Anthony Michaels owns the domain name SakeExpress.com. But his only connection to the local Japanese steakhouse chain comes from ordering takeout there occasionally.
Recently, Michaels posted information on the website that suggests Sake Express has “closed for health reasons.” It’s been flanked by the restaurant’s logo, a “caution” alert, and a skull-and-crossbones symbol in yellow and black.
Michaels changed the site within a few hours after first speaking with a Gazette reporter about it Wednesday. But he acknowledged holding a grudge against the restaurant owners since he bought the domain name years ago and they declined a business relationship. As master of the domain, he contends he can post whatever cryptic messages he likes there.
Sake Express’ owners disagree and are consulting an attorney. They use TheSakeExpress.com for their online presence instead. But while the legalities are sorted out, they’ve grown frustrated with what they consider to be a case of false representation.
Alan Freitag, a UNC Charlotte communications professor who specializes in public relations, said it’s an example of the challenging position businesses sometimes find themselves in. A seemingly small problem can cause big aggravation for a business that has to be worried about negative publicity snowballing out of control — even if it’s unfounded, he said.
“I would not call this common, but it’s not rare either,” he said of the Sake Express situation. “It can certainly do damage.”
Offer not accepted
Michaels is well known in the Charlotte area as the host of a radio show that airs from 7 p.m. to midnight weekdays on 107.9 The Link. He said he lives in Gaston County and also dabbles in website production and logo design. He often purchases domain names when small business owners haven’t already, then approaches them with an offer to develop and manage a site for them, using his own contracted staff.
Several years after the first Sake Express restaurant opened in Mount Holly, Michaels bought SakeExpress.com. He said he then approached the owners about developing it, offering a reasonable monthly rental rate.
“They were complete jerks to me,” he said.
Sake Express co-owner Lisa Nguyen said that’s not true. She says she consulted other website developers and didn’t think his price was fair.
“It was some outrageous amount,” she said. “I told him, ‘I’ve asked around and you’re too pricey.’ We bought ‘thesakeexpress.com’ sometime later.”
That’s apparently where the discussion ended, at least temporarily.
Logo dispute
Michaels said as part of his initial pitch, he had personally designed a logo for Sake Express, with the first word bearing a distinctive font. He said he realized at some point later they were using it prominently at all three of their Gaston County restaurants.
“I designed that logo and I can prove it,” he said. “I just wanted to get somebody’s attention that ‘Hey, that was mine.’”
That recently resulted in him putting up the very same logo on the website he owns, along with the reference to being closed.
Michaels said that content may have been misconstrued, but he wasn’t trying to disparage the restaurant. “Closed for health reasons” was a reference to SakeExpress.com being out of service because he himself has been too ill to develop it lately, he said.
Nguyen believes that explanation is ridiculous — and isn’t what the average visitor took from the website. Yet last year, she said she consulted an attorney who told her it was worded cleverly enough to be nonspecific, making it hard to seek relief in court.
Nguyen also said the logo doesn’t belong to Michaels and he never created it. They hired Signs Now in Gastonia to design it a few years ago, she said.
The logo was the only thing on SakeExpress.com Thursday. Friday, it featured links to Gazette stories under the banner GastoniaNews.com.
Negative public relations
Nguyen said customers often question her about the confusing website. She’s had phone calls and emails asking about their supposedly bad health ratings recently, even though none of their restaurants have ever been graded lower than a 95, she said.
She feels Sake Express is being harassed, and is consulting another attorney.
“I just want him to leave us alone,” she said. “I don’t understand doing this just because somebody doesn’t want to do business with you.”
Michaels said the logo dispute is his primary motivation. He said he hasn’t felt it was important enough to pursue a copyright claim.
“I run two radio stations in Charlotte and I have more things to do with my time,” he said.
Freitag said website disputes of this type typically involve larger companies and a person who buys a domain name similar to the legitimate one.
“It goes with the territory and the companies often let it roll off,” he said.
It’s never good when customers stumble onto a website that’s actually disparaging the business they wanted to patronize, Freitag said. Even putting negative thoughts into someone’s mind — such as the notion of food health violations — can have subtle, negative effects, he said.
Beyond the question of who has the right to use the logo, Freitag believes Sake Express would be able to make a legitimate complaint in court about defamation.
“Engaging people who have grievances against your organization is one way to address them,” he said. “But in this case, it seems it’s purely a monetary issue on behalf of the domain owner.”
You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or twitter.com/GazetteMike.