Legal Threats Database

legal threats database Welcome to the CMLP's Database of Online Legal Threats! The database contains lawsuits, cease & desist letters, subpoenas, and other legal threats directed at those who engage in online speech. You can view, search, and comment on every entry in the database. Interested in lawsuits against bloggers? You'll find them on the Lawsuits Involving Blogs page. How about threats involving forum posts and user comments? You'll find those here. You can use our advanced search page to sort the entries by any criterion of your choosing, as well as perform full-text searching of the underlying documents.

We need your help to keep the database accurate and up to date. If you've been threatened with legal action or know of someone who has, please let us know by using our contact form or by entering the information directly into the database through our easy to use threat entry form. If you have questions, check out our database FAQ.

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New Threat Entries

  • Smith-Green Community School Corp. v. T.V. & M.K. (minors)
    Added:
    November 4th, 2009
    High School Principal Austin Couch suspended two female high school sophomores from participating in extracurricular athletics after Couch obtained sexually-suggestive photos that the students took of themselves and posted to MySpace.  The students, T.V. and M.K., subsequently filed a class action...
  • Straub v. Hair Transplant Network
    Added:
    November 4th, 2009
    Dr. Paul Straub filed a defamation lawsuit against Media Visions Inc., the company behind HairTransplantNetwork.com, on the grounds that he was removed from the website's recommended doctors list and that critical comments were posted on the website's forum. HairTransplantNetwork.com operates two affiliate websites,...
  • Jones v. Above The Law
    Added:
    November 4th, 2009
    In October 2009, Donald Marvin Jones, a law professor at the University of Miami School of Law, sued David Lat and David Minkin, editor and publisher of the popular law gossip blog Above the Law (ATL), as well as ATL's parent company,...
  • New York v. Burgoyne
    Added:
    November 2nd, 2009
    Cindy Burgoyne pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after posting confidential information about grand jury proceedings on discussion forum on the Times Herald-Record's website, using the pseudonym "Nancy Drew." Burgoyne had served on the grand jury investigating the death of a suspect...
  • Intellect Art Media Inc. v. Milewski
    Added:
    October 30th, 2009
    On December 15, 2008, Intellect Art Media, Inc., a Massachusetts-based company that operates a college-level summer program called Swiss Finance Academy, sued Mathew Milewski, a student at Fordham University; Xcentric Ventures, LLC, operators of the website RipoffReport.com; and five anonymous...
  • Butler University v. Zimmerman
    Added:
    October 30th, 2009
    In January 2009, Butler University filed a "John Doe" defamation lawsuit against the pseudonymous author of the TrueBU blog, who signed his posts "Soodo Nym." The author later was identified as Butler University student Jess Zimmerman. The complaint...
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Most Viewed Threat Entries

  • Doe v. Fortuny
    Total Views:
    33351
    On February 20, 2008, an anonymous plaintiff sued Jason Fortuny in Illinois federal court for copyright infringement, invasion of privacy through the publication of private facts, and intrusion, after Mr. Fortuny allegedly posted his photograph and personal information on the Internet. Mr....
  • Johnson v. Tucker Max
    Total Views:
    16244
    Tucker Max maintains a website detailing his sexual exploits with women. He had a relationship with former Miss Vermont, Katy Johnson, and put the entire story on his website under the title, the "Miss Vermont Story." Johnson sued Max in...
  • Doninger v. Niehoff
    Total Views:
    10492
    Administrators barred a Connecticut high school student from running in a student election after the student critized admininstrators online for their handling of a student festival. In the spring of 2007, Jamfest, a yearly music festival at a Connecticut high school, experienced...
  • Beck v. Eiland-Hall
    Total Views:
    8914
    In September 2009, conservative talk show host and self-described "rodeo clown" Glenn Beck filed an administrative complaint with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) against the privacy...
  • Xyience Inc. v. Bergeron
    Total Views:
    8314
    Xyience Inc., a manufacturer of energy drinks and supplements, sued Rich Bergeron in Nevada state court over statements posted on his MySpace.com page and website, unlimitedfightnews.com. According to the complaint, Bergeron posted an article to his MySpace page that contained allegations that...
  • Julius Baer Bank and Trust v. Wikileaks
    Total Views:
    8049
    On February 6, 2008, Julius Baer Bank and Trust Company, a Cayman Islands banking entity, filed suit in federal court in California against Wikileaks, which is developing an "uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis." ...
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