Chilling Effects FAQ
Question: what is defamation?
Answer: An attack by speech on the good reputation of a person or business entity. Speech that involves a public figure—such as a corporation—is only defamatory if it is false and said with actual malice. It also must be factual rather than an expression of an opinion. In the United States, because of our strong free speech protections, it is almost impossible to prove defamation against a public figure.
Question: What is the difference between libel and slander?
Answer: Libel is a defamatory statement expressed in a fixed medium such as a writing, picture, sign or electronic broadcast. Slander is a defamatory statement expressed in a transitory form such as speech.
Question: What is disparagement?
Answer: As defined in Black’s Law Dictionary (7th ed. 1999), disparagement is “A false and injurious statement that discredits or detracts from the reputation of another’s property, product, or business. To recover in tort for disparagement, the plaintiff must prove that the statement caused a third party to take some action resulting in specific pecuniary loss to the plaintiff.”
(From FAQ about Protest, Parody and Criticism Sites.)
Posted at 22:26,
in the scrivener » sued category. Comments [0]
Submit this story to: » del.icio.us
» digg
» reddit. Search for it on
technorati.
Submit a comment
Please enter comments as plain text only; HTML is not supported. Submitting an URL is optional.
Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.
Comments are closed for this story.