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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND AGORA, INC., Plaintiff v. AXXESS, INC., d/b/a : FINANCIALWEB.COM, INC. and : STOCK DETECTIVE.COM, INC., : Defendants : : : : :

Civil No. AMD 99-3162

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MEMORANDUM I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff, Agora, Inc. ("Agora"), a Maryland corporation with its principal offices in Baltimore, has brought this diversity action against defendants FinancialWeb.com, Inc. ("F.com"), F.com's predecessor, Axxess, Inc., and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Stock Detective.com, Inc. The gravamen of Agora's claim is its allegation that F.com, in a collection of internet web pages found on the F.com website called "StockDetective.com" ("StockDetective"), published defamatory statements of and concerning Agora by characterizing an online financial newsletter published by Agora, Taipaonline , as an "unpaid promoter" of the securities on which Taipaonline reports. Pending before the court is F.com's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(6). No hearing is necessary. For the reasons set forth below, I am persuaded that Agora has failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Because I will dismiss Agora's defamation claim, I need not finally determine the question of whether this court may properly exercise personal jurisdiction over

F.com. 1 II. MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) "unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson , 355 U.S. 41, 45-46 (1957); accord Warth v. Seldin , 422 U.S. 490, 501(1975); Scheuer v. Rhodes , 416 U.S. 232, 236 (1974). Motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim are "granted sparingly and with caution in order to make certain that plaintiff is not improperly denied a right to have his claim adjudicated on the merits." 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure, Civil 2d

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