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Lawyers Realizing That Suing Gripe Sites Might Not Make Much Sense
from the it-took-this-long? dept
It looks like some lawyers may be realizing that suing so-called "gripe sites" (more commonly called "sucks sites") might not make very much sense (thanks to Bill Squier for sending this in). The lawyer basically points out what plenty of folks have been saying for years: these sites are usually perfectly legal. They don't violate trademark law, and almost every time such a case goes to court the company loses -- only adding more attention and legitimacy to the gripe site. Instead, the lawyer suggests ignoring the site is often the best course of action:
The best course to deal with a gripe site often is to do nothing at all. The site itself actually might have a little impact on a company's business and the ferocity of its venom might obscure the reality that it is only one of millions of sites that has little traffic and that is visited only by the disaffected, whose business is ultimately lost anyway. Also, if the target pays no overt attention to the site, its operator may lose interest in this particular cause and direct his or her ire to more recent, emotionally appealing, or reactive targets. Non-action can be the most difficult course to take where there is a demand that something must be done.He also notes that sending a cease-and-desist is likely to create the opposite reaction, often encouraging the site to continue (though, while he mentions that cease-and-desist letters are likely to get posted to the sites, he doesn't mention that many site owners will use that to get more attention from others using a "they're trying to shut me down" alarm). Oddly, the lawyers' "final" advice seems like the sort of thing that shouldn't be "final" or a "last resort" but should be much closer to the top of the list:
Finally, the target might seek to engage the operator of the gripe site to find out just what his/her problem is and see if it can be rectified. This would be the cleanest, easiest, and cheapest solution. It might not work, but it has little downside risk and might, if not immediately successful, attenuate the ferocity of the attacks and might in the long run hasten the end of the site, by causing its operator's interest to wane.Wait... speak to someone like a human and see if you can fix their problem? What kind of advice is that?
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Reader Comments (rss)
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good advice
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Communication is good, but ...
Sadly, now the client who was 100% in the right and had the facts by their side, now looks petty and draws questions into whether or not this hate site owner has a legit claim.
Freedom
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This just in...
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Who Is This Guy?
What kind of lawyer is he - having a conscience?
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Freedom of Speech...
Regardless of how good your products may be, someone will get a lemon and complain about it. However, most astute researchers will quickly recognize when a product has more complaints than praise. I am always leary of any product on Amazon with less than 4 stars - obviously there are a lot of complainers. In fact, I prefer products with 4.5 stars and lots of reviews.
An astute business will keep doing their best to make a good product. Instead of trying to action that is doomed to fail against complaint sites, they should try to use that information to make better products. Innovation opportunities here.
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Can that be right?
I am thoroughly shocked.
Need more lawyers like this guy around.
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Re: Communication is good, but ...
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Helpful
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Re: Who Is This Guy?
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Re:
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Gripe sites
Most of these sites, though, have tinges of lunacy, and I would think trying to contact them directly would be the LAST thing you would want to do.
I think where the advice given could be improved would be in first evaluating what legitimacy the gripe has. A gripe in your column, for example, FIRST contact Michael - in some of the other weird columns, ignore the nut if you can.
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Consumerist.com
So I see that strategy working and makes sense. People feel wronged...whether that is right or wrong isn't the issue...what is the issue is that it needs to be fixed.
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Law
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Nice article!
In our case, in past we received a C&D notice from a major corporation and we immediately contacted www.ChillingEffects.org and very soon got offer of legal help from one of their lawyers. We don't publicize this matter on our web site unlike what the article suggests most gripe sites do.
We have had a large traffic (crossed million visitors years ago) and while it might as well be true that we don't have any tangible adverse effect on our targeted mega-corporations, we would like to think otherwise.
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