Schillings Lawyers - link to home
“Schillings... one of the legal
companies most feared by
Fleet Street”

The Scotsman


Defamation and the Internet


Download the conference paper

This paper provides a brief overview of the issues raised in cases of international dissemination of defamatory content through the medium of the Internet.

A. Private International Law

  1. Is the tort foreign or domestic?
  2. Jurisdiction - which courts can and will accept jurisdication?
  3. Choice of Law - which law will be the substantive law?
  4. Proof of Foreign Law
B. Other issues particular to the medium
  1. Defences for Intermediaries
  2. Relevance of foreign defences to a domestic tort
  3. Statute of Limitations and issues raised by continuing publication
  4. Identification and republication.