We’ll Sue You: The Courts Rule on Internet Gripe Sites

pic by EXB-WDC

Thinking of creating your own Internet gripe site to get revenge on a past employer or company you purchased products or services from? Here is one example of a gripe site — and it isn’t pretty!

Before you do that, you may wish to check the latest court rulings to determine whether you can be successfully sued or not!

This article, from law.com, seems to be a fairly comprehensive review of recent court decisions. Some of the basic concepts used in court include

Lanham Act, which, among other things, limits the use of trademarks,likely to cause confusion about the source of a product or service or somehow harms the trademark. However, the courts have been mixed in terms of whether companies can rely on the Lanham Act to shut down a gripe site.

Another law relied on by companies has been the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), and you can learn more about this law here. Another possible law that might be used by a company is the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, or UDRP.

The article notes that:

As these cases suggest, it may be difficult to persuade a court to bar a gripe site where its owner is not seeking financial benefit.

Learn more about how companies are trying to shut down Internet gripe sites here.

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