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The Truth About Jonathan Taplin

Actually, this is not the truth about Jonathan Taplin.  Everything I'm going to write is factual, but it's not really the truth.  I'm just going to subject Taplin to the kind of innuendo that Taplin subjects his political opponents to in his posts.

This is Taplin, Taplinized:

Jonathan Taplin is a corrupt businessman who has absurdly claimed in court that his company, Intertainer, has a patent on the technologies that Apple, Google and Napster use to distribute digital media content on the Web.

Though Taplin started Intertainer in 1996, other companies like Real Networks were distributing digital content online way before Taplin filed for a patent in 2001.

In 2002, Intertainer flamed out and 80 people lost their jobs.  Taplin blamed the film industry and sued the five studios behind rival Movielink, claiming that they were colluding on prices to put him out of business.  The studios settled the lawsuit but a subsequent investigation by the Justice Department in 2004 found nothing amiss.  Did Taplin try to hide his failure with a nuisance lawsuit?

In 2005, the US government granted Taplin's company a broad patent for distributing digital content on line.  Two years later Taplin sued Apple, Google and Napster.  Amazing, earlier this year, Apple settled, but neither side will say for how much.  They probably just wanted Taplin to go away.  The only question that remains is whether or not Google and Napster will cave and pay Taplin some token "walk away" settlement.

So that's Jonathan Taplin, a failed businessman who bothers big companies with baseless lawsuits and who then profits when those companies settle.  Has he even thought to share his lawsuit winnings with the 80 people who lost their jobs because he mismanaged Intertainer?

***

Like I said, all of that is true.  I just put the least charitable spin on it that  I could.  I don't believe that Taplin is really corrupt or a failure or dishonest.  But he has proven himself willing to insinuate that the Clintons are corrupt, rather than just people who have run a misguided campaign so I figured I'd turn his own odd mirror on him.


Comments (1)

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Thanks, destor23. I find Taplin inflammatory, and I don't think he offers anything of value to the discussion at TPM.

Unless people start deconstructing his exposés as studies in how to recycle debunked Republican conspiracy theories and smears against the Clintons—sort of like a preparatory class for the general election campaign.

Oh wait. We already do.

Unfortunately, his writing is terrible to boot.

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