Thursday September 2, 7:04 pm Eastern Time
BioShield sues over 'defamatory' chat-room talk
NORCROSS, Ga., Sept 2 (Reuters) - BioShield Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:BSTI - news) said on Thursday it was suing an unknown individual or individuals who the company alleges wrote ``defamatory' statements about BioShield in online investor chat rooms.
The suit, filed in a Georgia court, asks for undisclosed damages against the party or parties, named as ``John Doe' in the company's legal filings.
Norcross, Ga.-based BioShield, which went public last September, develops and markets antimicrobial and biostatic products. The technology uses a solution to protect surfaces against germs and remove allergens that can cause respiratoryproblems.
The company said it subpoenaed Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) for the identities and security records of the message posters, or poster, who have used the screen names ``FraudFinder1,' ``TeSquared,' and ``theskepticds1' on Yahoo, the Internet media network where the messages were posted.
Shares of BioShield closed up 9/16 to 12-1/16 in Nasdaq trade Thursday, but was well below its year high of 21-1/4 reached on June 22.
Yahoo was expected to hand over the identities of the message poster, or posters on Thursday, BioShield said. Yahoo declined to say whether they had been subpoenaed, citing company policy.
``We will not tolerate this kind of fraudulent and illegal activity and will pursue these individuals to the fullest extent permitted by law,' BioShield's chief executive, Timothy Moses, said.
He said some of the alleged fraudulent postings go back to June. Some of the messages claimed iXL Enterprises Inc., a Web site developer, would drop out of a preliminary agreement it signed with BioShield in early June to build a medical-related Internet and Intranet site.
The deal, which has since closed, according to an iXL spokesman, was made between iXL and BioShield's subsidiary AllergySuperstore.com.
``(The Internet statements) are without merit,' BioShield spokeswoman Melanie Hutchins told Reuters. ``iXL is not considering dropping our deal. We have a very strong relationship with them.'
An iXL spokesman said his company was confident about BioShield's future and was not considering dropping the pact.
BioShield's products are for retail sale and for industrial, environmental and medical markets.
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