November 21, 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.

National Organization for Marriage v. Maddow

Date: 04/13/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: ; Material Removed; Material Reinstated
Type: Correspondence	Location: California	Publication: Broadcast; Website

According to Wired's Threat Level blog, in April 2009 the anti-gay-marriage group National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") sent a DMCA takedown notice to YouTube, demanding that it take down a clip from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show. ...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 05/06/2009 - 2:39pm - 0 comments

Miss Universe v. National Organization for Marriage

Date: 05/04/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location: New Jersey	Publication: Broadcast; Micro-blog; Social Network; Website

On May 4, 2009, counsel for Miss Universe L.P., LLP ("MUO") sent a cease-and-desist letter to the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") complaining about an advocacy ad entitled "No Offense," which incorporates excerpts from...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 05/06/2009 - 1:48pm - 0 comments

Freeman v. Rucinsky

Date: 04/01/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location: New York	Publication: Blog; Micro-blog

In April 2009, Danyelle Freeman, an author and restaurant critic for the New York Daily News who runs the Restaurant Girl Blog, had her lawyers send a cease-and-desist letter to Adam Robb Rucinsky, the operator of an unflattering parody blog and...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 05/06/2009 - 12:45pm - 0 comments

St. Charles County Election Authority v. Doe

Date: 04/01/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Criminal Investigation	Location: Missouri	Publication: Blog

An anonymous blogger who sponsored a fake campaign for St. Louis Blues hockey player T.J. Oshie to become mayor of O'Fallon, Missouri posted a photograph of a ballot with Oshie's name written in. (Although the blog remains, the photo -- available...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 05/06/2009 - 6:34pm - 0 comments

Lavandeira v. National Organization for Marriage

Date: 04/30/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location: New Jersey	Publication: Broadcast; Website

Mario Lavandeira, a.k.a. Perez Hilton, sent a DMCA takedown notice to YouTube, claiming that a clip of an advocacy ad entitled "No Offense" from the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") violated his copyright. In response to Lavandeira's notice,...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 05/06/2009 - 1:49pm - 0 comments

South Carolina v. Craigslist

Date: 05/05/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Criminal Investigation	Location: California	Publication: Forum

On May 5, 2009, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster sent a letter to craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster threatening company management with "criminal investigation and prosecution" over the website's erotic services section, as well as...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 05/22/2009 - 2:57pm - 0 comments

King County, WA v. Sharkansky

Date: 01/02/2005	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Settled (total)
Type: Denial of Access	Location: Washington	Publication: Blog

King County, Washington officials took two years to respond to Sound Politics blogger Stefan Sharkansky's requests for information relating to the 2004 state gubernatorial election. Sharkansky sought a list of county voters who had participated in the election, at a time...

Legal Threat - Matt C. Sanchez - 04/29/2009 - 10:27am - 0 comments

Too Much Media, LLC v. Hale

Date: 06/09/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New Jersey	Publication: Forum

Too Much Media, LLC ("TMM"), a software company that services the online adult entertainment business, sued Washington-based blogger Shellee Hale in New Jersey state court in June 2008, after she posted comments about a security breach in TMM's software product...

Legal Threat - Sam Bayard - 08/06/2009 - 9:39am - 0 comments

Demings v. Harris

Date: 04/17/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location: Florida	Publication: Blog

On April 17, 2009, counsel for Orlando Police Chief Val Demings sent a letter threatening legal action against Ezell "Easy" Harris, publisher of Valdemings.com, a website that criticizes her performance in office. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 06/17/2009 - 11:28am - 0 comments

Ecommerce Innovations v. Doe (Subpoena)

Date: 08/05/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Subpoena Enforced
Type: Subpoena	Location: Arizona	Publication: Forum

On July 14, 2008, Ecommerce Innovations filed a suit in the Central District of California against several Does alleging defamation and trade libel for posts on Ripoff Report, a website that allows users to post reports about individuals and companies...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 04/27/2009 - 6:17pm - 0 comments

Ecommerce Innovations v. Doe (Lawsuit)

Date: 07/14/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Forum

On July 14, 2008, jewelry retailer Ecommerce Innovations filed a lawsuit against anonymous Ripoff Report posters who allegedly made "false and disparaging statements of fact about the [company's] products and services." Ecommerce allleged that Does 1-5 posted the comments...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 04/27/2009 - 5:39pm - 0 comments

New York v. Sherwood

Date: 04/17/2009	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Subpoena Enforced
Type: Subpoena	Location: New York	Publication: Print; Website

Ontario County District Attorney R. Michael Tantillo subpoenaed Canandaigua Messenger Post reporter Julie Sherwood to testify at the DWI trial of Canandaigua Town Supervisor Lloyd Kinnear — the second such subpoena in the case. Attorney Michael J. Grygiel, a partner with...

Legal Threat - 04/27/2009 - 4:06pm - 0 comments

Orix v. Predatorix

Date: 04/24/2008	Status: Concluded	Disposition: ; Material Removed; Retraction Issued; Settled (total); Verdict (plaintiff)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Texas	Publication: Website

In the course of an ongoing lawsuit, Orix Capital Markets, LLC filed a counterclaim against Super Future Equities, Inc., Schumann Rafizadeh, Cyrus Rafizadeh, Houman Thomas Arjmandi, and Keon Michael Arjmandi. The counterclaim alleged that the defendants set up a website -- www.predatorix.com...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 04/22/2009 - 5:10pm - 0 comments

Joyner v. Lazzareschi

Date: 09/26/2005	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Forum; Website

Jeffrey Joyner, a California soccer coach, sued Jerry Lazzareschi, the operator of the forum Soccertalk.com, and his domain registrar Domains by Proxy, Inc., after a number of allegedly false and defamatory statements about Joyner appeared on Lazzareschi's forum site. Joyner coached two...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 06/12/2009 - 9:06am - 0 comments

New Jersey v. Jane Doe

Date: 03/01/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Criminal Charge	Location: New Jersey	Publication: Social Network

In late March 2009, the Passaic County Sheriff's office arrested a 14-year-old New Jersey girl and charged her with possession and distribution of child pornography after she posted nearly 30 nude photos of herself on MySpace.com. This case has has received substantial...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 05/06/2009 - 6:33pm - 0 comments

Grogan v. Hilliard

Date: 05/30/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Broadcast; Print; Website

On May 30, 2008, John Grogan filed a lawsuit in California state against Ralph Hilliard, John Trimarco, Joseph Paolella, Jack Trimarco & Associates Polygraph/Investigations, Inc., Wordnet Solution, Inc., and several John Does alleging defamation, invasion of privacy (false light), and intentional infliction...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 06/15/2009 - 4:01pm - 0 comments

Barnes v. Yahoo!

Date: 05/24/2005	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Oregon	Publication: Social Network

On May 24, 2005, Cecilia Barnes filed a lawsuit against Yahoo! for negligently failing to remove unauthorized profiles from its Yahoo! Profiles website. The profiles were created by Barnes' ex-boyfriend, and contained nude photos of Barnes and her work contact...

Legal Threat - Reed Bienvenu - 06/24/2009 - 11:04am - 0 comments

Equidyne Corporation v. Does

Date: 05/16/2002	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial); Settled (partial); Subpoena Enforced
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Delaware	Publication: Forum

On May 16, 2002, Equidyne Corporation, a medical device company, sued twenty-one John Doe defendants (identified by pseudonyms) who posted statements about the company on the Yahoo! and Lycos financial message boards. Equidyne claimed that the defendants were...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 04/21/2009 - 3:58pm - 0 comments

CW 11 News v. Improv Everywhere

Date: 04/01/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location: New York	Publication: Website

After receiving a copyright complaint from the Tribune Company, YouTube took down a video from comedic performance group Improv Everywhere that allegedly infringed copright in a CW 11 (WPIX-TV) news broadcast. The CW 11 broadcast discussed an Improv...

Legal Threat - Matt C. Sanchez - 06/17/2009 - 9:54am - 0 comments

Davis v. Google

Date: 04/09/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Illinois	Publication: Blog

Cherie Davis, mother of 2006 gold medal winner Shani Davis, the first African American speed skater to make the U.S. Olympic team, sued Google, Inc. in Illinois state court, seeking an injunction requiring the company to take down a blog post written...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 06/05/2009 - 3:16pm - 1 comments

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Recent Threats Added to the CMLP Database

National Organization for Marriage v. Maddow

Miss Universe v. National Organization for Marriage

Freeman v. Rucinsky

St. Charles County Election Authority v. Doe

Lavandeira v. National Organization for Marriage

South Carolina v. Craigslist

King County, WA v. Sharkansky

Too Much Media, LLC v. Hale

Demings v. Harris

Ecommerce Innovations v. Doe (Subpoena)

Ecommerce Innovations v. Doe (Lawsuit)

New York v. Sherwood

Orix v. Predatorix

Joyner v. Lazzareschi

New Jersey v. Jane Doe

Grogan v. Hilliard

Barnes v. Yahoo!

Equidyne Corporation v. Does

CW 11 News v. Improv Everywhere

Davis v. Google

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Recent Threats Added to the CMLP Database

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Recent Lawsuit Threats

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Recently Updated Threat Entries

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