In September and October 2009, Aldo Cipriani, Town Counsel for Southborough, MA, exchanged letters with Susan Fitzgerald, publisher of MySouthborough.com, a blog dedicated to local politics. Cipriani's letters requested that Fitzgerald turn over the identity of a commenter going by the moniker "Marty" and cautioned Fitzgerald to "more closely monitor remarks made on the communication site ensuring that when individuals speak to issues they do so accurately and without false allegations of violating state law." A letter from late October also advised her to retain records of IP addresses and other information.

According to the Boston Globe, the dispute revolves around meetings of a search committee set up to select a new police chief:

Marty’s posts questioned whether certain search committee meetings held in executive session, behind closed doors, violated the state’s open meeting laws. The posts insinuated the committee had unfair partiality toward the police force’s interim chief, Jane Moran, during the search process. The longtime department veteran was hired for the permanent position in November. (source)

According to MetroWest Daily News, Cipriani's September 22 letter asserted that "[c]ertain comments have been made about the citizen volunteer duly-appointed Police Chief Search Committee wrongly suggesting improprieties under state law," and asked "that you . . .  furnish the contact information for 'Marty' and/or his attorney so that we may raise our concerns directly." 

In a September 30 response, Fitzgerald refused to turn over Marty's identity.  She later told the Globe that she considered Marty's statements expressions of opinion, noting that “I may not agree, but I believe it is the commenter’s right to say it.’’  

The issue resurfaced in March when Selectmen Sal Giorlandino and Bonnie Phaneuf said recent comments posted under a police lieutenant story compelled them to consider legal action.  Selectman Giorlandino told the Globe: "References that say I'm not masculine enough to do my job, and another reference that involved burning Bonnie's (Phaneuf) undergarments, went over the line."

Karen Roebuck, a former employee of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, commenced legal action against Tribune-Review publisher Trib Total Media, two of its editors, and a John Doe defendant over comments posted to the unaffiliated VoyForums site,  self-described as "a forum to talk about issues affecting the Pittsburgh media scene."

Roebuck used an unusual procedure which allows her to commence the action using a "writ of summons" without filing a complaint.  In a motion to extend time to file a complaint, Roebuck indicated that she intends to bring a libel action based on two statements posted on VoyForums by an unknown person using the pseudonym "None."   The court granted Roebuck 60 days to conduct discovery in support of filing a complaint.

In February 2010, Roebuck served a subpoena on VoyForums seeking documents showing the IP address for "None."  VoyForums posted a notice on its forum indicating that it would comply with the subpoena unless someone came forward to file a motion to quash within 30 days.

Defendants Trib Total Media, Frank Craig, and James Cuddy filed a motion to quash the subpoena on March 26, 2010, and supplemented it with a brief on April 5. The brief argues that the subpoena is a "nullity" because it was served on VoyForums, which is based in California, without issuing from a California court.  It also argues that Roebuck has not made the showing required to unmask a pseudonymous speaker under Melvin v. Doe, 49 Pa. D. & C. 4th 449 (Allegh. Co. 2000).

Boris Levitt, owner of Renaissance Furniture Restoration in San Francisco, brought a class action lawsuit against Yelp! Inc. in California state court, alleging violations of California unfair competition law and negligent and intentional misrepresentation. The lawsuit came weeks after other small business owners filed similar lawsuits against Yelp in federal court in California. 

Like the other class action complaints, Levitt's complaint alleges that Yelp runs an extortion scheme, in which Yelp! supposedly promises to positively manipulate user reviews in exchange for the purchase of advertising, and implicitly threatens to detrimentally manipulate reviews if business owners refuse. Specifically, Levitt claims that a number of positive reviews about his business disappeared days after he declined a request to purchase advertising on Yelp. The complaint also alleges that Yelp misrepresents that its reviews are unbiased, causing injury to Levitt's business.

On March 30, 2010, Yelp removed the case to federal court, where it presumably will be consolidated with the other class action lawsuits.

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman has repeatedly denied moving reviews around to reward advertisers and punish non-advertisers.

Palm Coast Travel sued travel journalist Chris Elliott after he reported Elliott.org that Florida regulators had warned three travel insurance agencies, including Palm Coast, that offering policies from bankrupt Prime TravelProtection Services might violate state law. The complaint includes claims for defamation and tortious interference with contract.

In a March 2009 blog post, Elliott quoted a Florida Department of Financial Services spokeswoman as saying the state had ordered the agencies to “stop transacting business” and that “they’re on notice that further activity is pending [by the state]." Florida then issued a press release that clarified what steps regulators had taken: “As a result of ongoing investigations into complaints about the sale of unauthorized travel insurance in Florida, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has notified three travel agencies that she intends to order them to stop selling insurance.” Elliott added this information as an update to his post.

In December 2009, Palm Coast sued Elliott claiming that his reporting defamed the company:

Elliott included among his reporting recent regulatory investigations of customer complaints regarding Prime Travel Protection and Jerry Watson. Elliott’s reporting included publication of false information regarding Palm Coast, which has and will continue to damage Palm Coast’s business unless it is properly remedied.

Among the statements Elliott published were falsehoods that stated that Palm Coast had been ordered to cease doing business by the State of Florida. No such order exists, and therefore that report was false.

Further, Elliott, when purporting to “clarify” his deliberately false statement regarding the State of Florida’s investigation of travel insurance, did not fully remedy the false impression he fostered regarding Palm Coast’s role.

Elliott’s falsehoods were directed at, among other aspects of Palm Coast’s business, its reputation in the trade or industry of travel. Moreover, Elliott did not properly correct, clarify, or retract his falsehoods, despite proper notice.

In the same lawsuit, Palm Coast also sued Peter Lay, one of its customers, for allegedly making false statements to Florida regulators about his experience with Palm Coast.

In March 2010, both Elliott and Lay filed motions to dismiss the complaint, arguing that it fails to state a cause of action for defamation or tortious interference. Lay also argued that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over him.

Update:  On June 26, 2010, Elliott announced on his blog that the case had settled:

I offered my apologies for passing along the wrong information, however unintentional. Lee Smolinski, Palm Coast Travel's president, accepted. 

Righthaven LLC, a Las Vegas company associated with Las Vegas Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against MoneyReign, Inc., a New Jersey corporation that runs CasinoReign.com, a website which publishes "gambling & casino news."  The complaint, filed in federal court in Nevada, alleges that MoneyReign posted a copy of a Review-Journal article, "All's fair in Super Bowl prop bets," on CasinoReign.com without permission.

The CasinoReign.com website was not loading as of the time of writing.

Leo Kehoe, a Queens accountant, sued Craigslist, Inc. in New York state court after an anonymous individual posted ads on Craigslist calling him a "crook" and a "fraudulent scumbag." Kehoe also sued the anonymous poster. According to Gothamist, the postings have since been removed and the following were posted in their place: "Leo Kehoe is a great CPA. He charged me a lower fee than what I had payed with someone else and he did a much better job" and "Leo Kehoe: Much better than Cats. I'm going to see him again and again."  These postings have expired.

Kehoe's lawyer told the Daily News: "Craigslist should have known the posting was false and untrue and would subject Kehoe to 'ridicule, disgrace and prejudice.'"  The claim against Craigslist will almost certainly be dismissed under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

On March 4, 2010, a lawyer representing Williams-Sonoma, Inc. sent a demand letter to Ana White, a rural Alaskan housewife and publisher of Knock Off Wood, a blog that teaches readers how to build designer-looking furniture at home.  The letter claimed that White's blog infringed and diluted Williams-Sonoma's Pottery Barn trademarks by referring to Pottery Barn products names in the course of explaining how to make similar looking products. The letter also claimed that White infringed Williams-Sonoma's copyrights in catalog photographs by displaying them on the blog. 

White took the letter in good spirits: 

This is perhaps the biggest compliment that I have ever received!  A gigantic corporation  is THREATENED by a housewife that lives 100 miles from a stoplight, 1000s of miles from a Pottery Barn store, most of the time in her bathrobe (right now included), who writes a simple blog that makes NO money.

And you should really pat yourself on the back, too!  You building furniture has made this gigantic corporation take note and hand write a letter! (source)

White decided to take down the photographs and product name references, presumably ending the matter. 

Global Wildlife Center, a wildlife preserve in Folsom, Louisiana, sued Nicholas Brilleaux, publisher of the Hammond Action News blog, after he published a satirical article about a fake giraffe attack at the preserve. Hammond Action News publishes Onion-style fake news stories about regional happenings in the Hammond area northwest of New Orleans.

On March 2, 2010, Judge Brenda Bedsole Ricks of the 21st Judicial District Court in Amite, Louisiana granted Global Wildlife Center a temporary restraining order requiring Brilleaux to remove the story from his blog. 

Brilleaux's lawyer told the First Amendment Center that the restraining order was issued without a hearing. The court will hold a hearing on Global Wildlife Center's request for a preliminary injunction on March 15, 2010.  The ACLU filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Brilleaux, arguing that the First Amendment protects his satirical work.

Update:

03/15/2010 - District Judge Beth Wolfe dissolved the temporary restraining order and denied the request for a preliminary injunction. The court also ordered Global Wildlife to pay Brilleaux $500 in attorneys' fees and court costs.

03/01/2013 - about three years after the dissolution of this case, Ken Matherne, the owner of the Global Wildlife Center, sent an email to Ken White of the blog Popehat, threatening legal action for his blog post from March 2010 concerning this case. 

3/06/2013 - the website Techdirt, after reporting on the threat received by Ken White from Ken Martherene, received a similar threat via email.

In September 2008, New York University law professor Joseph Weiler was summoned to appear before a French Examining Judge in connection with a complaint of alleged criminal libel made by Dr. Karin Calvo-Goller, a senior lecturer at the Academic Centre of Law and Business in Israel.  Professor Weiler will appear for trial before the Paris Criminal Tribunal in June 2010.

Professor Weiler is the editor in chief of the European Journal of International Law and the affiliated book review sites, Global Law Books and European Law Books. In 2007, Global Law Books published a book review written by Professor Thomas Weigend, Director of the Cologne Institute of Foreign and International Criminal Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Cologne.  Professor Weigend reviewed Dr. Calvo-Goller's book, The Trial Proceedings of the International Criminal Court. ICTY and ICTR Precedents, and criticized it as an "exercise in rehashing the existing legal set-up" and "unproductive," among other things. 

In June 2007, Dr. Calvo-Goller wrote to Professor Weiler in his capacity as editor of Global Law Books, requesting that he remove Professor Weigend's review from the site. Her letter detailed several perceived factual inaccuracies in the review, claiming that it went "beyond the expression of an opinion, fair comment and criticism" and contained "false factual statements which the author of the review, a professor of criminal law, could not reasonably believe to be true." It also claimed that "[t]he review is an indirect insult to former ICTY and actual ICC officials, defense counsel of the ICTY and ICTR, who took the time to read and comment on previous drafts of the book."

In a response to Dr. Calvo-Goller, Professor Weiler declined to remove the review, expressing his sympathy for Dr. Calvo-Goller's hurt feelings, but also pointing out the unorthodox character of the request:

 I have seen all manner of reviews and from time to time received letters from unhappy authors. In these long years of experience I have never received a letter such as yours both in content and tone. It departs from what in my view are considered common conventions of academic discourse and academic publication.

. . . 

It is a very extreme request to ask for a critical review to be removed. I could imagine acceding to such a request only in most egregious circumstances of, say, bad faith, conflict of interest etc. In reviewing a complaint such as yours the task of the editor is not to engage in a de novo review, but to assess whether the review falls into one of those extreme categories of egregious unreasonableness.

After noting Professor Weigend's distinguished professional credentials and addressing each specific factual/substantive contention in turn, Professor Weiler concluded that removing the review was not justified:

My conclusion from this preliminary enquiry is that the heavy burden needed in my eyes to suppress a book review has not been met. In fact not even a prima facie case has been made. I found nothing to impugn the integrity or professionalism of the reviewer and, independently of whether or not I share his opinions or conclusions on your book, I must decline your request to suppress the book review by removing it from the site. 

Professor Weiler also explained that he would forward Dr. Calvo-Goller's comments to Professor Weigend and would consider a request by Professor Weigend, if any, to change the review. Professor Weiler also pointed out the comment feature on the website and suggested that it would be "perfectly in order for you to write a comment which, after editorial approval, could be posted on the website and seen by anyone who reads the review."

Professor Weigend declined to make any changes, Dr. Calvo-Goller posted no comment, and Professor Weiler stood by Professor Weigend's decision.

In January 2010, George Logan, City Attorney for Patterson, California, filed a lawsuit against John Doe defendants individually and collectively referring to themselves as "Fred Ross" over statements appearing on the Patterson IrriTator website and in comments posted to the Patterson Irrigator's website. According to the complaint, filed in California state court, the statements in question asserted that Logan was "in the pocket of developers" and a "joke."  The complaint includes claims for libel and conspiracy to libel.

A post on the Patterson IrriTator recommends that readers refrain from posting comments on the website "if you are concerned about your identity being revealed."

Update: 

03/10/2010-Fred Ross filed a motion to strike the complaint under California's anti-SLAPP law.