by Mike Caswell

Canada Carbon Inc. has won orders in the Supreme Court of British Columbia that could allow it to identify two Stockhouse posters the company claims were behind a series of defamatory messages. The orders, handed down on Friday, Dec. 13, direct Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. to provide the names of customers linked to the Stockhouse aliases "Jinbag" and "doobyus." Canada Carbon claims that those users called its management crooks and implied the company was being manipulated.

The orders come a little over one month after Canada Carbon started pursuing the two users in court. In petitions filed on Nov. 1, 2013, the company complained about a series of messages the users wrote in September and October, 2013, that targeted the company and its chief executive officer, Bruce Duncan. The messages, as described by the petition, implied that Mr. Duncan was dishonest and not trustworthy and that the company was worthless.

Canada Carbon quoted the messages that it complains of in full. The Jinbag posts began on Oct. 16, 2013, with one that read: "What a bunch of crooks? Run the share price up and then hammer it down to 0.17.... Heading lower... ." Others the next day read: "Another company that ripped off its shareholders"; "Go call the CEO he and his insiders sold out"; and "Duncan and his crooks took the 17 million and will run with it."

The doobyus posts were mostly around the same dates as those by Jinbag. One, that appeared on Oct. 16, 2013, read: "another idiotic fairy tail about building a graphite something or other 10 yrs from now. meanwhile the clueless saps that bot at 30 cents will be kicking themselves ... as the stock price forever drags the bottom of barrel. and the boys on the inside now......long long gone by then."

Canada Carbon said that the posts were defamatory, and that it had no practical means of identifying the authors. The company initially obtained a court order that compelled Stockhouse to provide IP addresses for the users. It then applied for, and has now won, orders that allow it to seek the identities of the users. Shaw and Rogers did not oppose the matter.

With the orders, Canada Carbon could pursue lawsuits against the individuals behind the messages. Such lawsuits are rare, but have resulted in judgments in the past. On March 30, 2010, Farallon Mining Ltd. won a $425,000 decision against an Alberta man, Robert Butler. He had written on Stockhouse that Farallon had committed "numerous acts of fraud and bribery." Mr. Butler failed to attend the trial, resulting in the decision against him.

In addition to the cases against Jinbag and doobyus, Canada Carbon is pursuing two other Stockhouse posters in court. The company has not yet identified those users, who posted under the aliases "2guys" and "Chubster56."

Vancouver lawyer Andrew Aguilar of McMillan LLP filed the petitions on behalf of Canada Carbon. The stock closed at 17 cents Friday, up a penny.