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I honestly can’t believe this. Came home today after a pleasant afternoon out and about to find a Threatening Email from the lawyers of a tapas bar I reviewed last December on Sevilla Tapas. They cited various laws and infringements before coming out with their DEMAND that I remove all photos and text, and indeed any reference to this bar, from all my blogs, websites and social media accounts. I mean, WTF??
It wasn’t even a scathing review. I basically just said that I’d gone there TWICE and was disappointed both times. And well, they can’t really blame me if their tapas look like crap.
Anyhow, I’ve been threatened with legal action if I don’t comply.
May as well. It’ll save me having to do it later when they close down.
Gah. Kill all the lawyers. I loved your last line. Bulls-eye!
Do you ever read The Oatmeal? He had some interesting lawyer issues at one point.
If you lived in sunny CA you would expect this as a matter of routine. We are an extremely litigious bunch. Apparently.
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Leave it on the website with a note that it has been redacted by request of the bar’s lawyers, who objected to the criticism of their client’s food. Then blank out all the words and pictures except for a link to trip advisor’s review.
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I think you are right. If the food isn’t good, they won’t have customers. However, the fighter inside me would hate to back down.
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I like devonseaglass’s suggestion. I am so sick of people who lawyer up every time they hear something they don’t like.
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If I remember well, I’ve read somewhere that often, the first “legal threat” is all hot air, with no legal basis (for one thing, if it had, the letter should at least be sent as snail mail). Plus, a real legal procedure involving lawyers and all would be quite expensive, and not all loud businesses actually want to afford one just to silence people they don’t like.
Then again, neither am I a lawyer, nor would I be an expert on Spanish law if I was, and furthermore it is much, much easier to be brave from my armchair here than from where you are!
Good luck!
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I’m pretty much in the same camp as “the quiet one”, and Eugene. Good luck, however you decide to deal with it.
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Obviously, they don’ realize that the easiest way for bad reviews to go away is not to try to intimidate the reviewers but to improve the food…
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In case you’re interested I’ve reposted this (with extra added STUFF) over on the azahar Sevilla blog…
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This is why I would go for a privacy domain registration if I rent a domain anytime soon. Because freedom of expression.If I visit a store, a bar or whatever… It´s my right to say my opinion. I think it privacy registrastion and anonymity is today better. I really dont give a shit about the opinion of any lawyer if I feel that I didn´t do anything wrong. And to tell my opinion about anything, that is my right and not a crime. When it comes to my opinion I would violate any writen law lol. I do not accept it if somebody would ban my opinion. I think a private domain would make it harder for a lawyer to fight my writen word.
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Well, no point in spending money for privacy domain registration when I have my email address in the sidebar!😉 But I understand why you want one.
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You are right. This makes only sense if you use an email adress which is anonymous too. But then you would just not answer those mails. There is other stuff to take care off too. This is really how I will handle it the future for more political webprojects and so on. Or webprojects where I would talk to much about my opinions or if I would write reviews.
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Ops, just posted in the Sevilla Blog rather than here. I’ll just repost that they’ve done themselves no favours because most people will probably imagine the review was much worse than it actually was.
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