Callaway Suing To Find Web Commenter

by The Editors on March 25, 2009

Callaway-LogoSomeone in the Yahoo Finance message boards has been sharing opinions about Carlsbad’s own golf giant Callaway Golf that Callaway doesn’t seem to like. So, the company filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court to subpoena Yahoo Finance and require them to hand over information regarding the identity of the poster, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The lawsuit claims that, as a vendor or employee, the poster would have agreed not to disclose confidential information. It contends that around March of this year, the poster revealed information about the company’s operations. . . .Most posts on the Yahoo chat board for Callaway in the past two months don’t appear to reveal inside information. Several discuss the recent performance and attire of Phil Mickelson, a Callaway-sponsored player. . . One post is titled “Could golf get any more boring?”

It appears that the person they are hunting down is posting under the name “billclauson”. (Click here for a collection of his posts). And we have to agree, the posts seem pretty benign. Even this one from February 12, 2009:

I have been in and out of Callaway for many years. I just think the economy and the state of golf make any “golf” company a sell at this time. Callaway stock and golf related investments are going nowhere for the forseeable future. We may have seen the hayday for golf sometime back.”

Nothing that most people wouldn’t agree with there. Thankfully, Judge William Nevitt Jr. denied Callaway’s subpoena request, but it’s still nice to know that Callaway’s corporate lawyers have time to troll the Internet looking for fights.

[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Informed March 25, 2009 at 11:03 pm

The story is wrong. The poster noted is not the target. The post in question was by someone else and revealed specific, confidential information regarding Callaway’s future plans.

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