On Friday the 30th November (2007) at 3.54pm SGM was served with the following Defamation Notice (excerpt below) stating the site was in breach of UK Law and various sections of the associated statutes due to the content of an old archived overview article on The Dark Side magazine held here on this page...
Re: www.sexgoremutants.co.uk
"We write further to the above and from our investigations and further complaint from the solicitors acting on behalf of the complainant, we have noticed that the site above contains defamatory allegations against the complainant. In accordance with the jurisdiction of the English Courts this publication is deemed to be defamatory in accordance with the common law provisions of the Defamation Act 1996; on the basis that the statement "would tend to lower the party in the estimation of right-thinking members of society."
"We hereby put you on notice to take action to remove the content immediately by no later than Monday 3rd December at 12noon 2007. Should you fail to make contact with us and take the above said action to rectify this matter we shall have no alternative other than to take action against you without any further notice."
Frustratingly (and contrary to the communication received) there was no advance notice of this legal attack; absolutely no prior contact from the complainant, solicitors acting on their behalf or anyone involved in any investigation.
Shortly before 5pm that day (after many frantic calls) we were told that solicitors acting on behalf of the complainant (who shall remain nameless here to avert further legal threats) were making the complaint regarding the article on The Dark Side magazine previously held here and that if said article was not removed by noon that Monday SGM would be taken offline.
Due to this threat of legal action we have had no choice but to remove The Dark Side magazine coverage (it was either that or SGM be forced offline). It should be made clear though that the defamation legal complaint did not come from The Dark Side magazine, its editor or publisher but in fact one of the magazines main contributors.
Whilst SGM are deeply upset by the manner this business was conducted we will continue to do all we can to encourage and promote critical free speech. Unfortunately though due to potential legal threat we shall no longer be able to bring you coverage of The Dark Side magazine or any other work associated to the complainant.
Finally, SGM would like to thank to everyone (both readers and industry friends alike) for all the support through the action, the volume of email received from across the globe has been both overwhelming and heart warming - thanks.
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