• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, May 9, 2006

Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, the ad agency that last month filed a puzzling lawsuit against a blogger for having criticized the agency's online ad efforts, has folded. After widespread media coverage, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, or WKPA, withdrew its suit--though too late to escape near-universal derision.

Back in February, blogger Lance Dutson began criticizing an ad campaign WKPA produced to increase tourism to Maine. Among other complaints about the campaign, Dutson posted an image of an ad that mistakenly printed a phone sex number in lieu of a real Maine tourist information number.

WKPA's response? On April 14, the agency sued Dutson for copyright violation for publishing the ad, as well as defamation and trade libel. "Dutson's web log, or 'blog,' contains numerous defamatory statements designed to blacken WKPA's reputation, expose WKPA to public contempt and ridicule, and injure WKPA in its business and profession," alleged the complaint. "Dutson also claimed, falsely, that WKPA is 'pissing away' Maine tax money," griped the agency in its legal pleadings.

It's hard to imagine how denouncing an ad agency for a campaign constitutes libel. Even leaving that aside, one would think that those in the image business could have predicted that a defamation suit would spread information further and wider than ignoring it.

That's exactly what happened; in addition to articles in the mainstream media, hundreds--if not thousands--of bloggers also began retelling the story, heaping ridicule on WKPA.

If Dutson held up WKPA to scorn, that was nothing compared to the contempt that WKPA brought upon itself with its lawsuit.