It’s been just over a year since I wrote here about the Sevilla Tapas Policy Change and yesterday I had my first experience of someone trying to gag me. I received a Threatening Email from the lawyers of a tapas bar I reviewed last December on Sevilla Tapas. They cited various laws and articles before coming out with their DEMAND that I remove all photographs and text, saying that some of the photos included images of their customers and also “marketed products” (the tapas?) that were taken without permission. They then went on to say that some other law protected their client from any “value judgement” that may adversely affect their reputation and professional image and insisted that I remove any references to this bar from all my blogs, websites and social media accounts.
I mean, WTF??
It wasn’t even a scathing review. I basically just said that I’d gone there twice and was disappointed both times. And well, they can’t really blame me if their tapas look like crap.
Anyhow, I’ve been threatened with legal action if I don’t comply. But while I can see their flimsy excuse for wanting photos of customers removed to be somehow “justifiable”, it seems way over the top to insist that I remove any mention of this place from everywhere on the Internet. Protesting far too much, don’t you think?
Oh, and for the record, I did ask permission to take photos and, after the first disastrous visit, spoke to the manager who apologised for the bad service and food and said she hoped we would come back again. She also knew about my Sevilla Tapas blog and that we had a friend in common who had recommended the bar (which is why I went there twice – I thought my friend couldn’t be that wrong!). Well, they won’t be able to remove the Trip Advisor review that’ll be going up shortly…