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I got a sour taste in my mouth for Casper when I learned of their Federal lawsuits against affiliate bloggers who reviewed their product. I personally felt like

I got a sour taste in my mouth for Casper when I learned of their Federal lawsuits against affiliate bloggers who reviewed their product. I personally felt like Sleepopolis's review of Casper was as fair and observational as one could get with such a thing. Lawsuit Details: https://sleepopolis.com/blog/casper-sues-sleepopolis-with-federal-lawsuit/ https://sleepopolis.com/blog/casper-sues-sleepopolis-with-fe... Casper Mattress Review: https://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/casper-mattress-review/ https://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/casper-mattress-rev...

xor1 9y ago
I had no idea about this lawsuit, that is horrible. Fuck Casper.
Mindless2112 9y ago
That's irritating. I bought a Hyphen mattress based primarily on a comparison of the mattress reviews on Sleepopolis. Kudos to him for fighting the lawsuit.
Hydraulix989 9y ago
That is absolutely insane, this "unlawful" review is as informative and objective as it gets: https://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/tuft-and-needle-vs-casper-mattress-reviews/ https://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/tuft-and-needle-vs-... You shouldn't be able to sue someone for writing a review, this reeks of violating one's First Amendment rights.
- jackvalentine 9y ago
  Reading the complaint (https://sleepopolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/caspers-amended-complaint.pdf https://sleepopolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/caspers-a...) it looks like Casper is suing them for not disclosing their referral links are referral links whilst alleging that they steer people away from products they don't get good referrals on. I have no idea about the basis or any of the details but it's not just "wrote review, got sued".
  - DanBC 9y ago
    Here's a review from just before the first complaint. It doesn't seem to mention any affiliate money. https://web.archive.org/web/20160427113129/http://sleepopolis.com:80/mattress-reviews/leesa-mattress-review/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160427113129/http://sleepopoli... So, that might be a relevant complaint. I'm not sure why, now the site has the needed disclosures, it's okay for Casper to keep up the lawsuit.
    - bmelton 9y ago
      Damages don't need to be ongoing to have standing, and damages in the past are still damages. The case isn't mooted by rectifying the situation that was causing harm unless it ameliorates the financial harms caused.
      - Hydraulix989 9y ago
        How can you possibly assess damages for this without knowing how many customers were lost because they were swayed into buying other mattresses because of the review? The linked review in question even strongly favors the Casper over the competing Tuft & Needle mattress.
    - ruraljuror 9y ago
      At the very bottom: If you use one of my links and purchase a mattress or other product you should know that the respective companies pay me a small referral fee.
- xor1 9y ago
  >You shouldn't be able to sue someone for writing a review You can sue anyone for anything.
  - dwrowe 9y ago
    They said you "shouldn't" be able to. Being able to sue for anything becomes effective censorship by those with the deepest pockets.
    - xor1 9y ago
      >Being able to sue for anything becomes effective censorship by those with the deepest pockets. You've misunderstood both my post and the post I was replying to. I know what they said, and I agree that the pay-to-play American legal system needs to be reworked. They were talking about stopping a specific kind of lawsuit, not all lawsuits that you'd consider "censorship".
      - dwrowe 9y ago
        Nothing was misunderstood. They want lawsuits for reviews stopped - lawsuits for reviews by the offended party, with deep pockets, is effectivly censorship - they can control the message. The poster never implied they can or cannot be sued - just that they shouldn't. Opinion vs fact.
DanBC 9y ago
> After months of discovery (the process where both parties in a lawsuit exchange documents pertinent to their case) it has come to light that Casper may be responsible for a web attack against Sleepopolis. This attack was aimed at reducing Sleepopolis’ traffic and attempted to prevent consumers from finding Sleepopolis via search engines. As a result of the documents uncovered in discovery Sleepopolis has filed a counter lawsuit against Casper for this attack. Jesus Christ that's awful. Also, from the initial complaint: > 2. In early 2014, Casper launched as an innovative new sleep start-up, radically disrupting the traditional mattress industry with one mattress sold directly to consumers online with a risk free in-home trial—eliminating mattress stores and their inflated prices. Casper’s unique approach sought to create a universally comfortable product with a sleek design delivered straight to your door without the need for commission-driven salespeople working in retail Case 1:16-cv-03223 Document 1 Filed 04/29/16 Page 1 of 20 stores. Instead, Casper offers its mattresses directly to consumers via its e-commerce website. Casper immediately struck a chord with consumers, generating $1 million in sales within its first month That might be new for the US, but the UK had Ergoflex selling memory foam mattresses direct to consumers in 2006. They only have one product, but in different sizes.
- kingbirdy 9y ago
  You appear to have gotten a bit of document footer in your copy/paste
Nexxxeh 9y ago
The whole industry seems to be fucked. From what I've read of Sleepopolis, might basically be an SEO-orientated affiliate scam with fabricated/misattributed reviews. Or it might be completely above board. The Purple lawsuit against HonestMattressReviews was interesting, where it looks like Purple were actually in the right, and the guy was actually a shill for GhostBed. May or may not be the case, afaik it's still at trial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Mb0C77x4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Mb0C77x4A

xor1 9y ago

I had no idea about this lawsuit, that is horrible. Fuck Casper.

Mindless2112 9y ago

That's irritating. I bought a Hyphen mattress based primarily on a comparison of the mattress reviews on Sleepopolis. Kudos to him for fighting the lawsuit.

Hydraulix989 9y ago

That is absolutely insane, this "unlawful" review is as informative and objective as it gets: https://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/tuft-and-needle-vs-casper-mattress-reviews/ https://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/tuft-and-needle-vs-... You shouldn't be able to sue someone for writing a review, this reeks of violating one's First Amendment rights.

jackvalentine 9y ago
Reading the complaint (https://sleepopolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/caspers-amended-complaint.pdf https://sleepopolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/caspers-a...) it looks like Casper is suing them for not disclosing their referral links are referral links whilst alleging that they steer people away from products they don't get good referrals on. I have no idea about the basis or any of the details but it's not just "wrote review, got sued".
- DanBC 9y ago
  Here's a review from just before the first complaint. It doesn't seem to mention any affiliate money. https://web.archive.org/web/20160427113129/http://sleepopolis.com:80/mattress-reviews/leesa-mattress-review/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160427113129/http://sleepopoli... So, that might be a relevant complaint. I'm not sure why, now the site has the needed disclosures, it's okay for Casper to keep up the lawsuit.
  - bmelton 9y ago
    Damages don't need to be ongoing to have standing, and damages in the past are still damages. The case isn't mooted by rectifying the situation that was causing harm unless it ameliorates the financial harms caused.
    - Hydraulix989 9y ago
      How can you possibly assess damages for this without knowing how many customers were lost because they were swayed into buying other mattresses because of the review? The linked review in question even strongly favors the Casper over the competing Tuft & Needle mattress.
  - ruraljuror 9y ago
    At the very bottom: If you use one of my links and purchase a mattress or other product you should know that the respective companies pay me a small referral fee.
xor1 9y ago
>You shouldn't be able to sue someone for writing a review You can sue anyone for anything.
- dwrowe 9y ago
  They said you "shouldn't" be able to. Being able to sue for anything becomes effective censorship by those with the deepest pockets.
  - xor1 9y ago
    >Being able to sue for anything becomes effective censorship by those with the deepest pockets. You've misunderstood both my post and the post I was replying to. I know what they said, and I agree that the pay-to-play American legal system needs to be reworked. They were talking about stopping a specific kind of lawsuit, not all lawsuits that you'd consider "censorship".
    - dwrowe 9y ago
      Nothing was misunderstood. They want lawsuits for reviews stopped - lawsuits for reviews by the offended party, with deep pockets, is effectivly censorship - they can control the message. The poster never implied they can or cannot be sued - just that they shouldn't. Opinion vs fact.

DanBC 9y ago

> After months of discovery (the process where both parties in a lawsuit exchange documents pertinent to their case) it has come to light that Casper may be responsible for a web attack against Sleepopolis. This attack was aimed at reducing Sleepopolis’ traffic and attempted to prevent consumers from finding Sleepopolis via search engines. As a result of the documents uncovered in discovery Sleepopolis has filed a counter lawsuit against Casper for this attack. Jesus Christ that's awful. Also, from the initial complaint: > 2. In early 2014, Casper launched as an innovative new sleep start-up, radically disrupting the traditional mattress industry with one mattress sold directly to consumers online with a risk free in-home trial—eliminating mattress stores and their inflated prices. Casper’s unique approach sought to create a universally comfortable product with a sleek design delivered straight to your door without the need for commission-driven salespeople working in retail Case 1:16-cv-03223 Document 1 Filed 04/29/16 Page 1 of 20 stores. Instead, Casper offers its mattresses directly to consumers via its e-commerce website. Casper immediately struck a chord with consumers, generating $1 million in sales within its first month That might be new for the US, but the UK had Ergoflex selling memory foam mattresses direct to consumers in 2006. They only have one product, but in different sizes.

kingbirdy 9y ago
You appear to have gotten a bit of document footer in your copy/paste

Nexxxeh 9y ago

The whole industry seems to be fucked. From what I've read of Sleepopolis, might basically be an SEO-orientated affiliate scam with fabricated/misattributed reviews. Or it might be completely above board. The Purple lawsuit against HonestMattressReviews was interesting, where it looks like Purple were actually in the right, and the guy was actually a shill for GhostBed. May or may not be the case, afaik it's still at trial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Mb0C77x4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Mb0C77x4A