Think before sending nastygrams
Techdirt has a post entitled Shouldn't Lawyers Sending Out Nastygrams Online Understand The Internet First? about a cease and desist letter from a German court to a blogger complaining that a Google search on the court's name shows the blog in the top 10 results. The blog had simply mentioned the court's name.
As Techdirt puts it: It's amazing sometimes to see what happens when lawyers who don't seem to understand the internet start freaking out about something online.
Before we "freak out" and send a nastygram, we should follow this nastygram process:
1. Determine why the client is upset
2. Determine what result the client wants
3. Determine what the other party has done
4. Determine if what the other party has done is legally or otherwise improper
5. Determine what remedies/results are possible/likely
6. Assume the nastygram will be made public and ridiculed
7. Consider if sending a nastygram might do more harm than good by attracting more attention (the "Streisand effect")
8. Discuss all the above with the client
9. If a nastygram is warranted, word it carefully