As previously reported, Yelp recently filed a lawsuit against a company called Revleap, claiming to “take a stand against misleading ‘reputation management’ companies”.
Revleap, which seeks to get businesses a “large constant flow of positive reviews that stay on top of your profile” and to “remove fake reviews,” says Yelp’s allegations, which include trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition, cybersquatting, breach of contract, interference with contractual relations, and false advertising, are “completely false and unsubstantiated.”
“Revleap services are legal in all aspects of the law, and we specialize in only legitimate reviews from real customers,” a spokesperson for Revleap told WebProNews in a statement. “Yelp has filed completely false and unsubstantiated claims against our company. We aim to decrease defamation and increase awareness of free speech for businesses. We level the playing field for everyone who uses the internet or reviews on any site.”
The company says it’s now looking for help from the “business community” that has been negatively affected by Yelp, and has set up a crowdfunding campaign via GoFundMe to help with its legal defense. Here’s what the campaign’s description says:
We set out on a mission to make one small thing easier for businesses, managing their reviews on various platforms. Along the way we discovered person after person who’s business has suffered because of Yelp’s unfair practices. Our average client is someone who has been in business for 20+ years, that is obviously doing great business or they would not have been in business for so long. They’re listed 5 stars on Google, City Search and Facebok, and they also have an A rating with the BBB. This small business owner usually will have 15 reviews on Yelp. 13 Positive and 2 negative, all verifiable from real customers. Yelp will hide all 13 of their positive reviews in the not recommended section that and only show the 2 negative reviews on the front page. Taking this 5 star business down to 1 star, plumeting their revenue, hurting their family and even forcing some completely out of business.
Outraged business owners call our company daily asking for help, Revleap only specializes in real, legitimate reviews from customers that are completely unbiased. We simply facilitate an easier way for people to leave you feedback. We didn’t break any law, and we have helped many business owers save their business. The corporate tech giant has filed a lawsuit last Friday in an attempt to strong arm us, just as they have many other small business owenrs to cease operating.
We ask for the help of the American business owners, and anyone reading this to help us defend this case.
Yelp aims to make an example of us. They wish to discorage any attempt from anyone looking to relenquish some control from their overbearing dictatorship of your online presence. If we lose this case, it will be a loss for business owners across the world because the grip they have on you will become even tighter.
When we win, it will open the door for more companies like ours, and more innovation from all over to help you, the small business owner control your presence online.
RevLeap provides a valuable service to businesses in almost every industry with a simple feedback-gathering tool that prompts customers to write reviews online.
Any donation from a business owner will receive 1 month free of our service, if you’re an individual we’ll send you a signed thank you card and know in your heart that you’re really helping support the American dream by countering this lawsuit.
(sic)
Yelp says Revleap is a scam and that business owners should fall for offers like what it claims to provide, or they’ll end up “paying dearly, both with their bank accounts and their online reputations.”
As of the time of this writing, Revleap has raised just north of a hundred bucks.
Image via GoFundMe