Author Archives: Paul Levy

More baseless and unethical demand letters from Mathew Higbee

by Paul Alan Levy It’s been some time since I have had occasion to write about Mathew Higbee’s use of baseless threats of litigation seeking to wring undeserved dollars out of alleged copyright infringers. To be sure, many of his demand letters seek remedies for plainly infringing uses, even if his monetary demands tend toward […]

May Courts Order Public Records Requesters to Return Mistakenly Released Documents?

by Paul Alan Levy In releasing documents electronically pursuant to a public records request, a local government body in New Jersey made a rookie error: using software (presumably Word) to perform redactions in a manner that was easily undone when the requester opened the provided PDF documents using his own device. The documents revealed some […]

Robert F Kennedy Jr. Sues to Identify Blogger Who Pointed Out That He Spoke at Rally Connected to Neo-Nazis

by Paul Alan Levy Our latest effort to defend the right to speak anonymously about issues of public concern brings us up against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last summer, Kennedy spoke at an August 29 rally convened by the German far right to protest government restrictions aimed at corralling the COVID pandemic. Kennedy was, apparently, […]

Traitor Joe – another big company with no sense of humor making IP threats

by Paul Alan Levy I recently had the pleasure of representing Dan McCall again — author of such wicked parodies as NSA – the Only Part of Government That Actually Listens (we got to sue the NSA for a declaratory judgment of noninfringement); Ready for Oligarchy (over which we came with hours of filing suit […]

Are the Authors of Consumer Reviews Protected by Anti-SLAPP Laws?

by Paul Alan Levy Today we entered an important case that will determine whether New York’s new and improved anti-SLAPP law protects the authors of consumer reviews against being sued for defamation when they reveal publicly that they were less than thrilled with a business’s services or products. The case arose from the horrible experience […]

Cobb County School District Tries Bogus Trademark Claims to Suppress Anti-Racist Organizing

by Paul Alan Levy Civil rights activists in Cobb County, Georgia, have been urging members of the community to come in force to the impending school board meeting on June Tenth to celebrate Juneteenth by signing up to speak in support of  minority members of the school board, who have been under fire recently. Somebody […]

Landlord Sues Activists for Emotional Distress Damages For Telling Tenants about Eviction Moratoria

by Paul Alan Levy When Keep Pushing, a St. Louis community organization devoted to protecting the unhoused, went door-to-door to speak to tenants facing eviction orders and hand out a flyer about their rights under the CDC eviction moratorium, one of the landlords whose tenants were visited, Norwood 2020, was desperate to suppress this potential threat […]

When consumers chime in anonymously on a dispute between a business and one of its customers

by Paul Alan Levy Our latest case about the right to speak anonymously is in federal court in Chicago, flowing from a dispute between a prominent vlogger named Cristina Villegas and a plastic surgeon named David Shifrin who, Villegas complained, “botched my nose job.” Villegas posted a 23-minute-long  YouTube video which recounts the inadequacies that […]

Weak Maryland anti-SLAPP law enables noisy bar to preserve its liquor license

by Paul Alan Levy Last month, a Fells Point restaurant was able to use an apparently baseless threat of defamation litigation to secure a vote renewing its liquor license by the liquor control board despite considerable neighborhood complaints. Baltimore attorney Scott Marder apparently a demand letter to every one of the 15 neighbors who objected, […]

District Court Denies Request for Injunction Compelling Amazon to Host Parler

by Paul Alan Levy In a decision issued his afternoon, Judge Barbara Rothstein has denied a motion by the infamous web site Parler seeking a preliminary injunction compelling Amazon to reverse its decision to terminate its hosting of Parler's web site. The judge agreed with Amazon that, under its hosting contract, Parler was subject to […]