Duck! Here Come the Lawyers for Rivals.com-Yahoo!

Still no actual confirmation as to whether Yahoo! is trying to buy Rivals.com and whether it is for the reported $100 million. What we do have now is a blog-scuffle with lawyers threatening legal action for defamation.

The blog TechCrunch discussed the rumored purchase of Rivals.com. TechCrunch creator, Michael Arrington posted that past securities fraud issues involving Rivals.com CEO Shannon Terry could derail the acquisition. To be clear, the issues took place in 1998, and the company where it took place was not and did not involve Rivals.com.

According to the post Rivals.com was nearly bought by Fox in 2005 and then AOL. In both cases Terry failed to disclose his past fraud litigation until it was discovered in the due diligence phase. The post says in both instances that shortly after the discovery, the deals fell apart.

Well, Terry and his lawyers didn't like the post. Not one bit. Being lawyers, they sent a three-page demand letter for a correction, retraction and apology for false and defamatory statements in the post. If the terms are not met, they threaten legal action on (or about) April 18, 2007 in Tennessee civil court.

TechCrunch naturally posted the demand letter for all to read. They also state that they are now in huddle with their own lawyers over this, so they cannot comment any further. Arrington and TechCrunch are offering Shannon Terry to the chance to directly respond on Tech Crunch with a response to refute the facts and opinions in the original post . That's unlikely to happen.

Now, it's wait and see with regards to the rumored deal, and the showdown with TechCrunch.

Previously on Fanhouse:
Yahoo! Wants to get Closer to Teenage Boys
$100 Million For Rivals.com?