Goldman Sachs is trying to shut down a blog which has been critical of the company. The Telegraph reports:
The bank has instructed Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to pursue blogger Mike Morgan, warning him in a recent cease-and-desist letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his website.
Florida-based Mr Morgan began a blog entitled “Facts about Goldman Sachs” – the web address for which is goldmansachs666.com – just a few weeks ago.
In that time Mr Morgan, a registered investment adviser, has added a number of posts to the site, including one entitled “Does Goldman Sachs run the world?”. However, many of the posts relate to other Wall Street firms and issues.
According to Chadbourne & Parke’s letter, dated April 8, the bank is rattled because the site “violates several of Goldman Sachs’ intellectual property rights” and also “implies a relationship” with the bank itself.
While I don’t know if this has been there all along or is a reaction to the legal threats, the site does currently say right at the top in bold red type: “This site is NOT affiliated with Goldman Sachs, nor has this site been approved by Goldman Sachs.” Morgan has a post about the legal action which contains a copy of a letter from the company. He responds:
Needless to say, we will most likely fight this one in court with Goldman Sachs and now we will expedite adding relevant content to this website. We have followed all of the legal requirements to own and maintain the website under the address we have selected. If you have any media contact you want to forward this to, be my guest. It’s just another example of how a bully like Goldman Sachs tries to throw their weight around and this is a clear violation of our Constitutional Rights.
I can’t help but believe that such legal action will only bring far more publicity to the site and the arguments contained there.
Goldman Sachs Tries To Shut Down Blog – Liberal Values – Defending … http://bit.ly/122O
Goldman Sachs Tries To Shut Down Blog – Liberal Values – Defending … http://bit.ly/122O
I’m really depressed I didn’t see this one before you did. This is the sort of thing I live to write about, a nice clean shot at the jaw of a big corporation that is clearly attempting to game the system always makes me smile. I think will have to read up on this and write something myself.
I’m not sure who to support on this one. Wonder how many other people have been threatened with civil suits over their internest criticism. Also, I’m not sure if Goldman Sachs has thought this through because if they are perceived as bullies this can’t help their case.
I think there is reasonably some separation between blog content and site name. Should a corporation have absolutely no control over use of its corporate name in naming Internet sites?