Tony Sidaway wrote:
Tony Sidaway said:
and the UK case Godfrey versus Hallam, for instance, demonstrates that a private US citizen who publishes using the internet can be sued in the British courts.
Sorry, I got my cases all muxed ip. It's Godfrey versus Dolenga. Dolenga was a Cornell U. postgrad who was also a citizen of British Columbia. Godfrey said disgustingly anti-Canadian statements on soc.culture.canada, Dolenga responded by saying something defamatory about Godfrey. Godfrey obtained a default judgement against Dolenga in a UK court. He also sued Cornell University for "falsely and maliciously published or [causing] to be published" defamatory statements. Cornell had refused to stop letting Dolenga post, citing the First Amendment. They ended up setting with the persistent Godfrey.
It looks like Godfrey's barratry can be quite profitable. I've noted at least 11 defendants who have been victims of his actions. Since my previous posting I've noted that the ruling on his case with Demon was on a pre-trial motion. The tendency to settle these things out of court really doesn't help for building up a series of applicable precedents.
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