Mechanical Dynamics & Analysis filed a federal lawsuit against Google Inc. Friday seeking to compel the California-based company to identify anonymous bloggers it claims posted confidential information and defamatory remarks online.
Mechanical Dynamics, based in New York, manufactures turbine parts for oil and gas companies, and has a turbine generator repair facility in South St. Louis County.
In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Mechanical Dynamics claims anonymous bloggers on a Google-hosted website posted confidential information about the company and defamatory remarks about current and former executives.
The lawsuit centers on a blog called Sound Off, which has the banner "what we cannot say at the office, we say here." The posts include individual pages with information on Mechanical Dynamics' current and former executives, with salaries listed and personal descriptions.
"Many of the statements about MD&A's officers, as well as MD&A's fiscal performance in the blog are completely false and untrue and have been made maliciously" the suit states.
Glenn Davis, an attorney with Gallop, Johnson & Neuman in St. Louis representing MDA, declined to comment on the suit.
Google spokesperson Brian Richardson said the company does not comment on individual lawsuits, but said Google follows all applicable laws. "When we receive a subpoena or court order, we check to see if it meets both the letter and the spirit of the law before complying," Richardson wrote in an email. "And if it doesn't we can object or ask that the request is narrowed. When allowed under the law and if it doesn't impede an ongoing criminal investigation, we also attempt to notify affected users before we comply so they have a chance to contest the request in court themselves."
John Cowling, a partner at Clayton-based law firm Armstrong Teasdale, said lawsuits by companies seeking to protect their reputations online are on the rise. "Companies are realizing that what people are saying about them in that realm is important to their business and protecting its reputation," he said.
Source...StLToday