I wasn’t going to comment on this advertising agency, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, over its suing of a Maine-based blogger who exercised his right to free speech. But to champion this bloggers’ cause, I’ve decided to join the mob and regurgitate AdAge’s summary:
An ad agency that specialized in travel advertising is suing a Maine-based blogger for defamation after he began to post regularly about the work the agency was doing for its client, the state of Maine.
Lawsuit – Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, New York, filed suit April 14 against Lance Dutson for copyright infringement, defamation and trade libel and injurious falsehood.
Mr. Dutson, a freelance Web designer who also does Internet advertising, says he became critical of the Maine Office of Tourism in October 2005 when he learned the office had bid for broad search terms that bumped into the interests of his clients. He also argued the Internet-advertising strategy was misguided because he said the office bid on general geographic terms such as the names of cities in Maine. Therefore, potential tourists must already be interested in the state to be led to the state’s tourism Web site, he said.
I’m not intimately involved with the facts, but it’s not a stretch to say Warren Kremer Paino Advertising is undergoing a self-inflicted blow which could jeopardize its future. Who’d ever hire them after this debacle?
SIDEBAR:
Here are stories that Warren Kremer Paino lists on the “In The News” section of its Web site.
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Now compare them with the stories listed by Google News about the firm.
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