TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:When an eBay seller threatened to sue Bruce Ingrassia for leaving negative feedback, Ingrassia thought he was bluffing.

Two months later a warrant arrived at his Santa Clara home from a small-claims court in a tiny town in a remote corner of Virginia. The seller accused Ingrassia of defamation of character and asked for a judgment of $1,945.

All over the country, Internet users are discovering they can be sued for what they say online, as they vent their spleen on message boards, blogs and Web sites. Like Ingrassia, they are faced with the choice of hiring a lawyer to defend themselves in a distant courtroom or not showing up and risking an unfavorable judgment by default...

Quote:A dispute over a piece of smokey quartz normally would have been of little consequence to Kiel Sturm, who was selling the stone on eBay. But when a Los Angeles buyer made defamatory remarks that threatened to mar Sturm's online reputation forever, Sturm was forced to begin a year-long legal battle to get the comments removed from eBay.

The squabble is another example of how user feedback on such sites can force ordinary people into time-consuming court proceedings to defend their reputations against remarks that can damage their business, because the comments remain online.

Even after Sturm obtained a court ruling stating that he had been defamed, eBay's lawyers continued to resist removing the remarks because the notice from small claims court was in the wrong format, forcing another round of court filings...