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September 8, 2005

Traffic Power Suit Could Be Quashed Through Anti-Slapp Motion

Legal Showdown in Search Fracas from Adam Penenberg at Wired looks at the lawsuit by Traffic Power against SEO Book's Aaron Wall, alleging that he revealed trade secrets. Lawyers Penenberg talks with find the suit seems more about quashing negative opinions Wall had about Traffic Power than trade secrets. One from the EFF says the suit might be subject to an "anti-Slapp" motion, a statute to prevent lawsuits being brought with no merit and intended to silence critics.

The idea that trade secrets are involved gets shot down by citing my past examination of the case, as well as including observations from long-time search marketer Greg Boser, who says there are no secrets to protect because the code is published on a publicly-accessible web server. For more background, see my previous SEO Book's Aaron Wall Sued By Traffic-Power Over Revealing "Trade Secrets" article.

Posted by Danny Sullivan on September 8, 2005 11:21 AM