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"Moments ago, lawyers for the advertising agency suing blogger Lance Dutson filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal in U.S. District Court in Maine."

Incredibly, Dutson was being sued for pointing out that the phone number in a Maine sate tourism ad actually led to a phone sex service. "Instead of owning up to the mistake, they're suing me," Dutson said.

One of Media Bloggers Association volunteer attorneys, Jon Stanley, said:

"The plaintiff failed to understand it's a new world. This is a textbook case of how blogs work.

This result could not have come about without the blogosphere. Lance's defense team was put together through the blogs and pressure was brought to bear on Warren Kremer Paino Advertising through the blogs."

Pre-blogs, a frivolous law suit like this one might have gone against Dutson. Litigious companies figured there'd be no pushback from a lone blogger. But there's really no such thing as a lone blogger. The blogosphere is a global community that stands up for each other when the chips are down. Given that this was a particularly stupid lawsuit, it's great news that the jerks were beaten back.

I love this quote from MBA President Robert Cox:

"As it should be, the story of 'Warren Kremer Paino and the Maine Blogger' is now a cautionary tale and future potential plaintiffs would do well to consider WKP's experience in attempting to silence a blog critic through the Federal courts.

Our message is simple: 'Don't Mess with the Bloggers'"

I'm glad that WKPA woke up.