Defamation Lawyer: Traverse Internet Law Federal Court Report: September 2008 Defamation Lawsuits

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The facts are unproven allegations of the Plaintiff and all commentary is based upon the allegations, the truthfulness and accuracy of which are likely in dispute.

JOHN A. BLAZI AND GREENWICH COFFEE, LLC v. JASON WAGONER AND NICHOLAS DEGRAZIA
DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT (NEW HAVEN)
FILED: 9/19/2008
3:08-CV-01441

Litigation over the use of company names is seemingly exploding across the country. This is another example of an "attack" website being used, if the Plaintiff's allegations are correct, to gain advantage and leverage in a civil dispute. The courts have not yet decided how to deal with these "sucks", "attack", or "gripe sites" (the later which of course is the term used by the free speech and public interest groups). Are these really "gripe sites"? Almost all of the litigation coming through the federal courts has significant commercial elements as the motivating factor in the launching of these sites, and they are far from mere "free speech" or "gripe" sites.
The Plaintiff, operating a coffee shop known as "Greenwich Coffee" allegedly had some disputes with the Defendants who were former employees and in charge of the coffee shop's website located at "www.greenwichcoffee.com". To make a long story short, according to the Plaintiff the parties had a falling out and the Defendants maintained control of the Greenwich Coffee website and domain name and changed the site from an "online store" into an attack "blog" site for the sole purpose of generating and posting negative and disparaging comments about their former employer.

The lawsuit includes a claim for federal trademark infringement, federal unfair competition of false designation of origin, common law unfair competition under Connecticut common law, computer hacking under section 1030, and civil conspiracy. Plaintiff requests an award of compensatory damages, punitive damages, a tripling of compensatory damages, and awards of attorney's fees and courts costs. In addition, the Plaintiff is requesting the transfer of the domain names "greenwichcoffee.com" and "greenwichcoffee.net" to the Plaintiff. Traverse Internet Law Cross-Reference Number 1228.