More details to this question:
I am an owner of an Adult Talent Agency in Southern California. I have a question. I have found that one of our competitors has now started a review site called www.stripreport.com. This company has multiple websites in the industry that I am in. This review site is there for all of our potential new customers searching for entertainers daily on the web. They have given their company; 5 stars, A Ratings, posting great reviews for their company and their big thing is they are licensed, they have a business address and all their entertainers have been verified. They have listed most SoCal companies on their website with fake bad reviews. For instance my company shows; 1 Star, F Rating, saying my website contains pirated images, photos, and/or content, we don’t have a business license, we done have a business location and we don’t do checks on our entertainers. This is all false and all of the entertainers that we have working for us, we have permission to use their photos and are 18+. We have our license to do business and pay our taxes. When trying to contact this company you are really left with nothing. I have been unable to, there is no phone number listed on www.stripreport.com you can only send a comment to them and they don’t respond back. They also never called my company to verify us. They took it upon themselves to make up what they wanted to make themselves look better so they get the bookings. I have sent in my info to be verified but still nothing has changed. I am upset because my company works hard, we have great dancers working for us, we don’t have bad reviews and we try to be one of the best in this business. We are not here to do shady business. Is there a Fair-trade law or something that would make this illegal for a company to make a review site on an industry they are already in, only to better them and to put false information toward other companies to run them out of business?
2 ANSWERS
Any defamation suit for libel is going to run into California's anti-SLAPP laws. Under Anti-SLAPP which is a law protecting free speech on matters of public importance a lawsuit against them will not be easy. However there is an exception to commercial speech and when the audience is not intended to be the public at large. But whether the reviews are commercial speech is another matter and I cannot say without looking and reading the reviews of your company. If your lawyer can pass the anti-SLAPP hurdle you will have a stronger case. What they're doing is interfering with your business relationships and potentially illegal as an unlawful business practice if they are indeed posting fake reviews. Anti-SLAPP problems though will need to be ironed out though.
Answered on Mar 04th, 2013 at 11:15 PM
Susan Marie Basko
You will probably need to do or hire a lawyer to do some research for you. You need to track down the owners of the website, which can be done. I do this kind of research and it is almost always possible to find the owners and contact info on a website. This is especially so if you know that the site is owned by your competitors. You can also contact government agencies that regulate advertising. The State departments of things like labor, business, etc., may also be interested in helping you.
Also, yes, you may be able to sue, although conducting such a lawsuit is very expensive, can take a long time, and it is usually unlikely that a lawsuit will bring the desired results. The California Business and Professional Codes Section 17500 and the Lanham Act Section 43(a) both may provide remedies for false advertising. You will need to talk with a lawyer about the exact situation. The lawyer will also need to find the owner of the review company. There are ways to do this, involving research.
Also, how about starting your own review websites where you give your own business fabulous reviews? You don't need to dis the other companies, just rave about your own. You would be best off not even mentioning the other services. But before you do so, consult with a lawyer to be sure your own website, reviews, and advertising are within the law.
Answered on Mar 04th, 2013 at 5:19 PM