Bruce Perens Seeks Mandatory Award of Legal Fees vs. Open Source Security Inc

A little background: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2018&#x2F;02&#x2F;08&#x2F;bruce_perens_grsecurity_anti_slapp&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2018&#x2F;02&#x2F;08&#x2F;bruce_perens_grsecu...</a>

Why should it cost $500k to defend oneself against a frivolous lawsuit with no legal merit?<p>What I&#x27;m trying to ask is why is our legal structure in the U.S. setup in such a way that simply filing a suit against someone immediately puts a significant financial burden on the defendant?

Glad to see that the court reached the correct result. Nobody is allowed to use the court system to threaten and harass opponents for exercising their free speech rights. It doesn&#x27;t matter how talented Spender is: those who use the court system for bullying deserve to face consequences.

Seems fair. I&#x27;m sure Spengler really didn&#x27;t like Perens comments, but abusing the legal system to shut up people saying things you don&#x27;t like is very wrong, we (thankfully) have laws which punish people who try this in extreme cases (like this one), and Spengler knew (or should have known, before filing his suit) that these laws existed and how they worked.<p>Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Can anyone speak to how likely it is a case like this will succeed? It seems like abuse of the court system has become more rampant, especially with the emergence of patent trolls.<p>How often are people able to recuperate expenses incurred while defending against a frivolous suit? How much additional legal work is required to actually seek reparations like this? Is it judged as part of the original case, or is it a separate lawsuit?

What happens if the plaintiff loses but cannot afford to pay the defendant&#x27;s fees?