Orix v. Predatorix [1]

In the course of an ongoing lawsuit, Orix Capital Markets, LLC filed a counterclaim against Super Future Equities, Inc., Schumann Rafizadeh, Cyrus Rafizadeh, Houman Thomas Arjmandi, and Keon Michael Arjmandi.  The counterclaim alleged that the defendants set up a website -- www.predatorix.com -- that published false and defamatory statements about Orix.  For example, Orix claimed that the website accused the company of committing tax fraud and being under federal investigation for violating racketeering laws.  Later, Orix filed an amended counterclaim to add a copyright infringement claim arising from Predatorix's re-posting of a page from the Orix website.

The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which, in March 2008, the court granted in part and denied in part [2].  The court dismissed Orix's claims for business disparagement, tortious interference, and copyright [3] infringement (notably, the court found that Predatorix's use of the Orix page was fair use [4]), but found that the defamation claim was sufficient to go to the jury [4].

In February 2009, after a two-week trial, the jury awarded [5] Orix $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, split between the defendants, except Keon Michael Arjmandi, who was not found liable.  After the verdict, the parties settled [6] the case on undisclosed terms.  After the settlement, the Rafizadehs published an apology on Predatorix, acknowledging that the postings were incorrect.