Stop Piracy Now & MetroGuide CEO & President On Call as Media Expert Resources on Internet Intellectual Property Theft & Copyright Infringement, Typosquatting, Spyware, & Digital Piracy.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 2003

MetroGuide.com, Inc. (MetroGuide) CEO Mark Metz has put in more than a decade building the Internet-based travel and hospitality empire. Metz promoted such concepts as contextual commerce, link equity, and Wild Wild Web.

Now exceeding a quarter-million pages, and enjoying the success that comes only from a total dedication to excellence and customer service, MetroGuide repeatedly finds itself the target of intellectual property thieves, copyright infringers, typosquatters and digital pirates.

Not about to see his hard work and that of his staff stolen and used to bring ill-gotten profit to others, unwilling or unable themselves to produce the work that would bring the rewards, Metz and MetroGuide president Scott Rogers, Esq. vowed several years ago to fight back. Refusing to be victimized, MetroGuide took the offenders to court one after another.

"Internet law is new ground," said Rogers. "We claimed the defendants that purloined our content used what they took to promote their own websites' value. Since that value was the work product of our staff, not theirs, we demanded transfer of ownership of those websites. The courts have agreed, and those infringing sites against which justice has prevailed are now under new ownership."

With the legal front well established and moving forward, in early 2003 Metz and Rogers launched Stop Piracy Now, (SPN). The website, located at http://stoppiracynow.org, is dedicated to stopping and bringing to justice content and domain name thieves, typosquatters, and those who deploy scumware.

"The most difficult thing for me over the past few years has been to watch people do things online that would be absolutely shocking if done off-line," said Metz. He observed that because it is the Internet, people don't seem to take otherwise tortious actions as seriously as they would if they were done in the real world.

"I can attest that the money amounts involved are quite real," said Metz. "And the simple truth is, if everything that people produce will be stolen with impunity, most people will just stop producing."

Metz holds that Internet piracy is not victimless crime. "The integrity of the Internet is undermined with every act of piracy," he said. "If these acts were committed in a bricks-and-mortar environment, the perpetrators would be jailed and victims would see justice."

Mark Metz and Scott Rogers, Esq., pioneers and survivors of these early Internet legal battles, are available as expert resources on the subjects of Internet intellectual property theft and copyright infringement, typosquatting, spyware, and digital piracy.

MetroGuide, located at http://metroguide.com, is among the largest Internet providers of global travel information and reservations. Incorporated in 1996 and privately held, MetroGuide's network of websites attracts more than two million unique visitors monthly to its quarter-million-plus pages of travel related e-commerce sites.

Having financed its venture entirely through internal sales growth and with no outside capital, MetroGuide generates tens-of-millions of dollars annually in on-line reservations through its proprietary database of more than 8,500 restaurants, and 36,000 hotels and destination resorts. MetroGuide stands at the forefront of the battle to combat digital copyright piracy, with multiple recent court awards.

For more information contact Scott Rogers 954/981-5850.