Proman v. Google [1]

On December 12, 2009, Matthew Brian Proman and NAPW, Inc. (d/b/a National Association of Professional Women) sued Google, Inc. and 10 John Doe defendants in New York state court, asserting claims for "misappropriation of Plaintiffs' names for trade and advertising purposes" and defamation.  (Complaint ¶1)

According to the complaint, Google hosts four articles about the National Association of Professional Women, through its Blogger and Knol services, that contain allegedly defamatory statements about NAPW and Proman. As alleged in the Complaint, the posts at issue call NAPW a "scam," and label Proman a "scam artist." (Complaint  ¶8).

The Complaint requested an injunction ordering Google to remove the allegedly defamatory posts, identification of the authors of the posts, and pecuniary and exemplary damages against the Doe defendants.