Thought that some may be interested, including Admin. Why in the Cyprus Problem thread ? Because it is in this thread that the vast a majority of probable defamation (or incitements - different problem) occur.
There is no disputing that a £50,000 award of damages, made against the US website Digital Trends earlier this month for defamatory comments in two online discussion threads, is "unusually high" as Eversheds, the claimant's lawyers, put it in their press release. But what is the true value of this judgment? The website didn't acknowledge or defend the proceedings in London's high court and there is a plump question mark over its enforceability in America.
The fact that the claimant is a company also makes the substantial award worth a second glance because companies, unlike individuals who sue for libel, are not entitled to compensation for hurt and humiliation (they have no feelings) and this usually means lower general damages. Some campaigners for libel reform question whether companies should be allowed to sue for libel at all. However, as the law stands, a company is entitled to compensation for damage to its reputation and for the purpose of vindicating its good name.
The claimant company trades as Train2Game and SkillsTrain providing distance-learning courses in computer games design and IT and book-keeping. It sued Digital Trends over comments on discussion threads in 2006 and 2009 that it operated fraudulently. To make matters worse the words "Train2Game New Scam…" (the title of the later thread) came up in Google searches for the claimant. An attempt to join Google as a defendant failed last year when Mr Justice Eady held that the search engine was not responsible for defamatory statements produced in its search results.
Full article at :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/afua-hirsch-law-blog/2010/oct/28/libel-reform-medialaw
