This article is more than 1 year old

UK shares bulletin board faces legal bullet

The legal scribbling could be on the wallpaper

Popular shares site Hemscott, run by Hemmington Scott, is facing legal action from a wallpaper company, the Daily Mail reports. Walker Greenbank is threatening to sue Hemmington Scott for alleged defamation published on its bulletin board, and it wants Hemscott to reveal the identities of the message posters, who often use pen names. The move follows controversy in the US over individuals who attempt to pump the price of shares so they can then clean up, as other readers of the bulletin boards pile into what they consider to be "hot tips". Of course, the Hemscott Walker Greenbank comments are the opposite of "pump and dump". They are more along the lines of "dump and dump". Like many other similar boards worldwide, there are messages separating the opinions of posters from the firm that hosts the posts. UK law so far has no powers to intervene in these type of cases, although the Financial Services Bill, likely to become an Act of Parliament later on this year, is expected to have more clout than the current legislation. ® * Register FactOid 111. Every time we think a technology stock is worth a flutter, the price seems to fall.

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like