November 23, 2009

Recently Updated Threat Entries Involving Section 230

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.

Beverly Stayart v. Yahoo!, Inc. et al

Date: 02/05/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Wisconsin	Publication: Website

In February 2009, Beverly Stayart filed a lawsuit against Yahoo! and two other internet services, Altavista and AdultFriendFinder, for unauthorized use of her name on the Internet. She claimed false designation of origin and false endorsement under the Lanham Act, as well...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 11/11/2009 - 10:28am - 0 comments

Kruska v. Perverted Justice Foundation

Date: 01/10/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Arizona	Publication: Blog; Email; Social Network; Website; Wiki

Jan Kruska sued several anti-pedophile organizations, including Perverted Justice Foundation, Inc. ("PJFI"), and individuals affliliated with those organizations, as well as domain registrar GoDaddy.com and social networking site MySpace.com, after the organizations accused Kruska of being...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 10/26/2009 - 5:37pm - 0 comments

AutoAdmit

Date: 06/08/2007	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Settled (total); Subpoena Enforced
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Connecticut	Publication: Forum

Two female Yale Law School students, captioned as Does I & II, sued Anthony Ciolli, the former chief education director of the popular law school admissions forum, AutoAdmit, and a host of pseudonymous users of the forum over vulgar, sexually...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 10/23/2009 - 11:37am - 0 comments

Finkel v. Facebook

Date: 02/16/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New York	Publication: Social Network

Teenager Denise Finkel sued four of her former high school classmates, their parents, and Facebook after the students created a private Facebook group called "90 Cents Short of a Dollar," which allegedly contained false and defamatory statements about her. The complaint alleges...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 10/20/2009 - 6:23pm - 2 comments

Bennoti, Inc. v. Complaintsboard.com

Date: 03/25/2008	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Withdrawn
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New York	Publication: Forum

In March 2008, Bennoti, Inc., an espresso machine marketer and merchandiser, sued consumer review site Complaints Board and its owner, Elizabeth Arden, for defamation of business reputation (trade libel) and unfair competition. In March 2009, the United States District Court for the Southern...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 10/14/2009 - 4:59pm - 0 comments

Aquino v. Electriciti

Date: 02/18/1997	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Website

Michael A. Aquino and Lilith Aquino, leaders of the "Temple of Set," sued Electriciti, Inc., an internet service provider, over statements made by one of its subscribers. According to their complaint, an Electriciti subscriber going by the pseudonym...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 10/14/2009 - 1:03pm - 0 comments

Ottinger v. The Journal News

Date: 02/25/2008	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Subpoena Enforced
Type: Subpoena	Location: New York	Publication: Forum

Former House Representative Richard Ottinger and his wife, June Ottinger, filed a John Doe lawsuit in New York state court and served a subpoena on The Journal News, a daily newspaper distributed in New York and Southern Connecticut...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 09/14/2009 - 10:51am - 0 comments

Devenyns v. Albero

Date: 07/24/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Maryland	Publication: Blog

A Maryland prison director filed a defamation lawsuit against Maryland political blogger Joseph Albero for allowing an allegedly defamatory user comment to appear on his website. Douglas Devenyns claims an anonymous commenter on Albero's Salisbury News blog falsely stated he was a...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 09/11/2009 - 2:07pm - 0 comments

Sturm v. eBay

Date: 02/14/2006	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Dismissed (total); Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Website

Kiel J. Sturm sued eBay, Inc. for defamation after it refused to remove a comment critical of him left by a buyer, even after he obtained a court order ruling that the comment was defamatory. According to articles in the San...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 09/09/2009 - 8:09am - 0 comments

Video Professor v. Informercial Consumer Awareness

Date: 05/03/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Settled (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Colorado	Publication: Website

Video Professor, a computer instruction software company, filed a lawsuit against the owners of Infomercialscams.com, a website which hosts anonymous reviews of infomercial products, and several related individuals asserting claims that the owners of Infomercialscams.com used the threat of negative consumer ratings to extort...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/28/2009 - 9:57am - 0 comments

Doe v. Dirty World Entertainment

Date: 05/06/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Texas	Publication: Website

An anonymous Texas woman has filed suit in state court against the operator of The Dirty, self-described as the "first and most famous reality gossip blog," for allegedly lending credence to a third-party comment on the site that showed her...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/25/2009 - 12:47pm - 0 comments

Hollis v. Joseph

Date: 05/31/2006	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Pennsylvania	Publication: Forum

Todd Hollis objected to the description posted about him on DontDateHimGirl.com, a website that allows women to post about men and warn other women about them. Mr. Hollis sued Tasha Joseph/Cunningham, the operator of the website, alleging defamation in Pennsylvania state court,...

Legal Threat - dardia - 08/22/2009 - 9:04am - 0 comments

Keith Goodridge Construction v. WYBS, Inc.

Date: 08/18/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Oregon	Publication: Website

In August 2008, Keith Goodridge sued WYBS, Inc., owner of the site www.merchantcircle.com, and a John Doe using the screen name "Attorney" over allegedly defamatory comments posted to the site. According to the complaint, a posting from June 4, 2008...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/17/2009 - 4:44pm - 0 comments

Lang v. Mason

Date: 05/09/2002	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Florida	Publication: Broadcast; Website

Jeffrey Lang, a Florida reconstructive and cosmetic surgeon, filed a lawsuit against reporter Michael Mason, MSNBC, its affiliate Waterman Broadcasting, and Mary Catherine Tourtillott, a former patient, for an allegedly defamatory news report that accused Lang disfiguring his patients. Lang's four-count complaint...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/17/2009 - 4:28pm - 0 comments

Glass v. Doe d/b/a pogowasright.org

Date: 07/30/2009	Status:	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Blog; Forum

Jane Doe, an anonymous blogger and author of the website Pogo Was Right: Privacy News from Around the World, filed suit in the Central District of California against Lillian Glass, Ph.D. The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that (1) Doe is protected...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/14/2009 - 2:28pm - 0 comments

The Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc.

Date: 11/12/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Injunction Issued; Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New Hampshire	Publication: Website

The following is a user-submitted description: Mortgage lender Mortgage Specialists filed a petition for injunctive relief against Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, a website that reports and publishes stories concerning the US housing-finance sector. In one story, Implode Explode covered Mortgage Specialists,...

Legal Threat - 08/06/2009 - 12:12pm - 0 comments

Gibson v. Craigslist

Date: 09/04/2008	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New York	Publication: Website

New York City store owner Calvin Gibson sued craiglist, Inc. after a gunman shot him with a handgun allegedly purchased on craigslist. Gibson's lawsuit reportedly claims that neighbor Jesus Ortiz told police he had shot Gibson and that he had...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/05/2009 - 2:49pm - 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

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

Video Professor v. Does

Date: 08/16/2007	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Withdrawn
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Colorado	Publication: Forum

Justin Leonard runs the websites infomercialratings.com and infomercialscams.com. These websites give users of infomerical products the opportunity to voice their criticisms and defenses of these products and associated sales tactics. Pages on these websites are devoted to...

Legal Threat - Sam Bayard - 07/21/2009 - 7:57am - 0 comments

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Recently Updated Threat Entries Involving Section 230

Beverly Stayart v. Yahoo!, Inc. et al

Kruska v. Perverted Justice Foundation

AutoAdmit

Finkel v. Facebook

Bennoti, Inc. v. Complaintsboard.com

Aquino v. Electriciti

Ottinger v. The Journal News

Devenyns v. Albero

Sturm v. eBay

Video Professor v. Informercial Consumer Awareness

Doe v. Dirty World Entertainment

Hollis v. Joseph

Keith Goodridge Construction v. WYBS, Inc.

Lang v. Mason

Glass v. Doe d/b/a pogowasright.org

The Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc.

Gibson v. Craigslist

First Call Properties v. Craigslist

Gorman v. Meale

Video Professor v. Does

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Recently Updated Threat Entries Involving Section 230

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