Voss's comment was originally made on June 21, 2002, during a discussion relating to an article in German net magazine Telepolis; it ended with the statement "If you find sarcasm, please reuse it" ("Wer Sarkasmus findet, der/die möge ihn bitte weiterverwenden").
Voss was acquitted of the charge of assentingly accepting that an unbiased reader might interpret his statements as an approval of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the same day (cf.
§140 Criminal Code); during the course of the trial, it was also revealed that his disclaimer of the posting as sarcasm had been left out of the legal documents that were provided to the prosecutor by the law enforcement agencies.
Voss also claimed that the Internet service provider T-Online saved his dynamic IP address, which was turned over to law enforcement agencies without a judge's order for several months in disagreement with German laws, which allow the saving of IP addresses for as long as is necessary for billing, and he initiated legal action in a separate case, which he won on January 25, 2006.
On October 26, 2006, the Federal Court of Justice decided to refuse the complaint from T-Online, whereby the judgement from January 25, 2006 became law.