In-House Counsel Guidebook: How to Handle Internet Defamation and Online Reputation Attacks August 2014 | Page 7

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everything as if it were a nail,” Maslow was credited with saying in
1966.
We commonly see experts, ignorant of other options and the risks
of their own approaches (or simply being more concerned with their
own businesses than clients’ welfare), only attempting to utilize
their own approach when it may not be the appropriate one. For
instance, many attorneys will send a cease and desist letter or file a
lawsuit that can actually make a situation worse.
In March 2014, an attorney representing a New York business sent
such a letter to the author of a critical – but seemingly legitimate
– Yelp review. A photograph of the threatening letter soon after
surfaced online and the story was widely publicized. Consumers
searching the business on Google can now find several news stories
about the threatening letter among the top search results.
Similarly, an online PR or marketing professional might advise a
company that the company should pay them to “push” the negative
material down search engine rankings, when the material might
be more easily removed with a court order. However, by the time
the company realizes that it is unable to successfully suppress the
content in search results, the relevant state’s statute of limitations
may expire and the court order approach will no longer be available.
Utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach can help guard against this
problem and ensure the right situation is being developed for the
business.

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