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RR Auction Sues Michael Johnson for Defamation, 14 Other Counts

RR Auction sued rrauctionlawsuit.com owner Michael Johnson on June 2. The complaint alleges 15 counts, including business defamation, abusive litigation practices, false light invasion of privacy, interference with contractual relationships, misappropriation of RR Auction’s marks and trade name, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and cybersquatting.

Johnson, a former RR Auction client, has an ongoing lawsuit against RR Auction that he tried to get certified as a class-action. That failed, because no one else wanted to join the class, so Johnson is continuing the lawsuit on his own.

You can read about RR Auction's lawsuit in a June 5 report on AutographMagazine.com.

Tags: cybersquatting, defamation, michael johnson, rr auction, rrauctionlawsuit.com

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Permalink Reply by Gratefulphish on June 9, 2015 at 12:19am

Well, that would be a case of libel or slander, which is completely different from cybersquatting, which usually is simply an extortion attempt to get a company to buy a domain name that you registered that includes their name.

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Permalink Reply by Dane on June 9, 2015 at 2:39am

The statute for anti-cybersquatting includes verbiage that makes intent to divert customers from the mark owner's online location with the intent to tarnish or disparage the mark. I see no purpose in Mr Johnson posting his site other than to disparage the reputation and goodwill of RR Auction. That would make this a case of cybersquatting. It might not be the most common version we would hear about in the early days of the internet (when people tried to profit off registering any possible version of Coke or Coca-Cola as a domain name), but it's still included in the law.

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Permalink Reply by Sidney Fields on June 9, 2015 at 4:53am

Have to disagree. The argument that Mr. Johnson is trying to inform the public about the litigation appears strong. There's little disparaging of RR outside of the court papers and description of the litigation. The name reflects his view of the litigation...it's the RR Auction Lawsuit and why he's suing them. Of course, there's an undercurrent of hostility to RR...Johnson wants the public to know that he believes RR did him wrong.

Again, not judging the underlying issues. Just believe the cybersquatting along with false light claims are tenuous at best. They're more like red herrings...diverting us from the real issues.

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Permalink Reply by Gratefulphish on June 9, 2015 at 11:48am

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Permalink Reply by James Stone on June 9, 2015 at 1:11pm

Seems like Mr. Johnson is just some rich guy with a lot of time and money that he doesn't know what to do with.

Send the items back, get a refund. Or just resell with Epperson's COA. Problem solved. Who in their right mind would want to drag themselves thru years of endless litigation and stress over something like this?

Now not only does he have one lawsuit to deal with, he has another one.

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Permalink Reply by Sidney Fields on June 9, 2015 at 1:27pm

I suspect all the counterclaims are designed to induce Mr. Johnson to do just that...or else spend a pile more on those issues.

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on June 9, 2015 at 2:05pm

Agreed -- as he has spent untold 1000's (at least) dollars in lawyers fees, time, energy, and hatred for a company that agreed to give him a 100% refund! He wants them to pay dearly for "wronging" him no matter what the cost it does to the company and their customers/consignors who are hurt by the fact that the company might be forever tarnished. Or, he is just is suing to make money which is disgusting in it's own right.

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Permalink Reply by Dane on June 9, 2015 at 3:15pm

Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that Johnson didn't want to return the items. RR told him that they'd refund him upon return of the items. He never sent them back. He just wanted his money back.

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on June 9, 2015 at 3:32pm

Two thoughts here, first being we don't know when he was offered a refund. If it wasn't until he threatened to sue that he was offered the refund, I probably wouldn't have taken it either.

If he was offered the refund immediately, and simply refused to take it, then there is not much of a lawsuit, so I find it hard to believe this is the case, but I guess we will find out.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on June 9, 2015 at 3:44pm

As soon as he contacted R&R they asked Johnson to send the autographs and any paperwork back so they could check things out. That's the first step in getting a refund. He didn't.