Carl v. BernardJCarl.com, No. 1:07-cv-1128 (D.C. Va., order filed Sept. 30,2009)
STATUS: Pending

The plaintiff, a trained lawyer named Bernard J. Carl, was a founder of a private equity firm called Brazos Europe, Inc. This company attempted to acquire a small luxury brand in France; as part of the acquisition process, Brazos retained a French law firm. Unbeknownst to plaintiff, the French law firm subcontracted some work to Fabrice Marchisio, a partner in the French law firm Cotty Vivant Marchisio & Lauzeral. As a result of this work, Marchisio alleged that he was owed money by the plaintiff. Plaintiff refused to pay, and Marchisio and his firm brought suit in French court to recover the disputed fee; this suit failed.

After the case failed, Marchisio bought the domain name "bernardjcarl.com," and, as the sole content on the site, posted a letter from Marchisio to Carl (and his partner in Brazos, Sharon Fairbanks), asking them to please pay their bill. For example: "You enver complained about the quality of the our input but surprisingly 'disappeared' when invoice payment was due. We have tried to contact you many times since then.... but silence was the only answer. Have you forgotten our phone numbers?"

Carl brought suit in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging false representation under federal trademark law, cybersquatting, cyberpiracy, and common law libel. The judge dismissed all but the libel claims on September 30.

Links and court documents
Sept. 30 Order