Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Legal remedy or procedure

I can give you a kind of general answer, but giving you a complete list of possible remedies, and the defenses the other party might assert to them, would require an in-person interview to develop the facts.

First, an "attack on the Internet" may be libel. The essence of libel is the publication of statements about an individual that are monetarily harmful and also untrue. It is also possible to libel a business entity.

Next, blocking your business (do you mean obstructing the flow of e-mail inquiries or something like this?) is probably an instance of the tort called interference with prospective economic advantage, and would be a basis for a suit for damages. There are probably separate statutory remedies for interfering with electronic commerce; possibly, for example, the Federal laws against cyberpiracy would kick in, or there could be state penal laws.

You would also have to consider defenses the attacking party might have. Truth is always a defense to libel. There is the so-called "litigation privilege" that takes statements made in the course of litigation outside the laws against defamation. Finally, we have the Constitutional guarantee of free speech.

If you are harmed by malicious and unprivileged attacks on your business or yourself, you probably have a legal remedy, or maybe several. They would lie in the area of torts, and as stated above, your causes of action would probably be denominated "libel" and/or "interference with prospective economic advantage" although this is not intended to be a comprehensive list.