Busting a Rogue Blogger

Troll Tracker has been unmasked as a patent lawyer for Cisco. Now they're both facing litigation

by Michael Orey

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Richard Mia

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Richard Mia

Of the many blogs born last May, Patent Troll Tracker seemed as innocuous as any. Its focus: the obscure but controversial subject of "patent trolls," a derogatory term used to describe businesses that make money by purchasing patents and then suing big companies for infringement. The author was clearly no fan of the practice, but his or her identity was a mystery. The "about me" section of the blog noted that the writer was simply "a patent lawyer trying to gather and organize information about patent litigation."

Through regular, copious posts, Troll Tracker quickly drew a devoted following in patent law circles, even among those who disagreed with its point of view. What readers didn't know, however, was that the blogger was Rick Frenkel, in-house patent counsel at Cisco Systems (CSCO), the Internet infrastructure giant. Cisco didn't sanction the blog, but it, like other tech firms, has waged a long, public battle against so-called patent trolls. And in its pointed commentary, Troll Tracker advanced views squarely in line with the company's own agenda. Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler even cited the blog as a good independent source of information while in Washington lobbying for changes to patent law that would rein in trolls, unaware he was plugging the work of a Cisco employee.

Troll Tracker gained repute as a forum for information, not invective. But its more volatile content would eventually combine to blow up the blog and land its creator and Cisco in legal hot water. A reader comment in December contained a death threat against Chicago attorney Raymond Niro Sr., who has long represented trolls. Two Texas attorneys were enraged by Troll Tracker reports suggesting that the lawyers may have had dates altered on a court document—a felony. By the end of last year, Niro had put up a $15,000 bounty to unmask the anonymous blogger, and Internet sleuths had tried to track him.

On Feb. 23, in what turned out to be his final post, Troll Tracker outed himself with an entry titled "Live by anonymity, die by anonymity." According to the post, he had received an anonymous e-mail that told him to declare his identity or the e-mailer would do it for him. "Let me introduce myself," Troll Tracker wrote. "My name is Rick Frenkel."

The fallout was swift. Frenkel and Cisco are now defendants in a pair of defamation lawsuits, and they may be dragged into other litigation. Frenkel still works for Cisco, but his forced outing raises questions about the risks of blogging anonymously, both to bloggers and the companies for which they work. As Troll Tracker's case demonstrates, in the rough-and-tumble blogosphere, conversations on even mundane topics like patent law can quickly spiral into vituperation and personal attacks. Despite this, Big Business has embraced blogging as a way to engage the public on everything from policy to products. Sun Microsystems (SUNW), for example, boasts more than 4,000 employee bloggers, including its chief executive and general counsel. Cisco itself sanctions 12 in-house blogs; about 75 workers post, including CEO John T. Chambers, who does a video blog.