Sunday, May 05, 2013

Woodlands seeking to shut down Tamarac activist's website - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Woodlands seeking to shut down Tamarac activist's website - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com: The Woodlands Homeowners Association has threatened to sue one of its residents, a self-proclaimed "loudmouth" who has a website about the going-ons within the community.

An attorney for the law firm Becker & Poliakoff sent Sharon Aron Baron a letter ordering her to shut down the website by May 12. The letter says the domain name, and some of the information within the site such as real estate listings, imply the site is affiliated with the homeowners association.

"This site is tarnishing the distinctive quality of the association's trade name and injuring its reputation," wrote attorney Michael De Biase.
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It's not called Privatopia for nothing.  Even HOA names are private property.

1 comment:

IC_deLight said...

...and unless what she says is false, so what?

Not that an HOA corporation is a political subdivision of the state - because it is not. But just for comparison, consider what kind of cause of action a city or county would have against someone that posted negative comments about the city/county.

The homeowners can't choose whether to be "members". Membership is involuntary. No one can own property there without being an involuntary member.

This isn't about "preserving intellectual property rights" because we all know that board members aren't intellectuals (hah). This is about preserving board member EGOs.

Unlike real businesses, HOA corporations don't compete for anything. People within the territory of the HOA are servants (usually members) of the HOA. People outside don't have to give it the time of day. The size of the HOA corporation is static so comments aren't going to change the number of members either. The HOA can't "lose business" regardless of how bad the comments are.