Whirlpool Forum Lawsuit Scandal Explodes, 2Clix Claim Lawsuit Withdrawl
Whirlpool Forum Lawsuit Scandal Explodes, 2Clix Claim Lawsuit Withdrawl
September 19, 2007: Accounting software provider, 2Clix informed Australian broadband forum, Whirlpool last Friday that they intend to drop the lawsuit regarding negative forum comments made about the company’s products. 2Clix has still yet to actually withdraw the lawsuit and media coverage of the withdrawl has lashed out at Whirlpool’s donation feature.
The lawsuit 2Clix has informally claimed to have dropped is against Simon Wright, the owner of Whirlpool for lost sales resulting from negative feedback in two online forum threads. The company lodged a statement of claim with the Queensland Supreme Court for $150,000 in damages resulting from lost revenue, and to have the forum threads “2Clix or not 2Clix?” and “Anyone used 2Clix?” permanently removed from the website.
“We issued the withdrawl from the matter late last week, it was delivered to Whirlpool in snail mail and electronic mail form” said David Morgan, General Manager of 2Clix Australia.
According to Whirlpool spokesmen, Phil Sweeny, no such letter was received, and “Whirlpool responded to both 2Clix and their legal representatives, requesting confirmation that they will be discontinuing and asking when we can expect the paperwork to be filed”.
Sweeny explained that the correspondence Whirlpool sent to 2Clix and its legal representation received no reply and the Queensland Supreme Court still has the case listed under “2Clix Australia Pty Ltd Vs Wright” on its online registrar. Asked why the lawsuit was still listed with the courts 2Clix blamed red tape, as Morgan pointed out that “given the factor that they are public servants and have long tea breaks it’s probably no surprise that it hasn’t been processed”.
Initial mainstream media reports of the incident included donation allegations which claimed Whirlpool had deliberately concealed 2Clix’s informal retraction of the lawsuit. It was alleged that this was done in order to keep receiving funds from forum users and Whirlpool sympathisers in support of its legal fee’s.
The interesting thing about this claim is that Whirlpool’s donation feature has existed for many years, long before the 2Clix lawsuit ever began. Whirlpool added no additional links to the donation feature and never encouraged users to actively donate towards the legal fight, the forum users actually began the donation drive themselves. The donation feature was put in place in order to help support Whirlpool’s operation costs, as it is largely an online community with limited resources.
“If the case had of gone to trial it would have had a chilling effect on any kind of website that allows third party posting, it would effect everything from forums to Facebook and Myspace” said Dale Clapperton, chairman of the online users lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia.
The public donations from Whirlpool forum users and sympathisers seemed to arise out of the outrage towards 2Clix taking legal action over forum commentary. Whirlpool’s plight caused a global backlash against 2Clix, as other online forums, blogs, social networks and media coverage lit up, with very little of it favourable towards the Queensland based software provider.
“Whirlpool might have over 100,000 users who've been making lots of donations to fund users, scary development for smaller sites who don't have those kinds of resources” Clapperton continued “The moral of the story here is are lawsuits are a short sighted and self destructive way of dealing with criticism”.