Blogger sued for negative comments

BruceOnGames.com has some opinions, and accusations, about the MMORPG Evony. Evony is a game where players build an empire and attack other player’s empires. It is similar to Civilization or Age of Empires. It is best known for having internet ads of busty women enticing people to click on them, even though there are no such women in the game.

Bruce has made allegations that the company uses less than fair business practices, like taking intellectual property from the games mentioned above, purposely losing in game items players bought so they will have to repurchase them, spamming other forums with ads, and being a part of the WoW gold farming companies.

In response, Evony LLP is suing Bruce over defamation, saying that his comments are unfounded and have cost the company money in lost revenue from players turned away by his accusations. The lawsuit filed through courts in Australia require the website to remove those posts, apologize, retract what was said, and pay for the lost revenue.

A company, that may be in China, suing a blogger in the United Kingdom using a law firm in Australia makes it very difficult for the defendant to defend himself. Flying himself, lawyers, and any witness to Australia will cost a lot, win or lose. Also, Australia has some tough rules on lible suits like this, basically the defendant has to prove that what was said is True.

This is an issue of free speech and control on the internet. These are not people who are flaming websites with crude comments, these are people who are writing about what they believe, on their own website. Are these kinds of articles really subject to litigation? Can blogging about how someone does not like something be illegal, and damaging in the eyes of the court? Most bloggers are individuals, and for a big company, with their own team of lawyers, to bring a suit against them is crippling.

There is not a lot that can be done for them, they have an uphill battle in court. Hopefully free speech on the internet is protected. This is the world wide web, and if a court can decide what a blogger in another continent can and can’t say in his blog, then there need be a set of rules that the whole world will need to follow. This would also take away from honest reviews, for fear of a backlash for negative reviews.