November 22, 2009

Recent Threats Added to the CMLP Database

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute.

Virginia v. Ostergren

Date: 06/11/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Other	Location: Virginia	Publication: Website

Betty Ostergren sued the Attorney General of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell, in his official capacity to challenge Virginia's Personal Information Privacy Act (PIPA), Va. Code Ann. § 591.443.2, as a violation of the First Amendment. Ostergren is a self-proclaimed advocate of privacy...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/28/2009 - 4:37pm - 0 comments

Wiseman v. Does 1-25

Date: 03/26/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Website

Los Angeles photographer Zoe Wiseman has filed suit in California state court against twenty-five anonymous individuals associated with WeHireAliens.com, alleging they falsely stated that she illegally hires models without work visas and pays them in cash. The website allows users...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/28/2009 - 3:49pm - 0 comments

Horizon Group v. Bonnen

Date: 07/20/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: ; Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Illinois	Publication: Micro-blog

Horizon Realty Group, an apartment leasing and management company in Chicago, filed a defamation lawsuit last week against a former tenant, Amanda Bonnen, over a tweet she posted about the company on Twitter. According to the ...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/29/2009 - 10:24am - 0 comments

State of New York v Democrat and Chronicle

Date: 07/01/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Subpoena Enforced
Type: Subpoena	Location: New York	Publication: Print; Website

Assistant District Attorney Timothy L. Prosperi subpoenaed Democrat and Chronicle reporter Steve Orr to testify in the criminal trial of Kevin I. Vickers, who is charged with removing body parts from two Monroe County funderal homes in 2005. The DA sought testimony...

Legal Threat - 07/24/2009 - 4:29pm - 0 comments

New York Times v. Republican Governors Association

Date: 06/17/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location:	Publication: Website

A lawyer for the The New York Times has sent a cease and desist letter to the Republican Governors Association that takes issue with the layout, name and typefaces of a satirical RGA website, which the Times says is "clearly intended to...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/24/2009 - 11:19am - 0 comments

Universal v. Reimerdes

Date: 01/14/2000	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Injunction Issued; Settled (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New York	Publication: Website

In 2000, several movie studios filed suit against Shawn Reimerdes, Roman Kazan, and Eric Corley after 2600.com published the DVD descrambling program DeCSS, which allowed users to circumvent anti-piracy protections allegedly in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/21/2009 - 6:12pm - 0 comments

Gorman v. Meale

Date: 07/07/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Illinois	Publication: Forum

Attorneys at Favaro & Gorman Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Jennifer Meale and Xcentric Ventures, LLC over allegedly defamatory posts made anonymously by Meale on Ripoff Report, a consumer review website. It is not clear how the law determined that...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/21/2009 - 6:06pm - 0 comments

Rejuvenation Strax and Aesthetics Institute v. Durham

Date: 05/08/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Florida	Publication: Forum

Strax Rejuvenation and Aesthetics Institute, a plastic surgery clinic in Lauderhill, Florida, filed a lawsuit in May 2008 against a patient who allegedly posted a defamatory review of her treatment on CitySearch.com. The patient, Marshia Durham, said in news reports that she...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/21/2009 - 4:51pm - 0 comments

First Call Properties v. Craigslist

Date: 05/29/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Texas	Publication: Website

First Call Properties and its officers filed suit against AAA Apartment Locating and Craigslist in Texas state court, alleging, among other claims, trademark infringement, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference. According to the complaint, First Call began...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/28/2009 - 2:48pm - 0 comments

24grille v. TripAdvisor.com

Date: 04/02/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Michigan	Publication: Website

24 Grille, a self-described upscale restaurant at a hotel in Detroit, Michigan, filed a libel and negligence lawsuit against review site TripAdvisor.com after an anonymous TripAdvisor user advised others to avoid the restaurant. According to the complaint, the poster told...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/20/2009 - 8:14am - 0 comments

Sethi v. TechCrunch

Date: 06/28/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: United Kingdom	Publication: Blog

On February 19, 2009, lawyers representing Sam Sethi, a former employee of TechCrunch and former CEO of now-defunct BlogNation, sent a letter to TechCrunch co-founder Michael Arrington threatening suit "within the jurisdiction of the High Court of England...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/16/2009 - 4:26pm - 0 comments

Guinness World Records v. FAIL Blog

Date: 07/01/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Material Removed; Material Reinstated
Type: Correspondence	Location:	Publication: Blog

Guinness World Records Limited (GWR) sent a cease-and-desist email to FAIL Blog after it published a posting called "Record Breaking Fail," which showed a screenshot from the Guinness World Records website for the entry "most...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/15/2009 - 1:03pm - 0 comments

Hillstone Restaurant Group v. Pietrylo

Date: 05/09/2006	Status: Concluded	Disposition: n/a
Type: Disciplinary Action	Location: New Jersey	Publication: Social Network

Brian Pietrylo and Doreen Marino filed a lawsuit against their former employer, Hillstone Restaurant Group d/b/a Houston's, following their termination for posting comments critical of the company on a private MySpace page. According to court documents, Pietrylo "setup a private group on...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/13/2009 - 5:44pm - 0 comments

YP.Net v. StockLemon

Date: 01/08/2004	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Withdrawn
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Arizona	Publication: Website

YP.Net Inc., a provider of online Yellow Pages, filed a defamation lawsuit in Arizona federal court against StockLemon.com after the website published critical statements about the company. YP.Net alleged that StockLemon.com intentionally sought to damage YP.Net's reputation in order to drive down...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/13/2009 - 5:31pm - 0 comments

Apple v. OdioWorks

Date: 11/01/2008	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Lawsuit Filed; Material Removed; Withdrawn
Type: Correspondence	Location: California	Publication: Wiki

In response to correspondence from Apple Inc. threatening legal action, OdioWorks, LLC filed a lawsuit seeking declaratory judgment that publishing a tutorial that teaches iPod and iPhone users how to modify their devices to work with software other than Apple's iTunes does...

Legal Threat - MaxBloom - 07/23/2009 - 1:27pm - 0 comments

B.F. Shaw Printing v. Skinner

Date: 06/11/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Illinois	Publication: Blog

B.F. Shaw Printing, the Northwest Herald’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against Cal Skinner Jr., a local blogger, for alleged defamatory comments, regarding the Herald's past funding and supposed political bias, that he posted on his blog. Shaw's three-count complaint claims defamation, false...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/09/2009 - 3:36pm - 0 comments

Salyer v. Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc.

Date: 12/18/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial); Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Kentucky	Publication: Print; Website

Robert Salyer sued the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Kentucky state court over allegedly defamatory content in its print and online magazine, "Intelligence Report," which he claims stated that "he had been disbarred from practicing in military courts and also that...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/07/2009 - 5:41pm - 0 comments

Town of Secaucus v. NJ.com

Date: 09/01/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Subpoena	Location: New Jersey	Publication: Forum

According to the Hudson Reporter, in September 2008 the Town of Secaucus sought a subpoena from a Hudson County Superior Court judge to force NJ.com, a website run by a group of New Jersey newspapers, to disclose the identities of...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/07/2009 - 5:27pm - 0 comments

Hawaii v. Wong-Fernandez

Date: 11/12/2008	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Convicted
Type: Criminal Charge	Location: Hawaii	Publication: Social Network

The state of Hawaii indicted Rhonda Wong-Fernandez, a former clerical assistant, on the charge of unauthorized computer access in the first degree after she allegedly accessed a female patient's medical records and posted on a MySpace page that the patient had HIV. The...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/07/2009 - 4:53pm - 0 comments

Palin v. Moore

Date: 07/04/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location: Alaska	Publication: Blog; Broadcast; Website

On July 4, 2009, an attorney for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin sent an open letter to Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, the Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times, The Washington Post, and other news organizations threatening to file...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/08/2009 - 12:53pm - 0 comments

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Recent Threats Added to the CMLP Database

Virginia v. Ostergren

Wiseman v. Does 1-25

Horizon Group v. Bonnen

State of New York v Democrat and Chronicle

New York Times v. Republican Governors Association

Universal v. Reimerdes

Gorman v. Meale

Rejuvenation Strax and Aesthetics Institute v. Durham

First Call Properties v. Craigslist

24grille v. TripAdvisor.com

Sethi v. TechCrunch

Guinness World Records v. FAIL Blog

Hillstone Restaurant Group v. Pietrylo

YP.Net v. StockLemon

Apple v. OdioWorks

B.F. Shaw Printing v. Skinner

Salyer v. Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc.

Town of Secaucus v. NJ.com

Hawaii v. Wong-Fernandez

Palin v. Moore

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Recent Threats Added to the CMLP Database

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