Legal Question in Technology Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Online complaint web site

In general, the Communications Decency Act of 1996 immunizes website hosters from defamatory statements, but there are some exceptions. One exception is if the postings are actually libelous, and you have actual knowledge of the libelous nature of the post.

You may want to consider if it's worth fighting the claim from the company, or merely taking the postings down to avoid the conflict.

Re: Online complaint web site

The applicable section of the Communications Decency Act that applies states, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." I'm not so sure that protects you from liability in a state court defamation suit. I read a recent Pennsylvania case on the subject which is at Nevyas v. Morgan, 2007 PA Super 66 and it doesn't really address the question since the person posting the purportedly defamatory statements was the person running the web site and he agreed to remove the defamatory material anyway.

Note that the law just says that you can't be treated as the publisher or speaker of the information provided by another. If, however, you yourself comment or make any posts on the site there's no protection. Also, you should be aware that if you post any copyrighted material you must comply with the provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. I suggest looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCILLA

for a good summary of those provisions.