David Gerard wrote:
One VERY important thing is how to make it as clear as possible, under UK law, that "Wikimedia UK" has no control whatsoever over Wikimedia or over site content. Otherwise we will be a target for every crank, nutter and serial litigator in the country seeking to use the UK's appalling libel laws to their advantage. How to set it up so as to minimise even nuisance suits?
A valid question. :-)
With the German chapter this is set up quite nicely. They don't exactly have the same legal situation as the general UK libel laws, but they do get plenty of legal complaints.
Example: someone in Germany owns a trademark on the word "Memory". We have an article on that subject, but of course encyclopedia articles don't violate trademark law. Still, good sense has never stopped lawyers for long, and so they got a nice complaint about it.
We have a simple solution to this:
Complainant: "Stop doing this!" Wikimedia Deutschland: "We'd love to help you, but we're just an association of website users. Talk to Jimbo in the US." Jimbo in the US: "...get lost"
--Jimbo