As regular readers will know Evony are trying to sue me for libel in an Australian court. So we have a plaintiff from country A trying to sue a defendant from country B in country C. They can do this because judgements from Australian courts are enforceable in England. And they are trying to say that because internet content is available globally they can sue me in any country they feel like. Obviously they have chosen Australia to create the maximum difficulty in my defending myself, they are misusing the Australian legal system to censor the internet.
They are going after me because I exposed Evony to the harsh light of publicity. The Guardian newspaper did the same but they are not taking the Guardian to court because the Guardian have the resources to defend themselves from such spurious claims.
Libel is incredible expensive to bring to court, some cases end up with legal costs of over a million pounds. To get my case just to the first day of court in Australia should cost me over £50,000. You can see why freedom of speech is threatened here. Because my case is setting a precedent my lawyers have agreed to act on a no win no fee basis with no win no fee. In other words they will try and extract costs from Evony for bringing a frivolous case before the courts. But in the mean time there are a lot of costs to cover in putting the case together.
Obviously I can reduce myself to penury and send every penny I have to them. This seems a little harsh for just telling the truth. I have already sent them a substantial sum, as much as I can reasonably afford. So I have created a way that you can contribute to the fighting fund with the PayPal donate button at the side of this article. Anything would help, £1 even. It all adds up. So please help with a donation. And a big thank you to those who have already donated, it is much appreciated.
For those who live in the UK, a letter to their MP may help. Here is a draft that could be used:
Dear MP,
As you know there is a significant threat to freedom of speech with lawyers practicing reputation management on the internet. They threaten libel action against the authors of content that their clients don’t like, whether it is the truth or not. Those authors are then forced to withdraw that content because of the massive costs of defending their, often truthful, position. Obviously this mechanism is used most frequently by those with the most to hide. The libel law is thus being used against the interests of your constituents.
In a further twist we now have a Chinese video game, Evony, with a recently incorporated Delaware front company, sueing a British blogger, Bruce Everiss, in an Australian court. They are indulging in this extreme libel tourism firstly because Australian libel judgements are enforceable in England and secondly in order to make it as difficult as possible for Mr Everiss to defend what he maintains to be a truthful position. If Evony succeed it will open the floodgates of undefendable action being taken against British people in Australian courts.
As your constituent I would like to know what you are doing to maintain the freedom of speech on the internet. Also I would like to know what the government are doing to prevent the total abuse of the legal system that is happening in the case of Mr Everiss and Evony,
regards, etc
So there we have two ways that you can help. Please do so because what Evony are doing is a threat to every one’s freedoms.
24 comments ↓
I continue to wish you good luck with this, Bruce.
Have you considered contacting the EFF? Sometimes they are willing to take on prominent cases in order to set precedents.
Hi Bruce,
I emailed you regarding this awhile ago, but I have been following this. After you emailed your MP regarding this, tonight I emailed the Attorney-General of NSW in relation to this.
I would also suggest you consider filing a complaint against the legal practice that initiated the proceedings. The appropriate site is here:
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/olsc
This complaint should mention a number of things:
a) Prospect of jurisdiction-shopping – not operating in the interests of justice or the court
b) Court proceedings being initiated for an ulterior purpose, rather than the true purpose (that is, to force you to give in, rather than defend the claim; this is underlined by them using Australia so that it is particularly expensive and difficult)
c) Launching a claim on baseless grounds (that is, when the action would clearly be defeated by s 9 of the Defamation Act which prohibits Corporations).
I was going to file the complaint myself, however I feel it would be more effective coming directly from you. Meanwhile, hopefully I hear something substantial from the Attorney-General, though I am not that confident.
As an addendum to the previous post…
The reason for the complaint, is to put a little pressure back on the practice. At the moment they feel as though they can act with impunity, as you are unlikely to launch a civil claim for abuse of process or malicious prosecution in Australia, as it would be too difficult and expensive.
However the Legal Service Commission take complaints very seriously and will go after dodgy practices – if they get an email from the OLSC it will make the practice a lot less keen to send any more of those heavy-handed letters your way.
Thanks Daniel.
One of the naughtiest things they have done is to issue a press release in which Dean Groundwater acuses me of fraud. I could very easily sue him for libel for this, in London.
We’ve sent a letter to our local MP about this for you Bruce, and will keep you appraised of the response.
I hadn’t read that – by all means though, include that in the legal services complaint. Just more proof of malicious intent and abuse of process, rather than proper resolution of the issue.
Brilliant DolphGB, thank you.
Let’s hope that he is more use than Bob Ainsworth!
Hey Bruce,
Hang in there…here’s some cash to get going!
Vince
I’ve kicked in a donation. Good to be able to help.
Thanks for the contributions guys. Big or small, it all adds up.
We were curious about who exactly is suing you. This is what we found:
http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/
I’ve got a passport that says I’m a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but I live in Australia.
Can I lobby an MP in the UK? I haven’t bothered registering for UK elections in the past, can I register even though I’m not a resident?
There would be some irony in an Australian with dual-citizenship lobbying on your behalf in this issue.
Hi bruce,
good luck for you,buddy.
Evony may have trouble conducting their case in Australia. A few years ago the Australian states harmonised their defamation laws. Among the results of this was:
1) Corporations cannot sue for defamation. If an individual officer of the company was identified, he or she can sue, but not the company.
2) If you can prove what was published is true, then there is no defamation. Truth alone is a defence, and there is no “public interest” test necessary for publication.
Don’t always agree with you Bruce but always a great read. For all the free entertainment I’ve had from this blog I’m happy to make a modest contribution, all the way from Oz.
Good luck Bruce!
Sent a little support your way. Hopefully, this all unravels around these jerks in a big way.
It sucks that you have had to pay any money at all. The US legal system has the same problem. All someone has to do is attack you, and the attack is already successful in that you have to pay for (and put a lot of time into) your defense.
At least the precedent-setting nature of your case enabled you to get a lawyer. Imagine dealing with this situation when no lawyer thinks you’re worth their time.
This Yank sends a few bucks your way – keep up the fight. We’re very familiar with jurisdiction shopping over here…but the tangled thread leading to Australia tops even the most ridiculous examples I’ve heard of before.
Good luck!
Interesting, Bruce, that you’re all for freedom of speech, and very much against censorship on the internet, and yet you delete comments which don’t agree with you.
Mikey S,
Have a look through the comments on here and you will find plenty that don’t agree with me!
There are a lot of comments coming from Evony plants just now so I am trying to filter those out.
Also those that add nothing to the debate and those that are rude, abusive or profane.
I play Evony, and quite enjoy the game. I orginally got the erroneous impression from some of their materiel that they were a french-based startup.
Research over the last few days has filled in a lot of blanks, and some things now make a lot of sense.
Regarding this bogus lawsuit:
1) The best offense is a good offense. I am sure you will find many lawyers out there who would be willing to take this case Pro Bono.
File counter-suits. Several.
2) I would think, from their payment methods, from their client base, and from thier corporate profile, that there are a large number of angry moms and dads out there who have had their credit cards used by Sonny to purchase those “must have” game items that allow them to flaunt their in-game egos.
How many of these charges have been challenged, and how many refunded?
A bit of consumer journalism research here could pay off handsomely.
3) Follow that money trail, and get the US company investigated. If the cash is flowing cross-border, US anti-gambling laws apply (evony features, on a daily basis, a “wheel of fortune” This could make it subject to US internet anti-gambling legislation, which is very strict. )
4) Contact the DA’s office in the state they are incorporated in and have these discussions with them.
Iv got to say i love evony but thats wrong. hope u win
I checked their law website and
the firm that is representing evony specializes in estate litigation and family law
why is a law firm that specializes in estate and family law getting involved in an international slander case aside from the money of course.
The whole evony law suit seems pretty weak ,from their slander claims all the way to the firm they have hired to represent them.It seems that evony doesnt expect to win or even go to court if they can avoid it. It seems as if they are just trying to get some easy money by threatening a law suit and hoping the person will pay them money to drop it.
They really are a bunch of scumbags.
I have checked out evony and found that they have stolen images from more then just porn movies and costume stores, they stole images from games like civilization and Age of empires.
They are Retards.
Best of luck to you. Hope It all turns out okay
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