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Home > Dozier Internet Law v. Riley

Dozier Internet Law v. Riley [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 17:18

Summary

Threat Type: 

Lawsuit

Date: 

09/04/2008

Status: 

Pending

Location: 

Virginia

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Trademark Infringement
On September 4, 2008, John Dozier filed a lawsuit in Virginia state court claiming that Ronald Riley's "gripe site" about him and his firm, www.cybertriallawyer-sucks.com, violates his law firm's trademark because the site uses the firm's name in conjunction with... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

Ronald J. Riley; Inventored, Inc.; Riley Consulting Corporation; Riley Enterprises, Ltd.; The Alliance For American Innovation, LLC

Type of Party: 

Organization

Type of Party: 

Individual
Organization

Location of Party: 

  • Virginia

Location of Party: 

  • Michigan

Legal Counsel: 

John W. Dozier, Jr.

Legal Counsel: 

Paul Alan Levy - Public Citizen Litigation Group; Thomas Marshall Wolf - LeClair Ryan
Description

On September 4, 2008, John Dozier filed a lawsuit [2] in Virginia state court claiming that Ronald Riley's "gripe site" about him and his firm, www.cybertriallawyer-sucks.com [3], violates his law firm's trademark because the site uses the firm's name in conjunction with an embedded link that goes, not to the firm's website, but to a page on inventored.org that lists cease-and-desist letters Riley has received from Dozier and Riley's responses to those letters.

According to Paul Alan Levy [4], Riley's counsel, Dozier "does not seem to have served [the complaint] on Riley.  Instead, he has used the making of a claim for trademark infringement to warn the hosts of Riley’s web site that if they do not take the web site down they risk a further display of Dozier’s wrath, directed at them." 

On October 2, 2008, Riley filed a complaint for declaratory judgment [5] in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, seeking a ruling by the court that his use of Dozier's trademarks is not infringing or defamatory.

Update:

11/20/08 - The federal court dismissed [6] Riley's complaint for declaratory judgment based on lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

12/8/08 - The district court denied [7] the plaintiff's motion to reconsider dismissal [8].

1/6/09 - Plaintiff appeals [9] the district court's order of dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Related Links: 

  • Dozier Internet Law Lawsuit Complaint [2]
  • Public Citizen: Another Case of Abusive Trademark Claims to Suppress Speech — John Dozier redux [4]
  • Public Citizen: Did Some ISP's Give in Too Easily to Dozier's Threats of Suit over Their Customer's Speech? [10]
  • Dozier Internet Law: Ronald J. Riley and Inventored.org Sued [11]
  • Techdirt: Dozier Continues To Go After Ronald Riley [12]
  • The Legal Satyricon: Dozier Does it Again [13]
  • CMLP Blog: Will Your ISP Stand Up for Your Free Speech Rights? [14]
  • Public Citizen Case Summary [15]
  • Dozier Internet Law PC: Dozier Internet Law v. Ronald J. Riley Victory [16]
  • Justia Case Docket for Federal Case [17]
Details

Web Site(s) Involved: 

www.cybertriallawyer-sucks.com [3]

Content Type: 

  • Text

Publication Medium: 

Website

Subject Area: 

  • Trademark
  • Gripe Sites
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • Virginia

Source of Law: 

  • United States
  • Virginia

Court Name: 

Circuit Court for the County of Henrico, Virginia; United States District Court for the District of Virginia

Court Type: 

Federal
State

Case Number: 

3:08-cv-00642 (EDVA)

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon 2008-10-02-Riley Complaint for Declaratory Judgment.pdf [18]
PDF icon 2008-10-29-Defendants Motion to Dismiss.pdf [19]
PDF icon 2008-11-12-Rileys Opposition to Motion to Dismiss.pdf [20]
PDF icon 2008-11-20-Dozier Order Dismissing Case.pdf [21]
PDF icon 2008-12-08-Ruling on Plaintiff's Motion to Reconsider Dismissal.pdf [22]
PDF icon 2008-12-04-Riley's Motion to Reconsider Dismissal.pdf [23]
PDF icon 2009-01-06-Riley Notice of Appeal.pdf [24]
CMLP Information (Private)

Threat Source: 

Public Citizen

CMLP Notes: 

Updated 6/18/09 - CMF

DMLP Logo


Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:07pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/dozier-internet-law-v-riley

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/dozier-internet-law-v-riley
[2] http://www.dozier-internetlaw.org/
[3] http://www.cybertriallawyer-sucks.com/
[4] http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/10/another-case-of.html
[5] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-10-02-Riley%20Complaint%20for%20Declaratory%20Judgment.pdf
[6] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-11-20-Dozier%20Order%20Dismissing%20Case.pdf
[7] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-12-08-Ruling%20on%20Plaintiff%27s%20Motion%20to%20Reconsider%20Dismissal.pdf
[8] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-12-04-Riley%27s%20Motion%20to%20Reconsider%20Dismissal.pdf
[9] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2009-01-06-Riley%20Notice%20of%20Appeal.pdf
[10] http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/10/did-some-isps-g.html
[11] http://johndozierjr.typepad.com/dozierinternetlaw/2008/09/dozier-internet-law-ronald-j-riley-and-inventoredorg-sued.html
[12] http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20080929/0152572398&threaded=true
[13] http://randazza.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/dozier-does-it-again/
[14] https://www.dmlp.org/blog/2008/will-your-isp-stand-your-free-speech-rights
[15] http://www.citizen.org/litigation/forms/cases/CaseDetails.cfm?cID=502
[16] http://johndozierjr.typepad.com/dozierinternetlaw/2009/02/dozier-internet-law-v-ronald-j-riley-victory.html
[17] http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/virginia/vaedce/3:2008cv00642/234919/
[18] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-10-02-Riley%20Complaint%20for%20Declaratory%20Judgment.pdf
[19] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-10-29-Defendants%20Motion%20to%20Dismiss.pdf
[20] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-11-12-Rileys%20Opposition%20to%20Motion%20to%20Dismiss.pdf
[21] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-11-20-Dozier%20Order%20Dismissing%20Case.pdf
[22] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-12-08-Ruling%20on%20Plaintiff%27s%20Motion%20to%20Reconsider%20Dismissal.pdf
[23] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-12-04-Riley%27s%20Motion%20to%20Reconsider%20Dismissal.pdf
[24] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2009-01-06-Riley%20Notice%20of%20Appeal.pdf