Hammer v. Trendl [1]

In early 2002, self-published author Jeffrey Hammer sued Anthony Trendl in federal court in New York alleging violations of federal copyright law and defamation for negative reviews posted on Amazon [2] about Hammer's books.  Hammer also sought a temporary restraining order preventing Trendl from posting any further comments on Hammer's books on the internet, enjoining Amazon from removing his books from its website, and directing Amazon to remove the negative comments.

The court denied the request for a temporary restraining order.  It found that Trendl's comments were pure opinion and therefore protected speech and that there was no evidence that Trendl copied any of the work.  The court also ruled that Amazon could not be subjected to an injunction because it was not a party to the case, despite Hammer's argument that Amazon provided Trendl with an attorney.

The court also granted Trendl's motion to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction. Later, the court instituted a special procedure that Hammer had to follow if he wanted to file any papers in connection to the case because of the high number of motions he filed (over 50).  After receiving this order, Hammer continued filing motions and filed a lawsuit against Amazon.  The court then issued an order preventing him from filing any papers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York without advance permission from the court.  Hammer's appeals to the Second Circuit and the Supreme Court [3] were denied.