DisputeSoft was engaged as a testifying expert by the plaintiffs in the matter of Platinum Properties Investor Network, Inc., et al., v. Charles Sells et al. before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The dispute involved allegations of intellectual property misappropriation, cybersquatting, and false advertising.
During the pre-trial phase of this matter, the plaintiffs moved for sanctions pursuant to defendants’ spoliation of evidence related to certain websites, email accounts, and digital marketing services that were allegedly used to intentionally harm the plaintiffs’ business.
The parties addressed the spoliation issue by stipulating to certain facts and adverse inferences and by agreeing to provide the plaintiffs with an opportunity to retain an expert to testify as to the scope of data that might have been available for analysis but for defendants’ spoliation.
As software expert witnesses and technical experts, DisputeSoft:
-
- Documented sources of data typically available from the defendant’s web hosting provider, including NGINX logs, email accounts and aliases, and DNS records;
- Investigated evidence of plugins and other data from a partially preserved WordPress website;
- Analyzed sources of data from email providers including Gmail, TorGuard, and ProtonMail;
- Assessed data available from digital marketing providers including Constant Contact and MadMimi.
- Defended our expert opinions in a jury trial held in August 2022.
Conclusion:
The jury rendered a multi-million judgment in favor of the plaintiffs on every count, including millions of dollars in punitive damages.
The views given here are the author’s alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of other DisputeSoft experts.
