Kowboy I love reading about these
Three people who are saving us from the big scam. I hope this gets posted ever day as the stock goes up and they go away and find someone else to save.
Monday April 26, 8:01 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Business Wire Files Suit for Fraud and Trademark Violations
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26,
1999--Business Wire, the leading
provider of up-to-the-minute commercial news to editors and the
worldwide
financial community, today filed a lawsuit in federal court against
three
perpetrators of a recent online hoax who used Business Wire's
press release
distribution services to publicize a phony investment opportunity.
The defendants, Jeffrey Mitchell, William Ulrich and Janice Shell,
submitted
a press release to Business Wire on behalf of a company called
''Webnode''
announcing that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) had granted
Webnode an
exclusive contract to raise funding for the Next Generation Internet
(NGI).
Although the NGI is a bona fide project, Webnode -- and its
supposed contract
with the government -- is a sham.
The bogus press release also included a fake solicitation for
investments in
''nodes'' on the NGI and directed readers to the Webnode.com
website where
they could learn more about Webnode and register to invest.
The defendants responded to inquiries about Webnode and
collected personal
information from nearly 2,000 people who believed, based on
information in
the phony press release, they had a genuine opportunity to get in on
the
ground floor of the NGI, the lawsuit alleges.
Based on the Webnode crew's assurances that the press release
was genuine,
Business Wire distributed the news of Webnode's purported DOE
contract over
its wire service and posted it on the businesswire.com website.
The defendants also posted the phony press release on the
Webnode.com
website. The defendants' false announcement, with the BUSINESS
WIRE trademark
prominently displayed on the byline, was made available to
millions of
readers.
When Business Wire discovered the hoax, it immediately pulled
the Webnode
announcement from its website and notified recipients of its wire
service to
disregard the announcement. Business Wire also demanded that the
defendants
remove the BUSINESS WIRE mark from all copies of the press
release.
In response, defendants changed the byline to ''BIDNESS WIRE,''
a name easily
confused with Business Wire. The defendants only deleted the
byline after
repeated demands from the company, and then began making false
assertions
that the company was itself involved in fraudulent investment
schemes,
according to the lawsuit.
Business Wire's lawsuit alleges violations of federal and state
trademark
laws, fraud, breach of contract, defamation and conspiracy and
seeks
unspecified damages and injunctive relief. |
