A California appeals court has ruled that an anonymous Internet poster on a Yahoo! group does not have to reveal his identity after being sued for "scathing verbal attacks."

The poster owner was sued by a former executive at Florida's SFBC International, Lisa Krinsky, for "scathing verbal attacks." SFBC runs human clinical trials for experimental medications.

A trial court granted the subpoena, but the appeals court has overturned the ruling, finding that while Doe 6's messages were "unquestionably offensive and demeaning," they did not meet the criteria for defamation because they could not be considered assertions of fact.