Expert Lawyers Comment On KwikChex Action Against TripAdvisor
Category : Uncategorized
Whilst taking on major corporations is never easy, there are signs that even on the internet, they can’t get away with everything.
Expert online defamation lawyers commenting on the group defamation action being led by KwikChex against TripAdvisor know that in the USA in particular, it is difficult to get a result against ‘review’ and ‘feedback’ sites. But in this case, KwikChex is claiming that there have been abuses that fall outside of the normal defence of ‘user generated comment.’
In an article published by Beth Kormanik of Hotel Interactive.com, the following was stated:
Bill Hart, an attorney with the Manhattan firm Proskauer who specializes in technology issues, said situations similar to the “Hotel Horror” email could be in a “gray area” of the law. In general, sites cannot go beyond publishing user statements without giving up their immunity, he said. If they make conclusions from the reviews, it could be problematic.
and here is another from Jack Lerner, a professor at the University of Southern California Law School
‘The law would not protect sites that edit the substance of a user’s comment or that induce the content.‘
The KwikChex response to the article is “We already have what is the first truly robust defence system against this severe problem that affects both reputable businesses and consumers – but will be going far further – it is our belief that the mistakes that TripAdvisor have made undermine their integrity to such a degree that we can use them to leverage serious change. The fundamental issue is that we have proven you cannot trust TripAdvisor themselves to not produce damaging assertions unjustifiably against reputable businesses – so how can you trust anything else on their site at present? Or to put it another way – when the saint is caught sinning, all faith is lost.”
Link to the ‘Promote & Protect’ KwikChex All Rounders service for hotels and restaurants
Link to the article on Hotel Interactive.com
