I haven’t had a lot of time lately to blog, but here are a couple of stories involving twitter libel that you should check out. The first involves the lawsuit filed by Courtney Love’s former attorneys over alleged defamatory tweets. If you recall, Love posted a less than flattering comment about one of her previous attorneys, or so the allegation goes. The attorney and the firm filed suit in Los Angeles County alleging defamation. While no anti-SLAPP motion was filed, Love’s attorney has filed at least one demurrer (that I know of) claiming, among other things, that the statements are not "of and concerning" the lawyer. What is most interesting, though, is the analysis of the principle of "defamation by implication." For a fuller discussion, check out THR, Esq. It’s worth your time.
In another case, an Australian man is suing Twitter over a tweet posted by a user accusing the man of having written a hate blog. Unfortunately for Twitter, there is nothing like the Communications Decency Act in Australia. Nor is there any other potentially available procedural device like an anti-SLAPP motion. I’ve previously given an expert opinion regarding California defamation and Choice of Law issues in an Australian case, so I’ll be watching this one with interest. For more information, check out CNN’s report here.
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