Demand Media, the content farm that pays people a pittance to write and edit crappy articles and then uses SEO tricks to push its content (which appears on sites like eHow, Cracked, and Livestrong) to the top of Google searches, has seen a huge drop in market capitalization, in part because Google initiated countermeasures to reduce the googlejuice of content farms.
Now Demand is going after Demand Studios Sucks, “a blog maintained by refugees, malcontents and other critics” for posting “content that was confidential, proprietary and trademarked,” according to a Demand spokesperson. Here’s the letter from Demand Media to Demand Studios Sucks.
Jeff Bercovici of Forbes’ Mixed Media has the story.
After hearing from Demand, DSS’s ISP briefly shut down the site’s forum, a discussion board where current and former Demand Studios contributors swap gossip, gripes and tips. Before long, however, the forums and the presentation were again live. “Our ISP admitted they screwed up and we’re back now,” says Patrick O’Doare, DSS’s founder. That doesn’t mean this is over, however: In its letter, Demand threatens “any and all remedies available to it, including but not limited to, filing a civil lawsuit in federal court seeking statutory damages against you for copyright infringement, trademark infringement or any other cause of action that Demand Media deems is appropriate to protect its rights and its business” if its, um, demands aren’t met.
Demand Media’s Lawyers Go After Critical Blog as Stock Sags