By using a blog platform to start a company blog, and then getting your employees or associates to contribute to the blog, you can slowly fight the negative publicity simply by suppressing the search results by optimizing your own blog space using similar keywords as what is coming up on those results. Here's how you do it:
Start a Blog
Invite contributors and tell them to completely fill out their profile pages and make sure they share their experience with your company on their profile pages. (Use moguling.com..they allow the search engine spiders into those profile pages, unlike other platforms)
Start blogging yourself or hire a company to do it for you and they'll optimize the results much better than you can. (Again, Moguling.com has those services)
Set up Social Network Profile Pages
There are hundreds of social networks and setting up a profile page with these networks can not only help you manage your reputation, but will also start branding you in the space that counts. Social networks and blogs account for 2/3 of Internet usage now!
Invite your employees, customers (happy ones) and vendors to say something nice about their experience with your company. (Moguling.com social media optimization service can help you here)
A bad online reputation, whether true or not can literally kill you. Take action now and take control of your brand before someone does it for you.