The site's proprietor, Robert Lane Thursday removed a number of internal Ford documents, one of the main bones of contention in a trademark infringement suit filed against the site on Wednesday.
Lane, after verifying the validity of the e-mail decided to take down the documents to be on the safe side, she said.
Battle not over yet
"If we can put them back, we will," Sharon Lane said.
Lane denies using the internal documents in an illegal manner and says he did not solicit any employees of Ford to get them. He maintains they were sent anonymously by admirers of the site who wanted the truth about certain Ford products to be revealed.
A U.S. District Court Judge in Detroit issued the restraining order at around 8:00 a.m. PT Wednesday. The order prevents BlueOvalNews from posting any more Ford documents and from soliciting information from Ford employees, among other things.
However, after the restraining order was issued Wednesday, BlueOvalNews continued to post internal documents -- adding several pertaining to the 2005 Ford Mustang Wednesday afternoon.
Documents deleted
Lane says, however, that he did not did not add internal documents to the site after the restraining order was served on him, several hours after it was issued by the Judge.
"The court order was issued at 11:00 (a.m. ET), however, we had no knowledge of the order until much later in the day as the papers could not be delivered from the court house to us due to an incorrect address," the message read in part. "All documents posted after 11:00 a.m. (8:00 a.m. PT) yesterday (Wednesday) were deleted as per the court order," Lane wrote on his Web site.
The question is now, with the site in compliance with the restraining order, will Ford drop the charges. Company representatives did not return calls at press time.
A formal hearing for the Ford vs. BlueOvalNews.com case is scheduled for next Monday, Aug. 30.
But, in what is shaping up as a Detroit-style David vs. Goliath battle, the couple is seeking the aid of an attorney, and BlueOvalNews may re-post the documents if the attorney advises that it is OK to do so.
Those documents joined a long list of internal Ford documents posted late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning by Lane, after Ford notified him of its impending Lawsuit.
