Japanese restaurant chain loses case against Kuwaiti blogger

The Kuwait branch of the Japanese chain Benihana loses its case against a Kuwaiti blogger over an unfavourable online review.

KUWAIT CITY // A restaurant in Kuwait has lost its case against a local blogger it sued over an unfavourable online review.

The Kuwait branch of the Japanese chain Benihana took action against blogger Mark Makhoul, a Lebanese national living in Kuwait, over comments posted on his popular blog www.248am.com.

Mr Makhoul wrote a negative review after visiting the restaurant in December. "The chicken was very chewy (I could swear it was undercooked if not raw) and tasted terrible," Mr Makhoul wrote. "Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn't."

Benihana responded by suing Mr Makhoul. The company's general manager in Kuwait, Mike Servo, claimed in a posting to the blog that Benihana's name has been "destroyed and abused" by the posting.

Mr Makhoul and his lawyer confirmed that a Kuwaiti court ruled against Benihana on Tuesday, although they said the restaurant has 30 days to appeal the ruling.

"They announced the verdict, which is in my favour," said Mr Makhoul. "If they don't appeal, the case officially gets closed."

Khaled Al Shamali, the managing partner at The Group Law Firm in Kuwait, which represented Mr Makhoul, confirmed that the court's ruling was in his client's favour.

However, Benihana's Mr Servo said that no official communication had been received from the judges. "We never received a final verdict copy from the judge," he said. "We cannot say whether [Mr Makhoul] has won or lost."

Mr Makhoul said that the ruling marks a legal "precedent" for bloggers in Kuwait.

"Bloggers in Kuwait do not have to fear expressing their opinion. This has set a precedent," he said. "Kuwait is known for respecting people's rights, and freedom of speech."

Mr Makhoul said that he would pursue Benihana for his legal fees. He declined to say how much the legal battle cost him, but said they amounted to "a lot".

Commentators said that Benihana's decision to sue has damaged its brand.

Meredith Tuqan, head of digital communications for the Middle East at Action Global Communications Group, said that companies "must pay attention to constructive criticism online", and respond in a positive way.

"Any organisation that's worth its salt should be interested in what their customers say about their business," said Mrs Tuqan.

"Irrespective of whether the case was won or lost, I think the damage has already been done," she said.

Fiona Robertson, a lawyer at The Rights Lawyers in Dubai, said that while the case may not set precedent, it may deter other companies from suing bloggers.

"If you were a corporation at this point, I think you'd be looking at this case and thinking it may not be the right decision to take this course," she said. "They don't take on Time Out or anyone else who's doing a review, so why did they take on a blogger?"

Ms Robertson said that if such a case was heard in the UAE, the total legal fees for both sides would amount to between Dh60,000 and Dh100,000.

The Rights Lawyers and Action Global Communications, along with online analysts Clique Social, prepared a paper on the Benihana case.

It found that there were more than 5,200 mentions of the case on the microblogging site Twitter between Janurary 30 and February 15.

Internet users from across the globe sent messages of support to Mr Makhoul, with many suggesting a boycott of the Benihana restaurant for what they claimed was a heavy-handed reaction.

Out of 800 sample social media conversations about the case, 164 mentioned the word "boycott", according to the paper.