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Home > RSA Enterprises v. Ripoff Report

RSA Enterprises v. Ripoff Report [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Fri, 12/05/2008 - 17:55

Summary

Threat Type: 

Lawsuit

Date: 

04/23/2007

Status: 

Concluded

Disposition: 

Withdrawn

Location: 

New Jersey

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Defamation
Trade Libel
In April 2007, building contractor RSA Enterprises, Inc. and its owner Raffi Arslanian sued Ripoff Report for defamation and trade libel over a negative report submitted to the consumer complaint website by a dissatisfied customer. In addition,... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

Rip-Off Report.com; Google.com

Type of Party: 

Individual
Organization

Type of Party: 

Organization

Location of Party: 

  • New Jersey

Location of Party: 

  • California
  • Arizona

Legal Counsel: 

William I. Strasser - Strasser & Associates, P.C.
Description

In April 2007, building contractor RSA Enterprises, Inc. and its owner Raffi Arslanian sued Ripoff Report [2] for defamation and trade libel over a negative report submitted to the consumer complaint website by a dissatisfied customer. In addition, RSA sued Google for disseminating the allegedly defamatory content as part of its search results. In August 2007, RSA filed a  a stipulation of dismissal [3] without prejudice, likely because section 230 of the Communications Decency Act [4] immunized both Ripoff Report and Google for the alleged misconduct. 

The disputed report [2] remains online, but it is now paired with a rebuttal from Raffi Arslanian.      

Related Links: 

  •  SEOmoz: The Anatomy of a RipOff Report Lawsuit [5]
  • Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Google Sued for Defamatory Search Result [6]
  • Wired/Threat Level: Building Contractor Sues Google for Indexing Consumer Complaint [7] 
Details

Web Site(s) Involved: 

Ripoff Report [2]

Google [8]

Content Type: 

  • Text

Publication Medium: 

Forum
Other

Subject Area: 

  • Defamation
  • Third-Party Content
  • Section 230
  • Trade Libel
  • Consumer Ratings and Reviews
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • New Jersey

Source of Law: 

  • New Jersey

Court Name: 

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

Court Type: 

Federal

Case Number: 

2:07-cv-01882

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon 2007-04-23-Complaint.pdf [9]
PDF icon 2007-08-02-Stipulation of Dismissal.pdf [10]
CMLP Information (Private)

Priority: 

1-High

Threat Source: 

Blog Post

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Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:06pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/rsa-enterprises-v-ripoff-report

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/rsa-enterprises-v-ripoff-report
[2] http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/041/ripoff0041005.htm
[3] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2007-08-02-Stipulation%20of%20Dismissal.pdf
[4] https://www.dmlp.org/blog/2007/primer-immunity-and-liability-third-party-content-under-section-230-communications-decency
[5] http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-anatomy-of-a-ripoff-report-lawsuit
[6] http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2007/04/google_sued_for_2.htm
[7] http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/04/building_contra.html
[8] http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=rip+off+report,+hardyston&spell=1
[9] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2007-04-23-Complaint_0.pdf
[10] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2007-08-02-Stipulation%20of%20Dismissal.pdf