UPDATE: There have been further developments related to this lawsuit; read about them here. UPDATE 5/4/2017: The suit has been settled; more read about the settlement here.

Anthony Marfione and Microtech Knives are suing Anthony Sculimbrene of Everyday Commentary for defamation, commercial disparagement, and equitable relief over “The Greatest Knife of All Time,” an article that Sculimbrene wrote about the Kershaw Natrix.

The suit was filed on January 31st and Sculimbrene subsequently removed the post on February 4th. According to the complaint filed by Marfione and Microtech, the story was a “purposeful attack” that had a lasting impact on Microtech’s commercial reputation. “Publication of the aforesaid article by the Defendant caused false and disparaging statements to be circulated to an audience that includes wholesale and retail buyers of Microtech products,” the complaint alleges.

“Sculimbrene has uttered and published and distributed defamatory statements as to plaintiff Marfione. In particular, Sculimbrene has stated that Marfione has stolen designs and committed theft of intellectual property, that Marfione is lazy and greedy, that it is Marfione’s nature to steal, that Marfione is a ‘snake-in-the-grass’ (meaning that he is a deceitful and treacherous person), that Marfione has been adjudicated as having infringed intellectual property rights of others, that Marfione’s actions are comparable to those of a notorious convicted murderer named Jared Lee Loughner, that Marfione declined an express invitation by Sculimbrene to comment on the statements [contained in Exhibit A] and that Sculimbrene’s statements about Marfione have the imprimatur of official action.”

The complaint goes on to say that “Sculimbrene intentionally engaged himself in a ‘battle’ against Microtech by making the above false statements,” and that these statements led to Marfione being ridiculed and actively damaged his knifemaking business and reputation.

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The blog post was published on January 20th following KAI’s SHOT Show reveal of the Kershaw Natrix. Sculimbrene’s article called the Natrix the “Greatest Knife of All Time” because the knife’s name took a rhyming jab at Microtech’s Matrix model and held a deeper meaning.

Knife featured in image: Marfione Custom Mini Matrix