Fighting words: Defamation law in England, explained
Defamation laws - to include slander and libel - seek to protect someone's personal reputation and character from destructive attacks. However, these laws must do so without sacrificing freedom of thought and the benefit of public discussion. How is this managed under English law?
A Lawyer’s Take on Social Media Misdeeds: Part 1
There are many reasons why you might want content removed from someone else's website or social media feed. Some of the most frequent grounds for complaint concern copyright or trade mark infringement. Defamation and harassment are also common painpoints, as are privacy and data protection
Reputation: Taylor Swift’s protections under American and English defamation law
this post is featured on the University of the Arts London's intellectual property blog, creativeIP.org
♫♬ Now we've got problems / and I don't think we can solve them (without lawyers...)The right to freedom of expression is not an absolute right: there are certain restrictions in place to protect an individual's reputation. But those restrictions vary significantly, depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on. Considering the shared legal traditions of the United States and Great Britain, their differences on the issue of free speech is surprising. In early September, PopFront published an article entitled "Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation." Exploring the singer's (somewhat convoluted, if not contrived) connections to the American alt-right, PopFront suggests Swift's song "Look What You Made Me Do" resonates with Breitbart readers, Trump supporters, and white supremacists, et al. The article also shows a screenshot from Swift's music video juxtaposed with a photo of Hitler, noting that "Taylor lords over an army of models from a podium, akin to what Hitler had in Nazi Germany."