Anyone who has thought about developing a Web site to gripe about a company owes Michelle Grosse some thanks.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Friday that the Canton woman did not violate the law when she used the name of Lucas Nursery and Landscaping Inc. for a Web site she created to complain about the Canton nursery.

Paul Levy, staff attorney with the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said the ruling bolsters the fight by consumer groups to stop corporations from snuffing out free speech on the Internet.

"This is a very important case," said Levy. "This is a mainstream circuit court that said using the Internet and the name of the company to criticize a company is perfectly legitimate..."

Source: Detroit Free Press

Huh? How about all those sites like PayPal Sucks? Anyway, its good to see that free speech is still being upheld in the courts.