"The court in no way found that TechCrunch’s statements about you were false, but simply that no-one from the company turned up to defend them."
While a default judgment is not the same as a victory, they seem reasonably similar. I'm as upset as anyone that it's so easy to win a libel suit in Britain, but this story has a "winner" in the popular sense (which is what I imagine is important to this Sethi fellow).
It is only a winner if a U.S. court would ultimately conclude that the UK courts had proper jurisdiction over the defendants. No proper jurisdiction = no enforceable judgment (at least outside the UK).
While it would be more mediagenic if Arrington had to fork over some cash, I think jurisdiction is separate from the issue of who the court of popular opinion sees are the winner.
While a default judgment is not the same as a victory, they seem reasonably similar. I'm as upset as anyone that it's so easy to win a libel suit in Britain, but this story has a "winner" in the popular sense (which is what I imagine is important to this Sethi fellow).