January 15, 2003
MetroGuide.com, Inc., (MetroGuide), the contextual commerce Internet site with headquarters in Hollywood, Florida, filed three more copyright infringement lawsuits October 31, 2002, December 24, 2002, and December 26, 2002, in the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida. MetroGuide.com, Inc., f/k/a RealMetros.com, Inc. v. e-Business Holdings, LLC, Brian J. Prince, and Gregory Hartnett, Case No. 02-61551, CIV-Ferguson; MetroGuide.com, Inc., vs. Spider Coach, Corp., MiamiVirtual.com, Inc., Luis Rosante, and Alexandre Guapyassu, Case No. 02-23631, CIV-Hoeveler; MetroGuide.com, Inc., vs. Miami Rent-A-Car, Inc., 02-23644-CIV-Gold.
Having previously used the courts successfully to enforce its intellectual property rights, MetroGuide continues to fight Internet piracy. "The extent of copyright theft is astounding," said Mark Metz, MetroGuide's founder and CEO. "Amazingly, one of these cases, the e-Business Holdings case, requires MetroGuide to sue the same people who were enjoined from stealing content in an action last year."
When asked why MetroGuide finds itself a target of Internet piracy, Metz stated, "On-line travel can be a lucrative business. Some hotel reservation services have made it easy for anyone with a website to affiliate with them and earn commissions when an Internet visitor finds the site and books a room. For many years, MetroGuide's HotelGuide.net service has proven to be one of the more successful affiliates of the reservation services provided by Hotels.com (NASDAQ:ROOM). Our success has attracted unwanted attention from those seeking to duplicate our site's performance by duplicating our site's content.
"Original content is hard to produce and maintain," said Metz, "Many sites have found it easier to take MetroGuide's content rather than produce their own. Word needs to get out on the Internet that content piracy is not only duplicitous, it is actionable, and my company is not afraid to take action."
MetroGuide (http://metroguide.com/) is among the largest Internet providers of global travel information and reservations. Incorporated in 1996 and privately held, MetroGuide attracts more than two million visitors monthly to its quarter-million-plus pages of travel related sites. MetroGuide stands at the forefront of the battle to combat digital copyright piracy.
For more information contact Scott Rogers (954) 981-5850.