Legal News

Goldman Backs Off Its Threat To Sue Watchdog; ?YES, we WON? Blog Brags

By Chris Herring

In what basically amounts to a victory, Michael Morgan can continue running his site, goldmansachs666.com, without having to worry about litigation threats from Goldman Sachs.

Three and a half months after threatening legal action for what it considered trademark infringement, Goldman has agreed to leave Morgan — who runs the website that routinely writes demonizing blog posts about the investment bank — alone. Goldman’s decision effectively dismissed the case. “Goldman Sachs will refrain from any action that interferes with Morgan’s use and registration of the Internet Sites …” the agreement reads. Click here to read the story in American Lawyer and here to read the agreement.

“Our concerns ceased when Mr. Morgan agreed to put up a permanent disclaimer on his site saying it had no affiliation with Goldman Sachs,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told the LB.

This episode began in April, when firm Chadboure & Parke sent a cease-and-desist letter on behalf of Goldman to the blogger, arguing his site violated the bank’s intellectual property rights. A copy of that letter can be found here.

Shortly after news broke of Goldman’s retreat, blogs and media outlets alike began comparing the case to David and Goliath. Morgan himself made allusions to the comparison, too, on his blog. “YES, we WON,” he wrote in a blog post. “Lord Blankfein and his Band of Merry Thugs blinked, and we sliced their heads off.”

Photo: Getty Images

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 17, 2009 (boomark / email).