Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Cease and Desist

It finally happened. Today I received a cease and desist letter from Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings, telling me to remove "defamatory" language about their products from my blog.

So instead of writing about some other topic, I've spent the evening going through old posts to read them from a more legalistic perspective, to the best of my ability, and also to see if I have been fair.

Here's what I changed:

  • I have removed several instances (cited in the letter) where I made a blanket statement that their products are "overpriced," but left in discussion and analysis about their pricing, leaving it to the reader to draw her/his own conclusions.
  • I have added two examples provided by AMCH's counsel on the value of several coins sold by the World Reserve Monetary Exchange. These values come from the Guide Book of United States Coins, which appears (to me as a non-expert) to be a reputable source of coin valuation, and in one case, from the U.S. Mint website.
  • I have added a link to the Granted Wish Foundation's website, and I apologize for not including it earlier. Although an oversight, it was a breach of good Web etiquette.
I intend to reply to AMCH's counsel by the arbitrary deadline she set next week telling her what measures I've taken to address her concerns. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

I welcome comments on my posts from any and all, including people from Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings and its subsidiaries.

Here is a list of all my posts on this topic, if you want to read through the updated versions:

February 20, 2010 - Apatrim -- Scam or Science?

August 30, 2009 - World Reserve Monetary Exchange Exploits Ted Kennedy (updated)

June 12, 2009 - Overpriced CompTek Laptops from Universal Media Syndicate

May 20, 2009 - Cool Surge -- Another Scam from Canton, Ohio (updated)

March 25, 2009 - Call the Papers When You See the Ads (updated)

January 21, 2009 - Obama Mania -- at a Price (updated)

January 10, 2009 - Universal Media Syndicate -- Half-Truths, Puffery and Outright Lies (updated)

December 6, 2008 - Universal Health Card Scam, Update 2

November 21, 2008 - Update on the Universal Health Card Scam

November 19, 2008 - Universal Health Card -- Money for Nothing (The post that started it all)

1 comment:

Ms Sparrow said...

Well, well! You stepped on some corporate toes--what a feather in your hat!
In my humble opinion, the only upside to their borderline marketing tactics is the revenue the newspapers earn for a full-page ad. I am glad for keeping newspapers in business.
I also say, "God bless Macy's" because they have done much advertising to support the Strib. I would never actually shop at Macy's and I don't read their ads, but I appreciate that they keep the paper coming to my house every day.