Public Accusations Tread a Fine Legal Line

Right after writing about the Scoble/Java Jo’z/Cuppy’s example of a company apparently fighting back against allegations posted on blog posts, I came across this small, sad tale of a couple who sold their small, distributed-sales sex toy company and were appalled when they got squeezed out by the new owner.

As satisfying as it might be to tell your story, there are a lot of risks involved in venting online. Given the bold claims of fraud, I doubt this blog will remain up long. Here are a few choice tidbits:

“We are the Victims of complex fraud & a breach of trust. How? Being a former Fire Fighter Paramedic I trusted people who I thought earned it. We trusted [name deleted], like a father, he used our trust to defraud us of our company and its assets.

“[Name deleted], the owner of 21 [Store name deleted] Locations Alberta, [Other company name deleted] & now the Company he defrauded our family of [company name deleted].

“The conman [Name deleted], for whatever reason, he choose to destroy our families life by a calculated breech of our trust.

“He’s a professional con artist and liar.”

It’s the story of a couple who apparently were good at keeping a sales force motivated, but let cash flow problems get the better of them. In their case, they sought relief from one of their suppliers. They obviously didn’t consult a lawyer, because the details of the sales agreement seem to have come as a terrible shock to them.

I’ve read nothing else about the target of their outrage, but it’s obvious these folks don’t stand a chance in court or in the media. Their last attempt at payback is an online smear. It’s a hopeless battle, waged by people with little hope.

The best online battle against a corporation that I’ve seen is TaubmanSucks.com, a painstakingly detailed description of the efforts by a shopping mall company to force a fan site to close down. The clumsy maneuvering by Taubman’s legal firm is recorded online, with a description accompanying every threatening letter and court filing.

With the help of a pro bono personal rights advocacy lawyer, Hank Mishkoff fought back and prevailed. The law firm, of course, experienced some blogosphere whupass when the story made the rounds of some well-read blogs.

The Taubman experience is a cautionary tale for companies dealing with blogs, citizen journalists and non-traditional websites. Instead of contacting the website owner directly with a polite request to stop using copyrighted images, they used bully tactics and lawyers. I don’t even want to guess what a year’s worth of legal posturing cost them, but they failed miserably in their attempt to shut down the fan website.

Fighting back against a company through a blog can be a highly effective strategy, or a lost cause. It all depends on the circumstances.

Photo by Jurvetson.

Tags: libel, legal, conflict, accusations, taubmansucks, threats, business, lawyers