Getting sued for what you publish online

Tyler Cruz recently ran an April Fools prank where he said that he was getting sued for trademark violation.

It took me back just a few months to December where I received legal threats for comments made on my website Jonk’s Bargains.

Under my grouping of discount cards I had listed 22 percent off, a card that offered discounts at Australian locations. It was the only website listed across the whole of Jonk’s Bargains that I criticised. I said the deals were crap (they were, and still are) and they had wasted a whole lot of money advertising a useless product.

Within a week of me releasing the site onto the internet I got a call from them threatening to sue for defamation unless I removed the information on the site pronto. I didn’t accept that, told the guy that it clearly wasn’t defamation and that if his lawyer said that it was, he needed a new lawyer.

As soon as I hung up I called my elder sister, who is a lawyer, and asked her advice. She said I was on the money.

Mark at My Opinions Are Important took an interest and wrote a huge post about Defamation law in Australia. In summary, corporations can only sue if they have nine or less employees. While 22 percent off probably fits this mold, they didn’t have a case as I was making a fair comment in the public service.

A month later I removed the comment from the website as it wasn’t really in the spirit of Jonk’s Bargains.