Differences and Consequences in Cyberlibel Litigation and Offline Libel Litigation

• Author: David A. Potts
• Profession: Barrister, Bar of Ontario
• Pages: 48-54

48

 : Dierences and Consequences

in Cyberlibel Litigation and Oine Libel

Litigation

A. DIFFERENCES

ere are a number of di erenc es be tween oin e libe l and cybe rlibe l lit iga-

tion.

) Jurisdiction

In oi ne libel there is one institution, such as a traditional press or media

outlet that is situated in one location and one jurisdiction. In cyberlibel, how-

ever, the defendants can be located in numerous jurisdictions.

) Medi a

e medium that is used in oine libel is typically one of television, radio,

or print. An on line libel, in contrast can be digitally iterated in print, radio,

television, or any combination thereof.

) Identifyi ng the Defendant

In oine libel and traditional media libel act ions, there is usually an institu-

tion such as a media outlet, whereas in online l ibel there are oen a range

of networked individuals or simply individuals. In oine libel t he origi nal

publisher is usually the primary defendant. In online libel there can be num-

erous dierent types of defendants, including the original author, the website

host, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and in some cases the search engine.

Each of these dierent defendants will, depend ing on their characterization,

have dierent liabilities and dierent defences. In oine libel, the defendants

will generally be identiable. In online libel, quite frequently they wi ll not