Utah Judge Won't Let The Constitution Get In The Way Of A Little Prior Restraint
from the another-libel-and/or-Lanham-case dept
For reasons unknown, a federal judge has said the hell with free speech and steered the court into the First Amendment-troubling waters of prior restraint.
It's another defamation lawsuit that doesn't spend too much time dealing with defamation, preferring to focus on Lanham Act violations and tortious interference. Purple Innovations, maker of a (purple) bed-in-a-box mattress, is suing the Honest Mattress Reviews website, along with Ryan Monahan, former "Chief Brand Officer" for Purple Innovations competitor, Ghostbed, and creator of the site.
Unlike other defamation suits we've covered here -- especially those attempting to dodge anti-SLAPP motions by presenting themselves as trademark suits -- Purple's complaint is long and detailed. Purple feels multiple posts at Honest Mattress Reviews have falsely disparaged the company and its products. All of the posts center on the white "powder" Purple uses to coat its mattresses during packaging to prevent it from sticking to itself.
Purple's Lanham Act claims rest on Monahan's alleged conflicted interests, even as it admits in its filing that Monahan is no longer associated with GhostBed. It points to several statements posted at Honest Mattress Reviews which infer the powder used by Purple might be dangerous or unhealthy. HMR offers no proof of these assertions, but very few of them are actual assertions. In most cases, they're merely implications, surrounded by phrasing and pull quotes that help make the patent-pending substance appear more dangerous than Purple claims it is. Purple hasn't offered too many specifics in defense of its white powder, citing its pending patent as the reason it can't be more specific about the powder's composition.
At this point, we don't know much about the merits of Purple's arguments, and nothing at all about the merits of Honest Mattress Review's defense. The defendants haven't been allowed to respond yet. The path to Purple's granted restraining order has been completely non-adversarial. Not a single document has been filed or motion entered by the defendants. [click through to enlarge]
In less than a week, Purple has:
(a) accidentally sued itself
(b) had the case transferred from a magistrate to district court judge
(c) asked for a restraining order
(d) received a restraining order
(e) asked for contempt charges to be brought against the defendants
Purple has filed a 102-page complaint [PDF] and a 174-page restraining order request [PDF], the latter of which is basically the 102-page complaint with 70 pages of website screenshots. Without seeing anything more than Purple's allegations, Judge Dee Benson has granted the request [PDF]. Not only does it require Honest Mattress Reviews to take down existing posts about Purple Innovations and its packing powder, it forbids the defendants from discussing the lawsuit in any way the court disapproves of.
Defendants shall not attempt to circumvent the intent of this Order by make new statements about Purple or its products which are false and misleading and convey the same substantive message as in the statements referenced in preceding sub-paragraphs (a)-(c), including through the “clever use of innuendo, indirect intimations, and ambiguous suggestions.”
[...]
Defendants are hereby restrained from making false, misleading, or confusing posts or discussions on social media or otherwise about the existence of this lawsuit, the Court’s temporary restraining order or other any other orders that may be issued by the Court, or about Purple’s efforts in this lawsuit to restrain Defendants from continuing to engage in the conduct at issue, in an attempt to circumvent the purpose of the injunctive relief sought by Purple.
We'll have to see if Honest Mattress Review's post about the lawsuit adheres to the confines of the restraining order. It doesn't make any false statements but does contain wording the plaintiffs are sure to find objectionable, even if the court doesn't.
This temporary order commands that we take down all reviews, and even cease rating this company with a rating of “Poor.” Yes, indeed, we are no longer even permitted to rate this company as Poor. I guess we will change its rating to “💩.”
[...]
Do you trust a company that, rather than compete in the marketplace, decides that it will just try and sue negative reviews out of existence?
The court says the 14-day (minimum) restraining order does not harm the public in any way, while continued publication of HMR's inferences and allegations would continue to do "irreparable harm" to Purple Innovations. It also says HMR is fully aware of the situation, even if it's not being allowed to participate in the process yet.
Plaintiff has provided multiple declarations, reflecting notice to the Defendants, through various means. The Court is satisfied that the Defendants have notice of these proceedings.
All well and good, but we're not talking an inordinately lengthy delay between the filing of the suit and the defendants' response. We're talking about one week from filing to prior restraint, without a single nod being given to the "adversarial" part of the process.
The defendant website is now being represented by Marc Randazza, who's collected several First Amendment-affirming wins for clients over the years. The allegations in this case may not be as baseless as in others he's handled (Tobinick v. Novella, Roca Labs v. Opinion Corp.), but he tends to find prior restraint to be rather triggering. The first move will be to put the Constitution back in play. After that, there are dozens of pages of allegations to address, so this isn't going to be resolved anywhere near as fast as it went from mere allegations to ignoring Walter Sobchak.
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Filed Under: first amendment, injunction, mattress reviews, prior restraint
Companies: ghostbed, honest reviews, purple innovations
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Purple hasn't offered too many specifics in defense of its white powder, citing its pending patent as the reason it can't be more specific about the powder's composition.
This is blatantly false. By seeking a patent, Purple is agreeing that all such information about the composition of the white powder will become public knowledge. Since the patent application has already been submitted, it is guaranteed that if this powder is patentable, they will be the ones to receive said patent. If it is not patentable, then the application (which will include the composition), will become public after 18 months from the date of application. Either way, there is absolutely no reason at this point to not release details on the composition of their powder.
Except, of course, if releasing that information would support the implications that the powder is dangerous.
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When this is the first line of your publicly-filed complaint...
...you might want to re-think your strategy.
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Re: When this is the first line of your publicly-filed complaint...
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Purple hasn't offered too many specifics in defense of its white powder, citing its pending patent as the reason it can't be more specific about the powder's composition.
This is blatantly false. By seeking a patent, Purple is agreeing that all such information about the composition of the white powder will become public knowledge. Since the patent application has already been submitted, it is guaranteed that if this powder is patentable, they will be the ones to receive said patent. If it is not patentable, then the application (which will include the composition), will become public after 18 months from the date of application. Either way, there is absolutely no reason at this point to not release details on the composition of their powder.
Except, of course, if releasing that information would support the implications that the powder is dangerous.
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Proper service is optional?
Utah has a reputation, and that reputation was earned. When something sketchy happens, look for the church connection. Sure enough, we find them here.
Dee Benson has very strong ties to the LDS church, was a missionary, and has many controversial rulings that seem heavily biased in favor of church-connected people.
The owners of Purple Innovations were missionaries and continue to be heavily involved in the church.
Of course they all went to BYU.
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Re: Proper service is optional?
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Re: Proper service is optional?
Blaming an entire group for the actions of a few of its members is one of the oldest logical fallacies in the book. Every group has members that don't follow that groups thinking and do dumb things. I could easily counter with examples of members of that group doing really great things.
Heck, I'll even step out there and admit that I'm a member of the LDS Church, and I've seen some members do some pretty terrible things that I abhor. I also recognize the difference between what someone chooses to do on their own and what the Church actually teaches.
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Re: Re: Proper service is optional?
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Re: Re: Proper service is optional?
Yep, just look what it did to the KKK.
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Re: Proper service is optional?
Not that corruption in Alabama excuses corruption in Utah, but calling it out solely on a church affiliation seems pretty narrow-minded and fraught with preconceived bias.
And I agree with AC, I tend to default to incompetence over conspiracy.
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Those are some crack (pot) lawyers ya got there.
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Think beyond the now when making legal rulings
The court says the 14-day (minimum) restraining order does not harm the public in any way, while continued publication of HMR's inferences and allegations would continue to do "irreparable harm" to Purple Innovations. It also says HMR is fully aware of the situation, even if it's not being allowed to participate in the process yet.
I'd say the judge is not just wrong a little with this argument, they're completely wrong when you pull back a little beyond this individual case.
While the public may not be 'harmed' in having this specific bit of info suppressed for a while, they are most certainly harmed by the precedent that speech can be silenced and removed without the one speaking being able to contest it before the order to remove and not speak goes into place.
The idea that you can get a legal order removing speech and prohibiting something from being said ahead of time, all without the one affected having a chance to object and potentially fight back until after the fact is most certainly harmful to the public, and is far more serious than any harm a particular company might face from having unflattering or even downright defamatory comments made against it.
Free speech is more important than the hurt feelings or financial well-being of a company, and as such should be given far more weight in any consideration between the two, not just shrugged off as no big deal as seems to be happening here.
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white powder = chalk
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Re: white powder = chalk
You can get a patent on almost anything these days.
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Re: Re: white powder = chalk
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Excuses are like assholes...
Sounds very much like, "[] can't release my Taxes because I am under audit" bullshit act that D.J. Trump espouses everytime he is asked for a date on when his taxes will be released. AND, don't give me some more bullshit lame-ass defence that "He doesn't have to release his taxes if he doesn't want to."
Do you hear that??? That's HMS TRUMP getting its ass sunk by a Russian Iceberg...
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Re: Excuses are like assholes...
We can rag on Trump when he does something we don't like in posts that are actually about him.
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Re: Re: Excuses are like assholes...
Ms. Wendy Cockcroft,
It is a simile. Simple enough. I could also use the "Patent Applied For" on Banana boxes. But that would be slightly weaker with its intended comparison, as not alot of citizens have looked at a Banana box lately. The boxes are out there, Patent status is non sequitur...
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False accusations are like assholes too.
USS Trump never had anything to fear from the Clintoons' bullshit fables about Russian collusion. Here it is July and the entity in full meltdown is CNN, which bought the bullshit hook, line and sinker just like you did.
In today's internet-connected world a product can be sunk by online gossip, which can circle the globe before the truth has a chance to get its britches on. The Trumpster is lucky his survival didn't depend on those morons at CNN who believe whatever any ruling-class shill tells them. He has his supporters on his side and they know it is their honor being called into question and are woke, as the New Bolsheviks like to say, to the situation.
CNN's top people have been caught on camera admitting the whole Russia story is bullshit but they have an audience full of dumb bastards who lap it up, looking for hope that Trump will magically go away. So they keep beating the dead horse.
It's sad, really. I was susceptible to this kind of thing for the last 8 years, hoping against hope for an early end to the Obama debacle. Now it's your turn to chase conspiracy rabbits for 8 years as Trump replaces liberal SCOTUS justices with Neil Gorsuch-Antonin Scalia lookalikes and your push to turn the USA into Venezuela founders.
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As there is still a Federal Temporary Restraining Order in effect we are not able to answer any specific questions submitted via social media or email at this time.
As our platform, Honest Reviews operates under full transparency we’ve elected to publish all publically available documents.
First, you will find the active Temporary Restraining Order that’s in full effect against Honest Reviews.
Below that you will see our motion, supporting exhibits, 3rd party articles, and most important the report prepared by world renowned leading Dr. John Godleski. We highly recommend you read his CV and as equally important his preliminary findings regarding Purple’s use of powdered Microspheres Polyethylene.
https://www.honestmattressreviews.com/purple-mattress-vs-honest-reviews/
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1st Amendment Rights Restored As District Judge Dee Benson Rules On The Motions
Purple Mattress Request – For the foregoing reasons, and for those expressed in the parties’ briefing and oral arguments, Docket Numbers 17 and 39, as well as Plaintiff’s oral Motion to convert the Temporary Restraining Order into a Preliminary Injunction, are hereby DENIED.
Honest Reviews Request – Docket Number 28 and the portion of Docket Number 36 requesting dissolution of the Temporary Restraining Order are GRANTED.
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You CAN get your information stolen with patent pending.
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https://sleepopolis.com/blog/casper-sues-sleepopolis-with-federal-lawsuit/
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