Legal Question in Technology Law in New York
Internet Slander / Website Freedom of Speech?
There's a website http://www.tripadvisor.com.
They offer an ''opinion'' site. Our problem as being a company that owns some hotels is that our competitors are leaving messages as if they were customers at our hotel.
TripAdvisor will not remove any comments put on their site from customers but they do not guarantee, in fact, in our case rarely post Management's response to these accusations.
I, being the corporate webmaster for the company have written a ''suggestion'' letter for our CEO and/or COO to send to TripAdvisor for a process that will validate a complaint via thier internet website.
What recourse do we have legally to challange thier website?
Where can I find case history for internet cases such as this?
Will this be a waste of time and money taking legal action?
Thank you for your time.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Internet Slander / Website Freedom of Speech?
What you are describing has been informally termed "cybersmear." You may have a claim against your competitors if you can obtain evidence of their posting negative messages with the intent of harming your business and show that they are impersonators. This could potentially be grounded in defamation, unfair competition, false advertising tortious interference and a number of other theories depending on the underlying facts.
However, with respect to the website or ISP, depending on their Terms of Use, their liability is likely to be quite limited to third parties unless there are violations of your trademark or other IP or certain other facts. This too will require a factual examination.
Before you contact the ISP, you would want your negotiating/litigation strategy carefully mapped out.
If you would like to discuss this further, call or email my office for a consultation.
Please note that this response is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.
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