http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/index.php

[Please Register and Login to this forum to stop seeing this advertsing.]

[symon]

[justme]

cheers for the clarification of the libel law - before you posted that I almost forgot I'm married to a lawyer who specialises in internet and electronic media legislation

The stuff I complained about has been removed now but here's a little food for thought...

Since the Laurence Godfrey v Demon Internet case (1999) an interesting precedent was set whereby the host could be held responsible for content on their servers

Libel is also interesting because when something is published that could be seen as libellous it's up to the person making the accusation to prove beyond all doubt what they are saying is true rather than the person being accused having to prove it's untrue. The onus of proof therefore is placed upon the publisher.

In your example above, saying that you know something for a fact doesn't make it libellous - If it's a fact then that makes it the truth and as long as you can prove it's the truth then you are in the clear if it's untrue then yes indeed it is libellous.

The second comment you made is potentially more libellous than the first, particularly the bit about your cat having more brains - he could quite easily (if he found a willing lawyer) take you to court and prove beyond all reasonable doubt that he does in fact have more brains than your cat thus making your comment potentially libellous

A lawyer would then argue that your comments had adversely affected their client Johnny's life, the words were untrue, defamatory and claim compensation. Pretty much the only defence you would have would be to claim "justification" arguing that anyone willing to drag such a meaningless prosecution through the courts would indeed be a pratt to think they could get away with it. However, all that the defence would need to say was that on the day you posted the comment on your site Johnny's boss read it and decided that someone embroiled in a bitter dispute on an internet forum wasn't really the sort of person who should be working at his company and decided not to grant him the promotion he had discussed with him the day before

Sadly, we live in a world where ambulance chasing lawyers will go to court at the drop of a hat on some very weak cases offering no win no fee to their client. With most libel cases finding in favour oif the victim this can be very profitable for them and costly for all else involved - note they only take on stuff they know they can win. Injury, dismissal, libel etc.

Thanks for your input but I strongly suggest you either take a good look at the libel laws or move the company to an offshore location where you can pretty much do what you like

Cheers

Andy

[admin (no pm's please)]

We do have legal advice, but we are not going to debate the points, aside from to point out the Demon case concerned USENET and hence is very significantly different.

---

_________________

Family Friendly Shareware | | Web Design/Services | Free Forums