Questions tagged [defamation]
Tortious damage to a reputation. When the defamation is specifically written use "libel"; use "slander" when it is specifically spoken.
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Can a true statement be defamatory?
Can a true statement be "defamatory"? I know that truth is a defence to a defamation action, in that no liability will generally result if what you have communicated is true, but is it ...
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Can true statements or statements of opnion be libel or defamation in any country?
This is inspired by this thread on Writing.SE.
Under US law, a true statement can never be defamatory, and neither can a statement of opinion, as opposed to a factual statement.
Are there any ...
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Can I use real life brand names in a computer game?
I'm working on a computer game, where the player will be controlling a fictional country in the 1950s.
I want to make it possible for the player to purchase products with real life brand names. For ...
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How is "defamation" defined?
I have a recollection that late in the 20th century in the United States, A called B a "bastard." B sued A for defamation.
The court ruled in favor of the defendant. Its first observation was that (...
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Can fiction "fail" to be defamatory if it is "less bad" than the actual facts?
In the year 2000, Fox TV produced a rather embarrassing show called "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire." Insiders know who did what within the show, but suppose someone produced a fictionalized ...
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Can anyone prevail against government law enforcement agencies for defamatory press releases?
The following problem is becoming notorious (among first search results: "online guilty before proven innocent"):
Police arrest or charge citizen for a crime.
Police issue press release about the ...
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Does adding a non-committal verb bypass defamation/libel?
So I went to CNN's website today at 6:40est today and saw a headline "Google fires male engineer for reportedly saying Women shouldn't work in the tech industry"
Mind you it was just a headline and ...
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Is accusing someone of a crime slander if you believe the accusation to be true?
I have just read a short story ("The Disagreeable Man", by Henry Cecil) in which a dubious (to me) legal trick is used to con a small town out of a significant amount of money. I want to ...
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What is the smallest audience for a communication that has been deemed capable of defamation?
Descriptions of the criteria for defamation seem widely to describe any statement that is communicated to a third party as being defamatory if they are (broadly speaking) false and harmful.
This seems ...
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Can you defame a profession?
Suppose someone publishes the statement "All lawyers are thieves." Obviously, this is not true; there most likely are some lawyers who are also thieves, but certainly not all. Would it be ...
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What makes politicians "fair game"?
People say and write things about politicians they would never dream of saying about celebrities or corporate tycoons. They accuse them of lying, corruption, and racism and create political cartoons ...
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Can Social Media Reviews Be Considered Defamation?
I live in an apartment building. I found an advertisement flyer on my car and I was annoyed. Inside the entrance of the building there is a "No Solicitation" sign. I'm not sure about the legality of ...
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Legal issues of a website such as [businessname]sucks.com
What kinds of legal issues do websites such as [businessname]sucks.com have in terms of copyright infringement, libel and defamation, and/or other issues?
Let's say there is a website called [...
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Is lying about a candidate protected speech in the United States?
Per Wikipedia:
False statements that are on matters of public concern and that defame
public figures are unprotected if either the speaker has knowledge
that his statements are false, there is ...
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How can Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian, be sued for defamation by Hans Niemann in Missouri?
Hans Niemann is suing multiple people for defamation (full complaint):
Among the defendants, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is listed. I don't get how this is possible: they're two separate countries with ...
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How does the statute of limitations on defamation work?
My understanding is that defamation has a very short window for a lawsuit, like one year.
So suppose a libelous statement was published in a widely circulated journal, call it the New York Times, and ...
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What is required for a slander lawsuit?
Suppose there is a group of people being contacted by an outside agency at the business they are working at. The outside agency is lying about a particular employee's behavior and convincing this ...
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What kinds of insults would result and have resulted in someone being imprisoned in Germany?
Just read in the Wikipedia Article on Insult that you could be punished for up to one year in prison for insulting someone in Germany. What kinds of insults, assuming that they are free of false ...
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Does the word "allegedly" shield from defamation claims?
If Bob publicly says "Rob killed Alice", Rob could sue (and win) Bob for defamation — unless Rob gets convicted for that crime.
But if Bob instead says "Rob allegedly killed Alice" ...
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How is "publication" different in copyright and defamation cases
There has been some confusion here on Law.Stack exchange as to whether "publication" or "publish" has the same meaning in defamation cases as it does in copyright cases.
I am ...
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How does Seth MacFarlane get away with defamatory commentary?
How does Seth MacFarlane/Family Guy/Fox get away with defamatory words/depictions that harm the reputation of brands/companies/logos/mascots/characters/real people?
Or, do they get sued a lot and ...
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Is it true that a suit of defamation could require "very little effort"?
A recent comment at SE Meta stated:
my reading of US law is that under certain circumstances, the plaintiff need make very little effort to successfully bring a suit of defamation.
This strikes me ...
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Could a president sue a person for defamation during their time in office?
In this hypothetical (unless it's happened in the past), a prominent citizen or news agency makes statements about the president, or his decisions or policies, that are knowingly inaccurate or false ...
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Could a sarcastic positive statement be defamatory in the U.K.?
"Brutus is an honorable man" is not a defamatory statement on its face. That, I believe, would satisfy U.S. law.
But the quote, from Shakespeare's work Julius Caesar, was actually an ironic ...
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Can you post a picture in your business to embarrass or defame a customer?
I paid a debt to the late husband of a woman who now owns the local hardware store. Without talking to me about the debt, she posted my photograph of me that she copied off my Facebook account. She ...
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Is truth a defense against defamation laws in Indonesia?
If so how?
I read 310 KUHP laws in Indonesia and it says that public interest is a defense. It doesn't list truth as defense.
Some says that if we have evidences, that is defense. What kind of ...
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Can I be sued for warning of a potential crowdfunding scam?
Note: I don't seem to find any pertinent tags (such as "crowdfunding" so bear with me if the tabs are not correct)
I recently got of (potential) scam from a (successfully funded) campaign on Indieogo ...
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When a party is taken to court for defamation that already occurred, what is the request to the judge to do?
There was an incident where my employer claimed I did something (which I didn't do) that led to someone getting injured. They seemed to have investigated the issue internally but came to the wrong ...
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Can a part time lecturer in a public university be still a public figure?
Is a part-time lecturer of a public university (without quarterly renewed and without any benefits) still a "limited public figure"?
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Would it be / have been unhelpful for Hans Niemann to bring up Magnus Carlsen's own cheating?
This is about the Carlsen–Niemann controversy asked about previously:
Why don't courts punish time-wasting tactics?
How can Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian, be sued for defamation by Hans Niemann in ...
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Could God sue you?
Let's say someone defames God 491 times. God proceeds to
Contact a local law firm in vision
Hire the law firm to a file lawsuit on His behalf
Would God or the law firm run into any procedural issues?...
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Is evidence of rumours of a defendant's racism unhelpful in a defamation case involving accusations of cheating?
Defendant accuses Plaintiff of cheating in a competition. Plaintiff sues Defendant for defamation.
Plaintiff has heard rumours that Defendant is racist. Assuming these could be substantiated in some ...
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