Josh Hallett has a post titled, “Blog Comments – Legal Issues & You’re Not That Anonymous.” Turns out blog owners can be threatened by companies who are unhappy with comments made on their posts. The Texas Startup Blog is under attack from a local sports company, eSports Partners who threatened legal action if they did not remove comments made by third parties (unrelated to The Texas Startup Blog).

Not wanting to deal with expensive litigation to prove they had the right to allow unmoderated comments on their blog, they decided to simply remove the post. What are your rights? The Supreme court ruled in late 2006 that owners of weblogs had no obligation to moderate comments, nor do they have an liability derived from the content posted. The court ruled that injured parties must address their issues to the parties (i.e. the people making the comments) directly. The forum owner, i.e. the comment area owner, is not responsible for their content. This is your right, but if you are facing a cease and desist letter you might determine how much it is worth to preserve your rights ($10-20K).