Yesterday I woke up with the equivalent of a bucket of cold water thrown to my face.

A message from a lawyer, not my lawyer or even someone I know. A complete stranger. The message went something like this:

We found out you are getting sued through a public database, we can help, here’s our fees.

Over the course of the day, I got half a dozen emails like that. You see, there is big money in getting sued and lawyers didn’t waste any time in trying to get some of that. (I don’t blame them. Don’t hate the player hate the game.)

Long story short: Duvall Espresso is suing us.

Unfortunately, what Gideon Duvall is doing is not new, he is following a well-known playbook designed to intimidate, suffocate, and milk innovative companies.

It goes like this:

1. Focus on getting as many patents as you can. Their validity is not very important.
2. Wait for someone to go through the trouble of actually building a viable product and a successful company.
3. Use the legal system to your advantage to create an economic burden and force the company into an unjust agreement.

When faced with the possibility of hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, most small and new companies surrender.

This is not me.

I fell in love with the science of coffee and the immense potential for innovation in this industry. After spending two years immersed in this world, we’ve gathered thousands of people around the promise of espresso innovation. If I let Gideon Duvall intimidate me, it sets a precedent for every innovative company that comes next to suffer the same.

To make matters worse, I also learned through a public docket that Gideon Duvall is suing Decent Espresso as well. This doesn’t need to be said, but I will say it anyway. Decent Espresso is the best thing to have happened to espresso since it was invented in 1822. The amount of risk John Buckman endured to launch his company is hard to imagine. Decent paved the road so we could ride on it. (John I’m sorry to be sharing this, I didn’t consult you but I’m only sharing publicly available information).

Gideon Duvall has never released a product. He has been working on his commercial espresso machine for almost a decade with the intention of accumulating patents and bullying companies into paying him royalties.

If there is any doubt about this, look no further than the name of his company: DUVALL ESPRESSO IP ENFORCEMENT, LLC.