Author Archives: Paul Levy

Threatening and Suing Consumers for Criticisms the “Right Way”

by Paul Alan Levy Here at the Consumer Law and Policy blog, we worry about the chilling impact of both lawsuits against consumers’ speech and heavy-handed cease-and-desist letters demanding the cessation of such speech,  on consumers’ ability to use the comment on business.  We regularly discuss these situations, and at Public Citizen we often represent […]

NAACP Amicus Opposition to NYC Soft Drink Rules — Bought and Paid-for?

by Paul Alan Levy The Times reports that the NAACP filed an amicus brief supporting the soft-drink industry in its opposition to the New York City rules barring super-sized sugary drinks.  It is surely not a coincidence that the NAACP gets donations from Coke, as does its New York State Conference, which filed the brief).  […]

How Should Businesses Deal with Online Criticism?

by Paul Alan Levy   I often write in this space about baseless lawsuits brought by businesses to suppress criticism, although at the same time I have acknowledged that, sometimes, litigation may be a sound response to baseless attacks that are having a genuine untoward impact on reputation. In this interesting blog post on a web […]

Charles Carreon’s Trademark Claims End, Not With a Bang, but a Whimper

by Paul Alan Levy Last summer, I blogged about trademark claims threatened by Charles Carreon, a California lawyer with a notorious past who maintains a private practice out of his home in Arizona.  He had threatened suit against an anonymous blogger for making fun of Carreon at a web site using the domain name charles-carreon.com, […]

Virginia Supreme Court Reverses Preliminary Injunction Against Yelp Review

by Paul Alan Levy The Virginia Supreme Court has summarily reversed a preliminary injunction requiring the author of a consumer review criticizing a Washington DC contractor to revise her statements about the contractor.   We filed a petition for review arguing that the injunction was an impermissible prior restraint, in addition to violating the common law […]

The Boca Raton Scam on Non-Profits Pops Up Again (Yet Another Name)

by Paul Alan Levy This morning's Washington Post carries a report on a scam operation preying on non-profits, based in Boca Raton — the scammers lure the credulous by using the name of a famous news personality, promising priceless exposure on PBS, then charge $23,400 for the privilege of having a short film created for […]

Prior Restraint Doctrine Protects Negative Yelp Review Against Preliminary Injunction

by Paul Alan Levy Today we have joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia to seek appellate review of the preliminary injunction recently entered by a trial judge in Fairfax County, Virginia, requiring Jane Perez to make two changes in reviews of a Washington D.C. contractor named Christopher Dietz that she had […]