AIT files defamation lawsuit against Fayetteville Observer, Paul Woolverton and Others

(Fayetteville, NC) On Monday, October 8, North Carolina basedcorporation Advanced Internet Technologies - AIT (www.AIT.com) filed a lawsuitagainst Fayetteville Publishing Company FPC (www.fayettevillenc.com &www.fayobserver.com) and Paul Woolverton, a reporter for FPC, as well as severalJohn Does. The complaint alleged that Mr. Woolverton and others, on behalf of FPC,were the authors of false and defamatory publications concerning AIT and itsemployees posted via the websites aitsucks.com and aitsucks.net. As part of alitigation settlement in a separate matter, AIT obtained possession and allownership rights to these websites and their respective server logs. During theprocess of reviewing and analyzing the websites and server logs, AIT determined thatas many as seven different authors posted false and defamatory comments concerningAIT using a unique IP Address owned by FPC.

AIT officials believe that the defamatory postings were in retaliation toa Click Fraud complaint filed with law enforcement as well as a lawsuitfiled against FPC. The complaint alleged that FPC committed online ClickFraud against local, classified and national advertisers. AIT assertedFPC inflated its web traffic to its website with the sole intent to driveup the number of impressions and clicks so it could charge advertisersmore money. Scott Boyenger, CEO for Click Defense, a company specializingin combating click fraud and obtaining refunds for clients independentlyconfirmed log files related to the Click Fraud lawsuit filed by AITagainst FPC. We received the logs from Web hosting company AIT, and itappeared to us that this traffic is repetitive and manufactured, Boyenger said. The type of click fraud alleged in this lawsuit is newand very clever, Boyenger said. The traffic patterns and IP addressesblend with the ISP s address space and make it appear like legitimatetraffic.

Until recently, AIT placed the criminal complaint on hold in hopes that an amicablesettlement would be reached with FPC. AIT has appealed a recent decision by thecourt to dismiss its charges claiming that it produced over 60,000 pages ofevidence and days of depositions while FPC produced nothing. The case was nevertried and a jury never got to see the evidence, said Clarence Briggs, CEO of AIT. A total of 12 invoices that they billed us with were allegedly filed a few daysafter the discovery deadline. This is a very disappointing decision. We will not bebullied nor intimidated into allowing this wrong to go unchallenged. AIT officialsstated that they have resumed the criminal investigation to include possibleallegations of public corruption.

On September 14, 2007, AIT filed a motion for a Temporary Restraining Orderrequesting the court to intervene because it believed FPC was spoiling or destroyingthe evidence on the servers even though litigation is ongoing. The motion allegesthe concern arose because FPC asserted that it was under no obligation to preservethe evidence. However, the transcripts of the court proceedings that returned theweb servers to FPC indicate that FPC agreed to preserve the servers as evidenceuntil the case and appeals were concluded. We sealed those servers to protect theevidence for the click fraud lawsuit and criminal investigation and now they areevidence for this defamation lawsuit, said Briggs.

AIT is the company that led the class action lawsuit against Google in 2005 whereGoogle settled the case for $90 million with the class of online advertisers. Through the discovery process, we learned that FPC may be a Google affiliate, saidBriggs. AIT worked with the FBI and Senate Judiciary Committee regarding ClickFraud and its potential ties to funding organized crime and terrorism. I have justreturned from Washington, DC again as well as Raleigh discussing this issue withvarious officials, said Briggs. AIT started the Click Fraud portal www.igeryon.orgas a non-profit clearing house to address the issue. The original complaint filedby AIT against FPC is located there along with extensive documentation about ClickFraud.

Source: Express-Press-Release.com

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