Fayetteville Publishing Sues Former Hosting Provider

Monday, January 09, 2006

---

Fayetteville Publishing Co. is suing Advanced Internet Technologies (AIT), their forming hosting provider, for access to four servers which Fayetteville Publishing has valued at $8,000.

Fayetteville Publishing Co. is the publisher of The Fayetteville Observer. AIT has accused Fayetteville Publishing of defrauding advertisers on their web site by inflating and faking the number of people who view or click on the advertisements.

The company's chief executive officer, Clarence Briggs, has said thay AIT will keep the servers for now.

"We have been advised by our legal counsel to sit tight until they have had a chance to look at all the evidence," Briggs said.

The Fayetteville Publishing Co. wants to preserve the data stored on these servers, said one of its lawyers, Landis Wade of Charlotte.

"It is unfortunate that this lawsuit had to be filed to recover company property," Wade said in a written statement. "Because AIT recently complained about online advertising with the company, these servers could contain evidence relating to that complaint and Fayetteville Publishing Company desires to protect that evidence and safeguard these servers."