Walk away.

Life is too short for lawsuits.

This comes from someone who dated someone for three years who was in a lawsuit when I got to know them, and was still in a lawsuit when we split. It affected them daily, hundreds and hundreds of hours were lost, thousands and thousands of dollars went to a nice, well-intended family lawyer.

But the best advice they could have got:

When given the chance, walk away.

Life is too short for lawsuits.

I’m almost 100% in agreement, but context matters, and attitude matters.

If you’re up against a behemoth, figure out how to get out ASAP.

But I’ve learned that small claims lawsuits can actually be quite fun! Earlier this year I sued a former landlord in small claims court. He had entered my rented space while I was away (without notice, multiple times) and then refused to return my security deposit when I moved out.

I went into it with a “let’s have fun and learn” attitude. I had never sued someone and I’d never represented myself in court. I read a lot, had some good conversations with LLMs (and then fact-checked them!) about the laws and case history in my area, then filed my suit.

After he dodged the summons three times, I discovered I could file a motion for alternative service (post on his front door, post in a newspaper, etc). When I went to court to argue for that motion, he actually showed up in court! So I asked the judge if he could be served right there, and he was!

Our trial was highly entertaining, I caught him in a bald-faced lie, then looked at the judge and said I’m not sure how both of these things he said could be true, I can’t figure out how it adds up but maybe you can.

I won the case, the judge awarded me less than I was asking for, but more than I was actually owed.

I was kinda hoping he would not pay (that’s common) in which case I was looking forward to learning about how to garnish his wages or put a lien on his property. But he’s actually paying me in monthly installments for the next very many months. He could pay me all at once so he’s being a bit of a jerk, but at least he’s paying.

All-in-all, I knew I had a solid case, had fun along the way, and didn’t spend more than a few bucks on court fees. In that specific context, it made sense for me and I’m happy I did it.

A good friend of mine always used to say "Once the lawyers are involved, you lose no matter what. Only the lawyers win." (paraphrased from memory).

I don't know if I agree that that is correct every single time, but it strikes me as a very useful heuristic at the least.

This is the side of lawsuits that you don’t see every time someone on Reddit or Hacker News confidently tells you to lawyer up and go to court.

Even seemingly simple issues can turn into never ending money pits that consume thousands of hours of your life spread over months or years.

If you’re really committed to something then you should evaluate how much time and money you’re willing to put into pursuing it. Unless both of those values are uncomfortably high numbers, just move on.

Depends on your philosophy, honestly. If you're a hedonist, then yeah, get free from lawsuits as soon as possible and go back to munching candy. If you're am altruist, throwing yourself into the lion's den to eventually effect social good might be smart. If you're a nihilist, you can pick either, it's all the same when the sun goes supernova.

I empathise with the advice, even aspire to it. Despite that, I abhor a bully getting away with being a bully and would feel discontent not putting up a fight on principle.

Similar to this advice, don't ask us.

This whole thread is a question for a lawyer.

But for real...just change the name of your project. It sucks, but the ruling was handed down, you lost the dispute.

Nobody's going to mind that the name changed. Firefox used to be called Firebird and changed due to trademark disputes. Dozens of open source projects have changed their names when they forked off of a corporate project, like LibreOffice and MariaDB.

I know that OP may be fond of the name but it's just a name.

Life is too short for far more things than just this. It always strikes me just how much time we waste on stuff we won't care about in one year or five. Myself included. Time is by far our most precious commodity.

One alternative is to create a website that outs the company that is harming you in a way that is non-libelous and just tells your story, and then focus fully on SEO and GEO to ensure that the other company sees your site front-and-center when searching for their own.

You may get more attention this way, because it can affect the company more than the optics of a legal dispute. It’s not revenge, and you shouldn’t have that intent, if you want it to work.

However this method, and other similar methods used in the U.S. such as filing BBB complaints, are mostly used for harm done to consumers rather than businesses affected by disputes, so it may not be the best advice.

Can't agree more. Change your name to tikpeed and move on!

The more general principle is that people are too willing to adopt an adversarial mindset. In principle, there's a mutual win here if the VC company makes a substantial donation to the OSS product in exchange for the OSS project changing its name. Both parties will be better off in that scenario, relative to the lawsuit scenario.

"thousands of dollars went to a nice, well-intended family lawyer"

Sounds like it was maybe about custody for children?

Then it is hard to walk away, I think. What to do, if the other party does not cooperate and you still want to see your children?

Best advice for both sides still is obviously, avoid the need for lawyers in the first place and maintain basic level of communication.

My own family has been involved in an ongoing series of lawsuits against each other since 1989. Over an amount of money that is long since gone and they've kicked in even more in lawyers fighting over. None of us talk to each other anymore.

This is the best advice you can get.

Couldn’t agree more.

Besides money and hours, it will also affect your psychological wellbeing as it will dominate your mind every day.

Not worth it.

Lawsuits in Europe are not as expensive as in the US, and they are a good learning experience as well.

That’s like Danny DeVito’s speech in War of the Roses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5XfYTgm4x8 (that’s only part of a longer scene, where he basically tells the guy not to proceed).

Literally one of the first things I was told when I started my law degree was “don’t ever go to court unless you absolutely have to”. :)

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