Court Orders Site To Stop Mentioning Competitor

from the interesting-demands dept

Well, this should be another case to add to the books on internet law. A judge has ordered an injunction against a tax preparer's website because that preparer mentions his competitor too much - thus skewing the results in various search engines. While courts have ordered companies to remove competitor names from meta tags before - now they're telling this guy to remove the tags from his regular page content. That seems very questionable to me. Of course, what I found odd on reading the article was that the site that needs to remove the info is Taxes.com - which seems like it would probably get an awful lot of general traffic from people looking to get tax info. Why would they need to steal traffic from JKHarris.com? So, a little investigating (thank you web archive) shows that for a while now, Taxes.com has been pointing to news articles about how JKHarris might be a scam of some sort. It appears that the folks at JK Harris probably don't like that and figured the only way they could forces Taxes.com to take down the info was to use this trademark defense. I would think that as long as the info provided on the Taxes.com site is true (and it appears they just link to news articles), then it would certainly seem like protected speech.
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  1. identicon
    Don Fitch CPA, 21 Oct 2003 @ 2:46pm

    Steve Kassel EA Apology Letter to Don Fitch CPA

    Don Fitch CPA of Don Fitch Accountancy (Website http://www.paylesstax.com) received an apology letter from Steven H. Kassel EA, President & CEO of Taxes.com. To view the actual apology letter for yourself, please visit the url http://www.paylesstax.com/steve_kassel_apology.html.

    The letter stated the following:

    Don Fitch Accountancy
    74-478 Highway 111 Suite 3
    Palm Desert, CA 92260

    June 24, 2003

    Dear Mr. Fitch:

    I apologize for my accusations of unprofessional or unethical conduct that I made against you, including any made to the California State Board of Accountancy, IRS Director of Practice and AICPA, and any problems that these statements may have caused. I know that your work as a tax professional is competent and I wish you success in the future.

    Sincerely,

    Steven H. Kassel, EA
    Founder & CEO

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Mark Gronke CPA, 20 Jun 2004 @ 7:17pm

    STEVE KASSEL EA SANCTIONED BY THE COURT

    STEVE KASSEL EA SANCTIONS INCLUDING JK HARRIS

    Did you know that on April 15th 2003 Steve Kassel EA was sanctioned by the court and ordered to pay Don Fitch CPA?

    In the case Donald R. Fitch VS Steven H. Kassel, ET.AL.: Don Fitch filed a Motion to Compel Attend Depo & Sanctions.

    The court awarded Don Fitch:

    SANCTIONS OF $1,183 against defendant (Steve Kassel).

    Steve Kassel was also being sued by JK Harris.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Mark Gronke CPA, 21 Jun 2004 @ 12:16am

    Re: STEVE KASSEL EA GREATEST QUOTES

    The below Steve Kassel info may be found at the Way Back Machine with url:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20030611151904/http://paylesstax.com/steve_kassel.html,

    or enter into the way back machine the url http://www.paylesstax.com/steve_kassel.html

    Note: JK Harris had sued Steve Kassel, EA of Taxes.com


    *****Steve Kassel EA's--> Various internet posts/publications and/or Quotes*****


    Sent to Paul A. Thomas, CPA----> you are so full of crap, it has to be coming out of your nose and every other orifice.

    Sent to Paul A. Thomas, CPA----> all you have are the lies out of your maggot-infested brain.

    Sent to William Gustoffson, CPA ----> Post this anywhere you please, you gutless piece of shit

    Sent to Debbie Pitts (discussion related to JK Harris) ----> a toilet seat has seen your contributions to society.

    Sent to Paul J. Berg ----> has decided that private e-mail should be posted publicly which merely proves that he is a cretin with no scruples whatsoever

    Sent to William Gustoffson, CPA ----> _uck you

    Sent to Mike Wellman CPA----> Bullshit

    Sent to Don Fitch, CPA ----> I will sue your butt

    Sent to Paul A. Thomas, CPA----> you are that stupid, Paulie, It appears the state board of accountancy in Georgia will let anyone in. Again, the web site is CORRECT. It is not meant to be a dissertation on taxes. Reading is fundamental, Paulie..you should try it some time

    Sent to Easy2000 ----> your lies are about as absurd as some of the protester wackos on this board. I quoted directly from the MSN Money Central website. You have absolutely no scruples whatsoever. You lie, lie, lie and expect people not

    to see through them. Well, frankly, you have zero credibility because it is all there in black and white.

    Sent to Debbie Pitts ----> JK Harris is a scum bag

    Sent to Paul J. Berg ----> You seem to have a hard-on for me and Mike Cooper for some reason and appear to be a jealous, frustrated old man with a great deal of time on your hands. You frequently cross the line into slander and those
    actions will put us in court where you will have to prove your charges. So, post this wherever you wish. The time for you to put up or shut up is coming and I relish the opportunity to see you in court

    Sent to Mike Wellman CPA----> your site counter claims you have had 281,000+ visitors. We all know that is misleading as hell

    Sent to Paul A. Thomas, CPA---> Your actionable statements (there are so many, it's hard to keep sending all of them to our attorneys) are wonderful

    Sent to Mike Wellman CPA----> Who the hell do you think you are kidding Sent to Easy2000 ----> Easy2000 is truth and fact impaired. In fact, his postings are erroneous more often than anyone on this board and he/she continues to hide behind a screen name. Ignorance will do that to you.

    Sent to Paul Berg, CPA---> you are going to jail

    Sent to Paul Berg, CPA---> you better have one helluva good attorney.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Mark Gronke CPA, 21 Jun 2004 @ 8:10am

    STEVE KASSEL APPREARS BEATEN BY JK HARRIS


    STEVE KASSEL APPREARS BEATEN BY JK HARRIS

    All references to JK Harris have been removed (see below) from Taxes.com (aka Steve Kassel, EA).

    Upon your search of the term JK Harris on the Taxes.com website you will discover that Steve Kassel's website Taxes.com no longer has any references to JK Harris. As everyone knows, Mr. Kassel has had many pages devoted to JK Harris, what happened?

    Lets see if Mr. Kassel will share the other terms of his apparent loss to JK Harris?

    How much did Mr. Kassel have to pay JK Harris?

    Search Results From This Site
    No pages found that include all search words.
    Search term JK Harris

    With all of the various user names of of Mr. Kassel (irsofferexpert, etc) who really knows what percentage of these posts are really Steve Kassel.

    Warm Regards,

    Mark Gronke, CPA
    MarkEGronkeCPA@aol.com

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    The Law Star, 27 Jul 2004 @ 4:23pm

    Kassel stiffs Ervin Cohen & Jessup

    I found the below post on the baddealings.com website with a search of JK Harris.

    (beginning of post)
    ************************************************
    Kassel (aka filth & irsofferexpert) stiffs Ervin Cohen & Jessup

    Thanks right, Steve Kassel EA hired Ervin Cohen & Jessup (310)273-6333 or (310)273-9618 a southern California law firm to represent him with the JK Harris v Kassel case only to stiff Ervin Cohen & Jessup (310)273-6333 or (310)273-9618 for approx 70k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Since Kassel is claiming that he is doing well, maybe be could start paying back Ervin Cohen & Jessup (310)273-6333 or (310)273-9618, lol.

    My understanding is that Kassel was claiming that he was in a financial hardship (no assets) and was about to file bankruptcy if a judgement was entered against him.

    Lets see what the "Filth Man" has to say about this. I would recommend that everyone call this law firm about Kassel's claimed new found income and success. lol.

    Come Clean Kassel (aka Filth Man) and now deadbeat (does not pay his bills).

    link to this | view in thread ]


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