The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that 2Clix has dropped their law suit against Whirlpool founder Simon Wright.  This is terrific news for Simon and for the Whirlpool community, some of whom were quite fearful as to the future of Whirlpool and the impact on online communities.

An Australian software firm, which was suing a broadband community website over unflattering comments published on its message board, has dropped its case.

The full story is available on the SMH website.

However, the story cannot be confirmed as the claim is still active in the Queensland Supreme Court system and has not been officially withdrawn.  The Whirlpool team has responded with a statement clarifying the media speculation.

Simon Wright and the Whirlpool legal team can confirm that they received informal notice from an employee of 2Clix that there may be an intention on the part of 2Clix to withdraw their Statement of Claim against Simon.

However Queensland Supreme Court records still show (as at time of posting this statement) that the legal action is current and active.

Whirlpool legal representatives have made repeated efforts to obtain formal confirmation from 2Clix’ legal representatives, Turnbull and Co without success. As such, we do not believe it appropriate to state that the action has been withdrawn and will not make such statements until it the matter is finalised.

Furthermore, the Whirlpool team has addressed a comment in the SMH article regarding the status of donations made by Whirlpool members to Simon Wright since the announcement of the case.

Whirlpool removed donation links soon after receiving the note from 2Clix. A statement that donations were discouraged due to uncertainty about what legal costs would be was already in place in every thread prior to this. Whirlpool intends to offer refunds to those that want them, once the matter is formally withdrawn and the extent of our legal costs are known.