might still have a little money left. (What's that they say about a fool and his money? ;-) But, I'm happy to see Robertson wasting his money (as I'm sure his attorney Ed Cramp is too =), since I won't be the one spending anything, just like before. Doesn't Robertson understand that the more he attacks, the more attention he just brings to Freespire.com? He spends HIS money to bring more attention to the very thing he's trying to shut down. Doi!

Some of us who worked for Robertson have a saying, "Take the smartest, most logical thing to do, and plan on Robertson doing the exact opposite." It's what makes him so predictable. What would be the dumb thing to do here? To appeal and waste more of your money to bring attention to freespire.com. So, what can we expect from Robertson...you got it. Mark my words. Like I say, as predictable as a dumb donkey.

Freespire.com for 100 Years

The Freespire.com domain name was set to expire next month. I just renewed it for another 10 years. I would have registered it for longer, but that's the max they'd let me go. I suppose they figure that in ten years who knows if "web sites" and "domain names" will even exist. One thing I can assure you, however, no matter what the medium will be in the future, I'll make sure the facts about the REAL Michael Robertson get published, not just for the next 10 years, but for the next 100.

Kevin

Will Freedom of Speech be Banned in America? Michael Robertson hopes so!

Will freedom of speech be banned in America? If Michael Robertson has his way it will be. He wants Freespire.com taken down because the site is critical of him and exposes many of his questionable business practices. Robertson is trying to use trademark law to shut down Freespire.com. Fortunately, America has a rich history of supporting freedom of speech on the Internet. Robertson already lost in summary judgment in the case, and it goes to full trial later this month. (If you're in the San Diego area and would like to attend the hearing, email me for details.)

For Robertson to shut Freespire.com down, he needs to prove I had bad faith intent to "profit" from the site, such as by confusing visitors. For example, show that people visiting Freespire.com would somehow be so daft that they would be confused and think the site was run by Xandros (the trademark holder for the term "Freespire") and that this confusion was created so that I would profit from the site.

If you visit http://freespire.com, you'll see first hand how ridiculous that argument is. There's clearly no confusion that this site is from Xandros (or Linspire), nor has there ever been any such confusion, and the site has never received one dime of revenue or profited. (Robertson's lawyers know the case is a dog, but they love taking Robertson's money and he's crazy enough to pay it. Doi!)

Xandros, the trademark holder, has never expressed to me any problem with the Freespire.com site or asked me to turn the domain name over to them. It's Robertson (who does NOT have the trademark) who is spending tens of thousands trying to take Freespire.com down and silence his detractors. Does anyone really think Robertson is looking out for Xandros? Robertson doesn't even look out for his OWN employees and shareholders, why would he care about Xandros? He clearly only cares about one thing--twisting trademark law to kill freedom of speech that is critical of him.

Robertson loves to whine about others who don't respect freedom of markets, speech, etc., and yet he's the one wasting loads of cash trying to do that very thing.

Long live freedom of speech. Hopefully the court will defend it later this month. I have every confidence they will. I'll be back to report when it does.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Loses Motion in Shareholder Dispute over Linspire's Missing Assets

I have some good news to report to the 100 some-odd shareholders who remain in the dark about Linspire's missing cash and assets...

Robertson Loses Motion in Shareholder Lawsuit.

As I had reported back in September, Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler were sued in a derivative lawsuit, alleging misconduct by Robertson and Kettler which harmed the Linspire corporation and its shareholders. (Linspire had millions of dollars in the bank just months prior to its demise, but Robertson remains silent as to what happened to the corporation and Linspire's cash and assets, leaving minority shareholders in the dark.)

You would think with all the attention Robertson has been getting by ignoring the Linspire investors and shareholders, that he would be doing all he can to come clean to them as to what happened. Instead, Robertson's tossed out a legal maneuver which I believe was simply a ploy to try and intimidate the plaintiff who had sued Robertson on behalf of the company and shareholders. Robertson filed a motion to force the plaintiff to come up with a $50,000 bond before they could continue with their case against Robertson and Kettler.

Robertson and Kettler Lose Motion

This week the court denied Robertson and Kettler's motion requiring the bond, which means the case can continue to discovery and eventually to trial.

Even though Linspire minority shareholders still remain in the dark as to what happened, this is at least a small victory for them to see that Robertson will eventually have to explain himself in court.

It says a lot about Robertson when it has taken this type of lawsuit to get him to explain to shareholders what happened and that he continues to fight the process rather than just being forthright with the shareholders.

The question remains: What is he hiding?

Kevin

Michael Robertson Sues Me to Impede My Freedom of Speech on the Internet

UPDATE:  I easily won this lawsuit.  Read results here.

As many of you know, I have used my blog as a resource to bring to light the questionable actions of Michael Robertson, and to go public with his treatment of employees and shareholders. Today I was served with a lawsuit by Michael Robertson in an effort to obscure my blog and impede my freedom of speech. I have to say that I wasn't surprised to learn that Michael would use a frivolous lawsuit to threaten and silence me, but it won't work. I will not let Robertson bully or intimidate me with this or any other nuisance suit. Such lawsuits only serve to shed further light on his unscrupulous tactics.

Michael Robertson--No Champion of the 1st Amendment

Robertson, unhappy about my blog, sues me

The Internet has become a bastion of free speech for bloggers. Robertson, who claims to be a strong supporter for such rights, seems to feel quite differently when that speech is critical of him.

You see, just as the Internet is a marvelous vehicle for companies to promote their goods and services, it can be an equally effective tool for dissatisfied customers or disgruntled employees and shareholders to criticize a particular product, company or management team. Much to the chagrin of trademark owners, such "gripe sites" (which often include the company name or trademark in the URL), are very difficult, if not impossible, to shut down. Fortunately, the First Amendment typically shields the operators of corporate gripe sites from liability. If the gripe site is non-commercial in nature, the operator's freedom of speech will generally override the trademark owner's interest in controlling the use of its company name or trademark, as it should.

Freedom of Speech on Freespire.com

Earlier this year, Linspire was given the opportunity to purchase the domain name Freespire.com. They declined. When I was CEO, I spearheaded the Freespire project, but I was unable to obtain the freespire DOT COM domain name, so we did everything at freespire DOT ORG. We tried incessantly to obtain the .com domain, but the owner would never sell it to us. So you can imagine my surprise when earlier this year, the owner finally agreed to sell the domain and it was offered to Linspire, but they declined to acquire it. (I think that also sums up the commitment Linspire had to Freespire.) So, around eight months ago, only AFTER Linspire declined to purchase the freespire.com domain name, I decided to acquire it as a non-commercial opinion site to share my views about Linspire, Freespire and desktop Linux in general.

It had been over six months since I had left Linspire, and I had become increasingly disappointed with its management and decided to use Freespire.com to vent that dissatisfaction. I had certainly been observing the downfall of the company, and by this time I had learned about Robertson having filed false claims against several executives, calling severance payments "embezzlement," and I wanted a venue to express my displeasure. For me, the writing was on the wall that Robertson was destroying the company. (Just a few months later the company was gone and the shareholders remain in the dark.)

At the freespire.com site, I praised the good work other distributions were doing with Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, Nimblex, etc.), expressed dissatisfaction with Linspire/Freespire, and linked to my blog. At no time have I ever sold any of these distributions or had a financial stake in them. I was merely exercising my freedom of speech.

So, today, Michael Robertson (via the now-defunct Linspire shell company "Digital Cornerstone") sued me for "cybersquatting, trademark infringement, and unfair competition," claiming that the freespire.com "gripe" site should be taken down and seeking $100,000 and other damages.

First, I'm a little confused how Robertson is suing me for trademark infringement, considering there is no registered trademark for "Freespire." (Linspire filed for one but never actually got it registered and all the Linspire IP went to Xandros months ago.)

My freespire.com site never sold anything. It never used the Freespire logo or even used the Freespire name in large fonts or type. There was certainly no confusion, as it was quite clear this site wasn't Linspire's site. In fact, there was even a disclaimer stating the fact that the site was not owned by or affiliated with Linspire or the Freespire distro in anyway.

Companies hate "gripe sites," but consumers appreciate
them and the First Amendment Protects Them

As I pointed out earlier, it's rare that a non-commercial blog or opinion site is found to be cybersquating or violating trademarks, as they are protected by the First Amendment. And it's extremely rare for monetary damages to be awarded in a cybersquating case, particularly one as non-consequential as this one. (The freespire.com domain only got around 100 hits per day, and even fewer today. See the Alexa graph at the end of this blog.) Yet Robertson is seeking $100,000 in damages? Linspire never complained or objected about the site, even though there was a clear contact link for the site's webmaster on every page. No cease and desist letter was ever mailed. They never sought relief or arbitration from ICANN. No, instead, in classic Robertson fashion, he headed straight to the court room because this lawsuit is about intimidation and suppressing speech, not about legitimate damages.

The lawsuit even states, "Although the FREESPIRE mark was recently assigned as part of an asset purchase, [Robertson] expressly reserved all rights in and to all claims against Carmony arising from the freespire.com domain name and website." Now, why would Robertson want to carve out that one thing to hang on to? He's no longer involved with Freespire, so why does he care? Is he desperate for money? With Robertson's companies struggling and laying employees off, does anyone really believe this is the most important thing Robertson should be concerning himself with? His motives are pretty transparent--to suppress freedom of expression that is critical of Robertson.

Keep Speech Free at Freespire.com

This is a nuisance lawsuit, intended to silence my freedom of speech. I will defend my right to free speech by continuing to point freespire.com to my blog and keep reporting on Robertson's disturbing actions.

I'll keep you posted on this YARL (Yet Another Robertson Lawsuit).

Kevin

UPDATE: Michael Robertson made a pretty ironical post today on his Michael's Minute. So I made an appropriate response, and it was quickly censored and removed. Below is a screenshot of what it looked like BEFORE my post was censored (click on it to enlarge to read). Michael Robertson is welcome to post here at anytime and I will assure him his non-anonymous comment will be published. As I say, Robertson can dish it, but can't take it. Just more evidence of his desire to squash free speech.

Censorship at MichaelRobertson.com

Penn & Teller on the First Amendment (Explicit Language)

Michael Robertson Sued Over Linspire's Missing Cash

To this day, Michael Robertson has yet to explain to the 100 some-odd shareholders what happened with the millions of dollars in cash and assets that were owned by Linspire just a few short months ago. The assets seem to have completely vanished, leaving shareholders with no return on their investment or even so much as an explanation as to what happened.

In June, Robertson sold Linspire to Xandros in a back-room deal without any shareholder input or detailed notification. Even though Robertson sold Linspire three months ago, shareholders still remain completely in the dark as to the financial details of the transaction. How does that pass any smell test for investors?

Michael Robertson - Greedy, crook or just incompetent?

At the time the deal was announced, I predicted it would take a lawsuit to ever get Robertson to go public with the details, as it was my belief Robertson's motive for this transaction was likely to hide unauthorized transactions which he may have made using Linspire's assets as his personal piggy bank to reward himself and his father-in-law as well as fund his other companies. It appears I was right in my prediction as a lawsuit has now been filed against Michael Robertson and Linspire's then-CEO Larry Kettler in an effort to force Robertson and Kettler to finally explain to shareholders what happened.

Click here for a copy of the suit with all the details of the allegations.

The lawsuit is a "derivative suit" which is a lawsuit instigated by a shareholder of a corporation, not on the shareholder's own behalf, but on behalf of the corporation. The shareholder brings an action in the name of the corporation against the parties (in this case Robertson and Kettler) who allegedly caused harm to the corporation. Such derivative suits are often brought against officers or directors of a corporation for violations of fiduciary duties owed to the shareholders vis-a-vis the corporation. The derivative suit against Robertson and Kettler was instigated by Kevin LaRue, the one-time VP of Marketing for Linspire and a current shareholder, but any proceeds of a successful action are awarded to the corporation, benefiting all shareholders, not just LaRue.


Because Michael Robertson was the Chairman of Linspire's board and apparently their only board member (shareholders have never been given notice of anyone else having been added to the board since Robertson fired all the other board members over a year ago), it would be improper for him to make deals that would only benefit him as the majority shareholder. The lawsuit alleges Robertson did not fulfill his fiduciary responsibility to not only act in his best interest but in the interest of all shareholders.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this suit, if nothing else, it will hopefully, once and for all, bring to light what happened to Linspire. The minority shareholders have a right to know, and it's unfortunate it has taken this lawsuit to get any information form Robertson.

If my suspicions as to Robertson's actions and motives were unfounded, why wouldn't Robertson have come forward with all the books and details long before now? What is he hiding? Why is it taking a lawsuit to bring things to light? Robertson's behavior simply enforces my belief that he was in fact taking advantage of Linspire shareholders and is doing everything he can to cover up his actions.

A year ago, Michael and I disagreed over what was best for the future of Linspire and the shareholders. I resigned and Michael got his way, insisting he knew what was best for the future of the company and that he could return more value to employees and shareholders than the plans I had proposed. So far Robertson has produced nothing of value for the shareholders and the company appears now to be gone. Is Robertson a greedy majority shareholder who navigated things to make sure he got all the assets, a crook who stole the assets, or is he just incompetent, having squandered millions in one short year?

Hopefully this suit will once and for all uncover the truth and the shareholders will finally know what happened with their investment in Linspire and Robertson.

Kevin

PS: "Xandros has done more than any company to put Linux in front of users..." ~ Michael Robertson (More than Ubuntu? Novell? Red Hat? Linspire even??? Robertson said this recently. With statements like this, you can see why I have a hard time believing anything else he says.)

Forced to Comment on EMI/MP3tunes Lawsuit

EMI filed a lawsuit against MP3tunes and Michael Robertson. I have never spoken in my blog about the EMI matter, because I was subpoenaed as a 3rd-party witness in this lawsuit. However, someone pointed me to the Wikipedia entry for Michael Robertson, where it was disclosed by others, not me (I have never made an entry to Michael Robertson's Wikipedia page), that I am a 3rd-party witness in the EMI case. Because I am a witness in this case, I will continue to remain quiet on the EMI lawsuit, other than to set the record straight on the following four statements in Robertson's Wikipedia entry (of which I think Michael Robertson made many of these statements himself as "Mykill"):

"...after he volunteered to help the major record label EMI..."

I never volunteer to "help EMI." I was subpoenaed to this deposition, asked questions by both sides, and simply told the truth. It will be up to the court system to decide who is "helped" by the truth of my testimony.

"Months have passed without any fact sheet or official documents which calls into question the validity of the claims."

This statement is false, as I have in fact filed official documents with the IRS and other government agencies. The statement is also misleading, since, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I was holding off on the "fact sheet" for certain reasons. I didn't say at that time what those reasons were, because I didn't want to mention the EMI case. However, now that this has been disclosed, I will share that the reason I have not yet issued the "fact sheet" is that I am in fact involved as a 3rd party in the EMI lawsuit, and there are two other lawsuits going on currently with Linspire (both involve Linspire trying to unwind the fair and reasonable severance payments I made to former employees who were laid off in good standing). I decided to wait on going public with the "fact sheet" until after these three lawsuits are concluded. I remain committed to exposing the truth and facts of the Linspire matter, but only after these lawsuits are concluded, as they may bring even more facts and light to the situation.

"He then asked for large portions of his testimony to be hidden from public scrutiny which raises suspicion of his claims."

My reasons for asking that my EMI/MP3tunes deposition remain confidential had nothing to do with "public scrutiny." The reason I asked for this, as I'm sure "Mykill" knows, was so that my EMI deposition could not be used in the two Linspire lawsuits going on now, or any future Linspire lawsuits, all of which have nothing to do with the EMI matter.

(No one knew about this other than the EMI and Linspire parties and their respective attorneys. I doubt EMI would have posted this, nor do I think MP3tune's lawyers spend their time on Wikipedia, so I can only assume that the Wikipedia user "Mykill" is "Michael" Robertson.)

On April 11, 2008, former Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony issued a collection of serious accusations against Michael Robertson via Carmony's personal blog. [9] Carmony's public accusations specify allegations that Michael Robertson/Linspire "has attempted to defraud a federally-insured bank, filed false documents with the IRS, knowingly filed a false report with the San Diego Police Department, and perpetrated deceit upon other federal and state government agencies."

Here is the actual statement from my blog: "The full story includes facts that lead me to believe Linspire has attempted to defraud a federally-insured bank, filed false documents with the IRS, knowingly filed a false report with the San Diego Police Department, and perpetrated deceit upon other federal and state government agencies."

The false statements on his Wikipedia page appear to be classic Robertson, trying to gain public favor by complaining about the injustices against him. I wonder why in his last Michael's Minute, instead of his minivan, he didn't show a photo of his Lexus sedan, his multi-million dollar beach-front home in Del Mar, or his 300+ acre ranch in San Diego? If Robertson and MP3tunes didn't violate copyright law, then they have nothing to be worried about. (Unless perhaps Robertson is STILL saying that MP3.com didn't violate copyright law? If so, this might explain why EMI is going after him personally, as he would appear to be unrepentant. If he didn't believe MP3.com violated copyright law, what would prevent him from doing it again?) I wonder why he's looking for sympathy from the public? Michael claims the big, bad record labels are picking on him, but what about multi-millionaire Michael, and all the little people HE'S kicked around throughout his life?

I'd correct these statements myself, but I wish to keep my status of never having edited Michael's Wikipedia page.

Kevin