S02.E09: Binding Arbitration

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Pied Piper and Hooli go into arbitration. Erlich wants to be put on the stand.

 

Promo:

[HotForBacon]

Well... that was... an episode, I guess.

[WicketyWack]

Right. I mean I'm no lawyer but can you build a proprietary case on one test during the process of building a complex website? These premises are really starting to grasp at straws and I'm bored with Pied Piper always being shit on.

 
I did laugh out loud at zoo dude falling to his death, which probably says more about me than about the show, but whatever.

On the other hand, what's really stopping Richard from making sure the Hooli phone makes its way to TechCrunch or Mashable?

[HotForBacon]

They never win. It's like The Middle, which is why I stopped watching that show.

[henripootel]

Correct me if I'm wrong but that made no fucking sense.  

 

Even if Richard got caught running a test of his early compression stuff on a Hooli computer, that doesn't give Hooli any claim whatsoever to middle-out.  Hooli wants a copy of Richard's old stuff, fine, middle-out will still crush them.

 

So NO questions at all for BigHead?  Nothing?  'Did you do anything at all to deserve the promotions you got?'  'Did you do ANYTHING AT ALL to help PP develop anything?'  'Until Hooli filed the lawsuit, what was your position there?'  Nope just 'I like how you talk - I'm gonna believe everything they say about you'.  

 

Erlich folding under pressure?  Erlich?

 

Jeez, two weeks in a row.  And for the record, if PP could save the porn lady tens of millions, it wouldn't matter if they had erased hours of prime porn (although it's shatteringly ridiculous to say they could even do that).  Shit, for that much money, Richard could have held her head in the toilet and he still would have gotten the contract.  

[chocolatine]

I'm just speculating, but I think Pied Piper is going to win the arbitration. The judge made his disdain for Silicon Valley megalomaniacs - the likes of Gavin Belson - well known when he complimented Big Head on his "humility". He'll see that Gavin filed the suit more out of spite that he didn't get to acquire the algorithm than out of any real damage to Hooli. That, plus there just has to be some redemption for Pied Piper before the season is over. They can't just give us ten episodes of everything going to shit, can they?

 

On another note, I thought the zoo guy falling to his death was disturbing and unfunny and I won't rewatch the episode because of it. We've had the Blaine situation earlier in the season - that was macabre enough and they should have left it at that.

Edited June 8, 2015 by chocolatine

[Cramps]

The guy was still moving. He's not dead. At least not yet

[Muffyn]

Much like Schrodinger's cat, we don't know that the zoo guy is dead.  As long as he's alive, his being filmed is a plus for PP.  

 

I get the sense that the judge might give a small part of PP to Hooli, but not consider the program having been developed using their resources.  After all, the PP guys have the world's worst not-an-attorney.  Just because he says that Hooli will win since Richard ran one test one a company-owned laptop doesn't make it true.  

[Subrookie]

I guess I'm in the minority here. I thought the show set up the ranger guy fall wonderfully. I'm still laughing.

[hincandenza]

I'm no lawyer, but I have to think that if Hooli's only claim is a last minute realization that one day he ran a test on a random Hooli compiter... whereas they've basically completely lied about their involvement and Bighead... how could an arbitrator not find in PP's favor? That's the whole point of arbitration, it's not a trial, and the arbitrator has a great deal of latitude to rule in the way that seems most just. Not that he will, of course, the writers have hated the characters all season long, so why stop now? And congrats I guess to those forum posters who predicted the condor being a surprise twist in the finale.

This was weak, though. I don't know if I laughed at all. Even Erlich was wasted in his scenes, by being uncharacteristically dumb and tongue-tied. Lawyers, even disbarred ones, know enough to prep their own witnesses beforehand for the line of questioning!

[Should Be Working]

My heartfelt congratulations to Mike Judge, Alec Berg, and their writing staff for single-handedly, in a single season, turning Silicon Valley from a smart, astute, and hilariously entertaining story about brilliant tech nerd underdogs taking on and beating their billionaire overlords into a maudlin, uninspiring, poorly-written tale about complete morons repeatedly grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

They should have steamrolled End Frame's ass, won the bakeoff, and secured a mega-deal with Intersite, then moved on to even more lucrative non-porn ventures. But no, that just wouldn''t do. At best, they'll end up in some strange servile symbiotic relationship with Gavin Belson, the most despicable character in the show. Well played, Pied Piper.

[Traveller519]

I liked this episode as it showed Richard thinking for himself, remaining true to his convictions...and it not representing a complete lack of logic and reasoning on his part. He sat in that chair, and admitted as much that he's not one of these megalomaniacs in the Valley who will sacrifice everything else in order to see his product succeed. He wants it to succeed, but the luck isn't there.

 

The call backs to the condor, big head's Hooli legacy, the phone that makes you run at first sight, were all great too. A good late season episode to start wrapping up plot points.

[JTMacc99]

Well, given what the preview spoils for the season finale, I am okay with how this episode went. I genuinely did not like the story about deleted porn, because it was absurd. But for some reason, condor dude falling out of a cave on camera (with PP benefiting from the video) is the kind of absurd that entertains me.

 

And I think the arbitration will go in PP's favor.

[qtpye]

In a small voice, I did laugh a little when Erlich claimed to be Richard's "girlfriend" and was in the shop for three days because Richard banged him so hard.

 

I really do not usually have the mind of a gross 12 year old, but maybe I was just desperate for some humor after an overall lackluster season that does not make sense.

[Traveller519]

The more I look at it from a macro level the better I feel about the season. Maybe part of is was that this episode got out of the win-loss-win-loss alternating cycle, but looking back it follows a logical path, that can all be traced back to Peter's death.

 

Peter was their guiding force. Even when they did stupid things last season (like enter Disrupt), his support didn't waver. He just put the screws to them to perform. Without him, not only did they lose their reliable source of funding in Raviga, but their overall lack of business acumen was exposed. Jared can handle little routine tasks, but he's a big business brain. Richard obviously has no sense for that element of the business, and their new funding partner wasn't providing it. The got their wins because of Richard and their technology. They suffered their losses because of Richard, and their overall naivete with respect to the business world.

[ahpny]

I mean I'm no lawyer but can you build a proprietary case on one test during the process of building a complex website?

 

I'm no lawyer, but I have to think that if Hooli's only claim is a last minute realization that one day he ran a test on a random Hooli compiter... whereas they've basically completely lied about their involvement and Bighead... how could an arbitrator not find in PP's favor? That's the whole point of arbitration, it's not a trial, and the arbitrator has a great deal of latitude to rule in the way that seems most just. Not that he will, of course, the writers have hated the characters all season long, so why stop now?

 

I am an IP lawyer and have been through arbitration. Your non-lawyerly sense is correct. Generally, a case of who owns a patent (which is I think what’s going on here, though that’s never really been explained) will not be decided based upon a single use of an employer’s computer when mountains of other work were done elsewhere, not on company time and apart from anything having to do with the employer. And oh, the employer is lying about key evidence – the involvement of Big Head. What PP’s non-lawyer “lawyer” may have meant is that their clear case win was now jeopardized by a complication that now requires a judgment call. That seems right. It’s not as though the single computer use means Hooli wins, but rather that PP’s win is no longer a slam dunk. However, that's inconsistent with everyone's  reactions. Also, I don’t think PP’s “lawyer” is correct about being allowed to represent a party in an arbitration after being disbarred, but that’s a question specific to California ethics rules. Representation in an arbitration is still the “practice of law.”

 

An arbitrator does have far more freedom to decide a matter than does a judge, but an arbitrator still has to follow some rules. Nevertheless, I see no reason why he couldn’t find for PP, and expect he will.

[wendyg]

I think the show simply hasn't figured out how to deal with the forced change: the heart of S1 was this little start-up being caught between two billionaires (who were fantastic in their one scene together). The big pity of it is that the woman running Raviga is really funny, and putting her in the resentful position of having to obey, say, Peter Gregory's will (which could say anything he might have wanted about his investments), seems to me like it would have had legs.

 

As for the IP issue, patents have not been mentioned, so this ought to be a question of employment law: if Hooli's employee contracts specify that *anything* done on company computers belongs to them, ISTM that Richard really might be on shaky ground. However, I find it unlikely that someone like Richard would make a mistake like that and I also wonder how he managed to ensure the company didn't keep backups. Because they would certainly have investigated everything on his company computer and its use when he left and refused to sell them Pied Piper in case there was something useful.

[lucindabelle]

I enjoyed this episode more than the last couple.

 

Richard was less dorky than he has been and his speech on the stand warmed my little heart. In his shoes I'd have lied and not blinked an eye about it, not seeing the huge difference between a lie of omission and a lie. But Richard does, and I love him for that. He can be my show boyfriend again.

 

And I too laughed at Erlich's outburst.

 

And guy falling was slapstick, bugs bunny stuff, and it cracked me up. And I'm quite sure he's not dead.

Previews suggest they do win arbitration, because otherwise why would Gavin be making an offer? And condor guy in crevice will get lots of money for PP which is almost last season level of funny.