Legal fund for Reviewers/Erin?

[soundwave76]

The competent litigators I've worked with crank out threatening sounding letters like Skittles. It doesn't take them long and, believe me, a letter like that on a law firm's letterhead really gets attention. Someone bitching about an objective review their product earned seems worthy of receiving one.

If any such professional is a member here hopefully they'll consider doing it. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis we sent so many I actually became pretty good at writing them myself, but I'm no attorney nor litigator.

ChatGPT can write threatening letters nowadays like a pro. Who knows maybe this is the case here.

 

[danielha]

Now would be the time when reviewers could say out loud "We won't review tekton speakers anymore until tekton decides to play fair with reviewers" !

As a reader, I'll do my part and give what I can to support Erin in case this becomes necessary.

Daniel

 

[markrubin]

a good lawyer would suggest the test/review be rerun with the feet installed....

 

[Ajax]

Obviously, IANAL, but I've been involved in a LOT of litigation over the years, including with the highly litigious Monster Cable. A couple people have mentioned some very pertinent things.

1. Has there been a cease and desist or other written communication from a lawyer? If not, this is pretty overblown. So full stop. This is just butthurt and whining.
2. Assuming there has been a written communication from a lawyer, is Erin's review stuff a business? If so, he will have insurance and if there is an actual legal threat, they need to be brought in immediately.
3. And as part of the expense of running a business, it would seem prudent to spend a thousand or so to get a shark to write a nasty response pointing out the legal peril that a threatened suit will put the plaintiff in. That will usually end things pretty quickly. See, for example, that famous response to Monster Cable from the lawyer running a cable company (was it Blue Jeans?).

There is another matter to consider - proof of financial loss.

I am not a lawyer but my understanding of the law in Australia is that

1. "A person who wishes to take legal action for defamation must be able to prove that they have suffered, or could suffer, ‘serious harm’. If a corporation is suing for defamation, it needs to prove that it has suffered ‘serious financial loss’ as a result of the publication of the allegedly defamatory matter."

2. It is not truthful ... has Amir or anyone else analysed Erin's review and found it to be wanting, incomplete or incorrectly carried out (missing feet aside).

 

[No one who matters]

I, for one, appreciate the heads up for a room I won’t need to visit at AXPONA next week.

 

[janbth]

Count me in, if it comes to that. Hats off to Amir for taking this initiative!

 

[DanielT]

 

[SIY]

There is another matter to consider - proof of financial loss.

I am not a lawyer but my understanding of the law in Australia is that

1. "A person who wishes to take legal action for defamation must be able to prove that they have suffered, or could suffer, ‘serious harm’. If a corporation is suing for defamation, it needs to prove that it has suffered ‘serious financial loss’ as a result of the publication of the allegedly defamatory matter."

2. It is not truthful ... has Amir or anyone else analysed Erin's review and found it to be wanting, incomplete or incorrectly carried out (missing feet aside).

I was talking about avoiding litigation, not what to do during litigation.

 

[Lambda]

Wat is the bases for legal actions?

Cant you Review everything However you want?

 

[tomtoo]

a good lawyer would suggest the test/review be rerun with the feet installed....

There is no need for a lawyer. Just a nice and friendly call to Erin. Saying "We appreciate your work but you did forget the holes for the feet"
No problem, Erin looks like a nice person.So redo the measurements.
Thats it, and the company would make a good impression to me.
It could be so easy, but NOT that way.

 

[testp]

i'm also not a lawyer (software developer), but i've taken a law course and i really suggest taking even a simple law counsel first (that does not cost much ~40-100 eur/hour), usually it's a 2 working hour job to them to look into this and counsel a customer AND write a response letter on behalf of Erin back to Eric or whoever it was.

here is my 2 cents: already from product useage view instructions how to use a product has to be made perfectly clear to the user (especially if it involves complicated situation like putting something underneath the speaker for it to "function" properly <- labels on the speaker is just one part of this), so for someone like a company to threaten "customer" and/or Erin with a lawsuit, company better have all angles covered first! not to mention who does that..

just like websites use visitor information: has to be as CLEAR as possible to customer, if website decides to process user information in any other way, again has to be as CLEAR as possible to customer <- not that this is the matter here. but still, only from how to use this speaker: was it clear for customer how to use this speaker and feet???

 

[No one who matters]

Threats are typically rooted in insufficient facts - or means - to do anything else.

 

[Kervel]

Tekton knows they cannot win such a lawsuit, and it is not their intention. They bully Erin to have him remeasure, so they can say to there customers "yeah some initial measurements looked bad, but they were botched, so we stepped in and informed the reviewer to do them properly and now they look good".
It's all about framing.

 

[Multicore]

I knew that American society (usa) loves lawsuits and all kinds of legal action for anything and everything.

I would respond to that but politics is not a permissible discussion topic on this web site.

 

[lordhumungous]

Well we all know what Shakespeare said .

 

[Overseas]

Some legal fund should be set for seeking advice, kind of issuing a framework for reviewers. Not on a punctual basis, but I do not mean to obstruct help for Erin now.

 

[TheBatsEar]

They bully Erin to have him remeasure

Other manufacturers have done the same, minus the bully part. I recommend to consider their wares.

 

[Triliza]

Erin should make a stand and not let it pass, if they (this and other companies) have their way at this case, they will do it again. Kudos to Amir for seeing the big picture and rallying to help. I don't know exactly what happened, but it seems the company was made aware beforehand about the review, I am sure Erin would had cooperate if it wasn't done the right way, instead we now have threats of legal actions, which are not pleasant to anyone to say the least.

I don't know how it is in the US. More trigger happy for suing in the US? Or is it a prejudice that this is the case?

It seems to be a bigger problem in the US, and here is the proof:

 

[Roland68]

That would be ideal. I am happy to donate a high-end DAC to that attorney as a thank you note.

First and foremost, I would advise Erin to disclose the entire process and truthfully publish what led to the erasure of the recession. This also includes the threats and how he was put under pressure.
The whole thing should be accompanied by a specialist lawyer and supported by as many people, other reviewers, forums and blogs as possible.
It costs much less and can be extremely effective, much more effective than litigation.

 

[DOuG pRATt]

Tekton knows they cannot win such a lawsuit, and it is not their intention. They bully Erin to have him remeasure, so they can say to there customers "yeah some initial measurements looked bad, but they were botched, so we stepped in and informed the reviewer to do them properly and now they look good".
It's all about framing.

Bose lost its suit against Consumer Reports for saying the stereo image of the original 901 “wandered around the room.”