Oil firms threaten to sue over web postings

In an unusual move, Nighthawk Energy and Nostra Terra Oil and Gas have won court orders forcing the bulletin board operators, Interactive Investor (iii) and ADVFN, to provide the identity of the individuals who posted comments anonymously.

Nighthawk said the "untrue" postings about the company and its management were "extremely damaging".

Nostra Terra said there had been "untrue and malicious statements about the company's activities and personnel" repeatedly made by certain posters.

In a statement Nighthawk said: "The company took steps to identify the posters who try to escape liability for their defamatory postings by hiding behind a cloak of anonymity, using anonymous e-mail, social networking or bulletin board accounts to disseminate those postings," said a statement by the company.

"In some cases the names and other details used to register these accounts are fictitious and posters also can try and cover their tracks using numerous pseudonyms but they can be traced through their IP addresses."

Although the operators of the bulletin board services have protection under confidentiality and data protection laws from having to disclose names and other personal information about posters, in certain cases the English courts can make orders.

Both Nighthawk and Nostra Terra, which are focused on interests in the US, went to the High Court in London and have now been provided with the individuals' identities.

They said they were now considering whether to launch civil proceedings for defamation against the individuals and that further announcements would be made.

There are numerous bulletin boards used by private investors to comment on companies with many users using pseudonyms.

Although the vast majority of posters are genuine, it is thought some false comments are deliberately made by people to try and profit from rises or falls in a company's share price.