# Well, you can't win 'em all **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2020, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-you-cant-win-em-all/923809 "2020-10-25T01:19:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-you-cant-win-em-all/923809/1 "2020-10-25T01:19:44Z")
A sports psychologist who wrote a motivational book called “Winning Isn’t Normal” tried to collect $25,000 for copyright violation from a non-profit organization in Oakland that sponsored a swim team, after a passage from the book was quoted on the organization’s Twitter page. Not only did Keith Bell lose his lawsuit, but he’s been ordered to pay the defendants $122,000 in attorneys’ fees. According to the article, Bell was, um, motivated to get money this way on previous occasions. “The court also noted that this was not the first time Bell had used this tactic, bringing more than 26 other lawsuits and obtaining settlements from at least 90 different alleged infringers, all relating to the WIN Passage. The court said that Bell’s claims all appeared to be designed to extract a quick settlement in exchange for an amount that was just cheap enough to discourage his targets from mounting a fair use defense.” > **[Court Awards $122K in Attorneys’ Fees to Nonprofit Swim Team After Copyright Win](https://copyrightlately.com/attorneys-fees-copyright-case-nonprofit-swim-team/)** > > "Leveling exorbitant settlement demands" does not advance the purposes of the Copyright Act" after plaintiff demanded $25,000 for a single Twitter post to a community swim account followed by 44 people. Reading the story, I was motivated to smile. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-you-cant-win-em-all/923809/2 "2020-10-25T16:47:19Z")
Bravo! Once in awhile the legal system results in actual Justice. Shame they could not make him disgorge all the previous ~~settlements~~ extortions too. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-you-cant-win-em-all/923809/3 "2020-10-26T06:49:01Z")
I wonder in he was inspired by that fraudulent extortion Prenda Law case that Popehat followed for all those years. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-you-cant-win-em-all/923809/4 "2020-10-26T06:52:37Z")
Og; that Prenda thing was epic. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-you-cant-win-em-all/923809/5 "2020-10-26T12:08:44Z")
There are innumerable folks engaging in the legal extortion trick. Whether lawyers or just enterprising business-crooks. You’d have had to have your head in the sand the last 25 years not to know how common this maneuver is. And how insanely lucrative it usually is until / unless you a) get too greedy AND b) bite somebody fully prepared to bite back who’s c) also in a venue with a favorable judicial climate.