smb@ulysses.UUCP (Steven Bellovin) (04/19/85)
> [] > > Almost a month ago, I posted a request to net.graphics concerning > color hardcopy devices (the message I posted is repeated at the end of this > article). In the message I indicated that I was currently using Tektronix > terminals with attached plotters of unspecified brand and model number. I > stated that the situation was unacceptable, since there were severe reliability > problems with the plotters. > > Last Friday, I got a call from the local Tektronix sales rep who (1) > offered to sell my one of their fancy $5K (I don't remember the exact price) > plotters that was "much more reliable," and (2) informed me that her higher- > ups at Tek were not at all pleased that I had posted an article from which > people could infer that Tektronix equipment was unreliable, and stated > (I paraphrase here) "Tektronix was not planning to take any action against me, > but we are increasingly concerned about this kind of posting, and feel that we > will have to take action against people who post that sort of message in the > future." > > My question is: did I really do something wrong by posting the article? ..... Posting to the net is like publishing -- if you say nasty false things about someone, you most certainly can get sued -- and rightfully so, I might add. I'm not a lawyer, so take whatever I say with as many kilos of NaCl as you choose; however, in general, truth is an absolute defense against any libel claim. It is recongized that reviews are matters of opinion, and some latitude is extended, so long as it's clear that what you are stating is opinion, and not presented as literal fact. (This is a somewhat controversial area at the moment; an appeals court just reversed a libel judgement against a restaurant critic who panned an eatery, saying things like "the pancakes [for moo shu pork] were as thick as my fingers. But the trial court had held for the restaurant.) So -- if you are going to pan a product, you might want to be sure you can prove what you're saying. (Not that a lawsuit isn't unpleasant and possibly expensive for you, if your company won't pay the bills.) Problems that are likely to be specific to one unit and not a model line should be described as such. In this particular case, since the faulty plotters were not named, you could plausibly argue that you took steps to avoid libel; that might impress a judge, but might not head off a lawsuit.
brooks@lll-crg.ARPA (Eugene D. Brooks III) (04/25/85)
> Almost a month ago, I posted a request to net.graphics concerning > color hardcopy devices (the message I posted is repeated at the end of this > article). In the message I indicated that I was currently using Tektronix > terminals with attached plotters of unspecified brand and model number. I > stated that the situation was unacceptable, since there were severe reliability > problems with the plotters. > > Last Friday, I got a call from the local Tektronix sales rep who (1) > offered to sell my one of their fancy $5K (I don't remember the exact price) > plotters that was "much more reliable," and (2) informed me that her higher- > ups at Tek were not at all pleased that I had posted an article from which > people could infer that Tektronix equipment was unreliable, and stated > (I paraphrase here) "Tektronix was not planning to take any action against me, > but we are increasingly concerned about this kind of posting, and feel that we > will have to take action against people who post that sort of message in the > future." > I would suggest dealing with such sales persons by asking for the name and phone number of their supervisor. I would then call he/she boss and complain about the rather coarse threating manner in which the sales staff is treating customers. I would reccomend to the manager that if such treatment by sales people continues that you would not buy any more tek products and that you would also reccomend to every one in netland to not buy tek products until their sales staff learns to treat customers better. Do you hear me over there in tekland? If you know what is good for sales you will FIRE said sales person.
tim@cithep.UucP (Tim Smith ) (04/30/85)
If the plotters ( unspecified brand ) where NOT from Tektronix, then you
at least partly blew it, since your original article makes it sound like,
they are, and from the other responses on the net, most poeple seem to
have interpreted it that way.
--
"Just use your nuro-linguistic-programming to set up
the right morpho-genetic field, and the rest is easy"
Tim Smith
ihnp4!{wlbr!callan,cithep}!tim