2Clix is suing Whirlpool for malicious thread comments
By Arnold Zafra
Accounting software company 2Clix has sued the owner of Whirlpool Broadband Forums, an Australian online community, for what it claims are “false statements” about its product.
In the claim filed at the Supreme Court of Queensland, the 2Clix said that two discussion threads in Whirlpool criticizing its software product caused tremendous income losses and a decline in sales.
2Clix specifically referenced 30 comments by Whirlpool members, some of which advised other members to avoid 2Clix’s software. These comments also pointed out that the advertised features of the software were not actually present in the software. 2Clix denied this, and asked Whirlpool to take down the malicious comments. 2Clix’s requests were ignored.
Although both parties refused to comment on the case, some Australian observers have aired their views regarding the case.
Dale Clapperton chairman of the online users lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, told the Sydney Morning Herald that a win for 2Clix in the case would impact consumers’ freedom to criticize products for their flaws and defects.
“It might mean the end of criticising companies’ products and services online, any company will be able to demand that people’s criticisms of them be deleted off websites, and if they don’t comply they’ll sue”, said Clapperton.
Amanda Stickley, a senior law lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, thinks that the outcome of the case would have significant effect on website operators who would be “very vigilant in checking material on the website and remove anything that could cause injury to someone’s business reputation”
But Stickley adds that it would be very difficult for 2Clix to prove that indeed the comments posted in Whirlpool against its software directly affected the sales of their products. 2Clix would also have difficulties proving that Whirlpool intentionally caused the damage to the software product.
Despite having a strong legal defense, the owner of Whirlpool doesn’t want to take chances, and asked its forum members to refrain from posting comments relating to the case.
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September 12th, 2007
Just to clarify: the case has not yet gone to court, so the title should be “Whirlpool is being sued” or even better, “2Clix are suing”.
It’s a ridiculously stupid concept to sue the owner of a non-profit, no-advertising site just because some user’s published their bad experiences with some dodgy software.
But the scary part is if the judicial system stuffs up and sets a precedent in favour of the company, then all forums hosted in Australia could in theory be legally liable for the comments of their users if any negative comments aren’t deleted (!).
September 12th, 2007
Thanks for the clarification Greg. As to the charges, well we could only hope that those who compose the judicial system are aware enough of the prevailing freedom of expression that governs online community forums such as Whirlpool’s.