Remember the Youabian Puma from the LA Auto Show? Of course you do. If you saw it in person, you're probably having colossal blue flashbacks about it right now. Well, the man who made the car, Dr. Kambiz Youabian, is so very upset that so many people called the car ugly that he's threatening to sue us all.
The story about the Puma has been up since the LA show back in November. I'm not sure why Dr.Youabian decided to finally get all indignant about the fact that most people not raised by a family of Cthulus find his car hideous, but he sure is mad now. Here's what I received in my email:
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to inform you of intended legal action against you and your company.
The following article posted by you and your company is in legal violation:
Article Name:
"This Is The Most Ridiculous Car At The LA Auto Show"
Written By:
Jason Torchinsky
Date posted:
November 20, 2013
Article posted at:
http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-mo…
Your article/webpage contains numerous incorrect facts, as well as numerous derogatory remarks about my personal character and my company and its products. Your article and postings violate many laws as well as leading to defamation of character against me personally and against my company and its products.
You are hereby given notice to immediately remove the article, webpage, all associated comments, links, images, and posts. Should you fail to comply within seven days as of the date of this letter, legal proceedings will begin against you personally, your company, and the hosting company displaying your article.
Please reply once you have removed the article/webpage.
Sincerely,
Dr.Kambiz Youabian
CEO/Owner Youabian Puma Automotibles
bcc: legal counsel
Legal proceedings against me personally? Yikes. I've since found out that several other automotive journalists who either linked to our article or wrote about the car received essentially identical letters. Dr.Youabian is going after every journalist who found his car terrifying, or, as we call the group, every journalist.
Happily, I'm not alone. I've got the backing of one of the best legal teams not-my-money can buy, and they responded:
Dr. Youabian,
We've received your email to Patrick at Jalopnik.com concerning the above-referenced post. The post at issue in no way defames you or your company and does not contain any factual misrepresentations. The post expresses the writer's opinions about the Puma car, which are protected by the First Amendment. We decline to remove this post. We encourage you to use the comment function to get your point of view across.
Regards,
Kavi
So, yeah, Dr.Youabian. I don't think you can just sue everyone who thinks your car looks like an elephantine mess. If you could, GM would never have needed a bailout thanks to all that settlement money from their Aztek defamation lawsuit.