Nation1 'to pursue suspected perpetrators' of guerilla website
A statement from Nation1 has revealed that the company intends to ‘pursue the suspected perpetrators’ that created a copy guerilla website to intentionally defame the company.
The statement, issued on behalf of Andrew Grant, group managing director of the agency, said that Grant had taken advice from law firm Brodies LLP which had told him that he had "an extremely strong case".
Using domain name search engine easywhois.com, the website can be seen to be registered in the name of former Nation1 employee Ramsay Macfarlane on 2 March and last updated on 4 March.
The statement said: “Sheriff Officers will be serving correspondence this week on Mr Ramsay Macfarlane who registered the defamatory website instructing him to remove the site immediately. We have also contacted the host of the
website and Google. We intend to seek damages from Mr Macfarlane and anyone else involved in the attack for loss of business, damage to our group managing director's reputation as well as seeking reimbursement for all legal fees associated with raising the action and pursuing the court route.”
The website launched last week, designed to look like the Nation1 site, and alleged the company did not pay its employees, freelancers, consultants, or its coffee bills (rumour only).
"We won't turn up in court, so there's no point in trying to drag us there," the website's copy said.
Undeterred Nation 1's statement thanked people who had sent "kind emails, tweets and support" and highlighted the Nation1 blog where the agency plans to convince other firms that it “is essential to establish a policy for dealing with disgruntled employees and related digital attacks".
Grant had previously addressed the issue in his own blog. He wrote: "...fact is the guy behind this is pissed off and wants revenge and the internet offers him a massive stage. We’ve all been here, it’s a fact of business life. Some of us have suffered more than others. Just think of the “We hate Arnold Clark” web campaign.”