United sues Canadian gripe-site founder
Jeremy Cooperstock was a University of Toronto student when he flew to Japan on United Airlines in 1996.
After experiencing a few minor problems, he wrote a polite letter to the airline’s head office. His first letter was ignored. His second attracted a boilerplate reply.
So he started posting United Airlines complaints on his U of T home page. The company wrote to the university about copyright infringement, forcing him to take everything down.
“Then, people kept asking me what happened and a former airline pilot cut me a cheque to put up Untied.com. It provides a forum where passengers and employees can share their stories,” he says.
Now a McGill University engineering professor, Cooperstock covers his website costs with advertising links and puts in many hours of unpaid time.
This week, he’s raising money to fight another legal battle.
The airline, known as United Continental Holdings after a 2010 merger with Continental Airlines, has filed two lawsuits in Canadian courts against the website’s founder.
Why sue Cooperstock after tolerating him for 15 years? The gripe website has been online almost as long as the airline’s own website.
Megan McCarthy, an airline spokeswoman, told Star reporter Vanessa Lu that Untied so closely mimics United’s website that it’s led to confusion with some customers. “Our request is not that the website be shut down, but that it be modified,” she said. “We actually approached Mr. Cooperstock several times with this request and tried to resolve it by working directly with him. But he declined and that really left us with no option but to seek relief.” The airline is challenging the use of its intellectual property (such as logos) and the publishing of senior employees’ names and contact information. The case has gained widespread publicity and sent a chill down the backs of many gripe site owners. You can find a list at Webgripesites.com. Cooperstock says the airline’s demands are unreasonable. He accuses United of using the lawsuits to strain his finances and force him to quit operating. “I’m starting to gain traction. I’m getting more emails from passengers who are taking the steps I mention,” he says. A redesign last year, he admits, did make his site similar to the airline’s site. To avoid confusion, he’s installed a pop-up message to make visitors check a box to say they understand they’re not at the airline’s website. “This site exists only because of the airline’s outright hostility toward its passengers and many of its employees,” says the pop-up. According to Cooperstock, Untied.com has 25,000 complaints from passengers and 200 complaints from employees in its archive. In its lawsuits in the federal court of Canada and superior court of Quebec, United says it has been providing airline-related services in Canada for over 70 years. It talks about the confusion that can arise when customers submit complaints through Untied.com and find they don’t go through the right channels. In one case, a customer filed a lawsuit in a Maryland court against United — but referred to his correspondence with Untied.com in the documents.
United says the number of complaints submitted to Untied.com has jumped to 800 a month in recent months, up from 200 a month last March.
The traffic is increasing because the airline’s service is deteriorating after the Continental merger, Cooperstock says.
Why isn’t United investing in service instead of hiring lawyers to stifle online criticism?
In 2009, Canadian musician Dave Carroll fought the airline with his YouTube sensation, United Breaks Guitars. He didn’t win compensation, but he won the hearts of frustrated consumers around the world.
United may succeed in court, but its reputation will take another Ellen Roseman writes about personal finance and consumer issues. You can reach her at eroseman@thestar.ca or www.ellenroseman.com beating.