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Intertainment wins order to identify on-line detractors
2012-04-30 13:57 ET - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
Intertainment Media Inc. has won court orders directing Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. to reveal the identities of four forum posters, including one who called the company a "pure scam." The orders, handed down after an application hearing on Wednesday, April 25, instruct Stockhouse to provide names, IP addresses and any other information that will help identify forum users "Nub92," "MaydayMalone," "f3drivr" and "CESpumper." Stockhouse did not oppose the application.
The orders come just weeks after Intertainment filed two defamation suits against the users in the Supreme Court of British Columbia over negative comments in the Stockhouse forums. The company complained that the users posted information that was untrue and that they seriously injured its reputation. One of the posts the company cited, written by MaydayMalone on Oct. 10, 2011, read, "this stock is a scam run by criminals for criminals at the expense of shareholders accept [sic] it." Intertainment complained that readers would have understood the post to mean that the company is managed by criminals who are fraudulently causing losses to shareholders.
Intertainment filed applications to identify the users on Wednesday, April 25, and a chambers judge granted the orders the same day. The company contended it had no practical way to identify the posters without records from Stockhouse.
Intertainment's lawsuits
The allegations against the posters are contained in two notices of claim that Stockhouse filed at the Vancouver courthouse. The first, dated March 13, 2012, complained about posts by MaydayMalone, f3drivr and CESpumper.
One of f3drivr's posts appeared on Oct. 20, 2011, and accused Intertainment's chief financial officer, David Lucatch, of manipulating the stock, the suit states. It read: "What I am trying to say is that in my humble opinion it appears that David is working with the shorts. Doesn't anybody find it suspicious that in April there was a huge pump with Gene Simmons appearing in newspapers and all over the internet ... and the SP was manipulated up to $3.35 and shorted by somebody who clearly knew that they were free to do so with no fear of getting burned because they knew that there would not be a material change for several months."
The suit also complained of another post that same day by CESpumper. It read: "no one uses [Intertainment products] KNCTR, ITIBIT or ortsbo, it's a pure scam. fabricated website traffic to justify a method to suck money from dumb investors to buy some software and thus is the exit of insiders without selling any INT shares." Readers would have understood the post to mean that nobody used the company's products and that management had falsely inflated website traffic, the notice of claim stated.
The second suit, filed on March 27, 2012, complained of a post by Nub92. Intertainment cited a March 13, 2012, message he wrote in broken English which stated: "Ortsobo owns no patents... Ortsobo built of google translater... Ortsobo use investor as atm... Ortsobo use classic celebrity pumpin... Ortsobo BLANTANTLY manipulate user numbers with 3rd party... Ortsobo ponzi BUT ITS VANCOUVER SO ILL JUST HAVE FUN SHORTING THIS INTO OBLIVION HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH." Users would have understood the post to mean that Intertainment had defrauded investors and had falsified user numbers for Ortsbo, the company claimed.
Intertainment said in both suits that many readers had viewed the posts. The company's forum was typically the most active on Stockhouse. In the seven days prior to the Nub92 post there were 2,358 messages with 483,627 "reads."
Both notices of claim sought damages, a permanent injunction barring future posts, interest and court costs. Vancouver lawyer J. Brent MacLean of Davis LLP filed both suits (although the company was represented in Wednesday's application hearing by Davis LLP lawyer Jeffrey Horswill).
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