Faayou Staff Legal Reporter

New York, NY: A dental patient unhappy with a bill totaling nearly $4,800 is suing to overturn a contract he signed banning him from criticizing his dentist.

The suit says the dentist will not perform dental work unless patients sign a contract waiving any right to publicly comment on the services and assigning all copyrights in online comments to her. The contract says the dentist will refrain from marketing confidential information about the patient in exchange for the assignment of copyright.

The plaintiff claims he signed the contract while he was in pain. But after the treatment he felt over billed, he then criticized the plaintiff online. Her response: She sought $100 a day for copyright infringement.

The suit contends the contract is unconscionable and misuses copyright law to suppress expression, because the marketing of confidential information is already prohibited by the HIPAA.