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Ask HN: major company threatening to sue me my aggregator site

10 points by riams ↗ HN
Hey guys, first time posting a question.

Basically, I've got a daily deal aggregator site. One of the major players on the market is now threatening to sue me if I don't remove his site from my aggregator.

I have already removed their deal images (but not the actual deals), need I worry?

12 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 29.6 ms ] thread
[dead] cancelbubble
You're seeking legal advice on the internet?
felipepiresx
i think not. Are you a company ?
riams
Yes, but not a limited liability company. I personally have 100% liability for the company.
bxr
Get a lawyer. What you're doing may be legal (I believe it is), but you still do need to worry about getting sued. It sounds like they're just trying to push you around, get a lawyer to check what you're doing is fine and respond to them with a letter containing lots of legal noise that basically means "piss off".
riams
Thanks for the advice!
bxr
No prob. I know the Hacker News crowd has a lot of self reliance attitude, and I've been there too, but I've recently been coming to realize that for any legal matter its best to just go to a professional. Its often too far outside of our fields of expertise to be worth the time and effort to become competent in the field, especially because once any real legal action happens, you're going to need professional representation.
myearwood
You're not in business until you get sued.
kirpekar
Have you received a cease and desist? If not, continue business as usual.
riams
Are you sure? AFAIK, they don't have to to send a C&D before suing.
kirpekar
Nobody is going to sue ($5000) before a C&D ($200)
abbasmehdi
If you don't get a cut in the sale they have no business suing you. It'd be the same as someone suing Google for showing up in their search results. You are just showing a graphic search result (vs text only). It's like suing someone for being quoted word for word (given you're not fudging with their deals). I have a feeling Donald Trump would do that, but thats another story.

I'd actually speak with a lawyer to double check, and once clear I'd write "Piss off" in broken handwriting with crayon. ;) (Followed by a letter from the lawyer that begins - the CEO is obviously upset regarding this baseless lawsuit...)