International Cases in New Media Mostly Steve Baron November 19, 2009

International Cases in New Media Common issues: What law applies? Where can parties be sued? What impact on new (and old) media?

Mardas v. New York Times Company Which Court? Who’s the plaintiff? Who’s the defendant? What are they fightin’ about? What is the Court asked to decide?

Mardas v. New York Times Company Court = High Court of Justice – Queens Bench (United Kingdom) Plaintiff = John Mardas Defendants = New York Times and International Herald Tribune The dispute involved alleged defamatory articles published in the UK (“charlatanism” and “lying”) The High Court is asked to determine whether the “Master” (I.e. lower court) erred in dismissing the libel suit because there was insufficient publication in the UK.

Madras v. New York Times Company What does the High Court decide?

Madras v. New York Times Company The Master erred in dismissing the libel claims against defendants. There were evidentiary issues concerning the nature and amount of publication in the UK. In any event, the evidence presented suggested sufficient publication in the UK.

Madras v. New York Times Company What is the impact on media? Possibility of foreign media being sued in the UK based on fairly limited publication in the UK. “a few dozen hits could be enough to found a cause of action in England although damages would be likely to be modest.” Silver lining: in the UK, the loser pays attorney’s fees of the winner.

Libel Tourism Defined: A plaintiff chooses the jurisdiction for a libel suit based upon where the law is likely to favor plaintiff’s case. Was Mr. Madras a libel tourist? He lives in Greece Defendants were incorporated outside the UK The amount of publication in UK was relatively small – as compared to the U.S. and France.

Speech Act, Public Law 111 - 223 Aimed at curbing libel tourism Provides a federal cause of action for an injunction and monetary remedies Injunction to bar enforcement of a foreign libel judgment if subject speech was published in the U.S. and would not be actionable under U.S. law. Remedies: amount of foreign judgment, costs and attorney’s fees and damages caused by decreased publishing opportunities