Copyright, Fair Use & Libel Reference Page for SMMA Editors

<small>Own content: contains contributions by SMMA editors. Other titles and more sections are possible.<br>Iframes: have content embedded from other websites.<br>Articles: lists files (not images) on this site, or links to SMMA (sub-)pages.<br>Library: links to books, documents, audio and videos in SMMA that were made by or about Moon or by his family members or followers. Subsections for 'Books', 'Videos', etc.<br>See also: links to other pages in this site.<br>External links: links to other websites.<br>Categories: links to content similar to this page.</small>

Copyright

Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time. The exclusive rights are not absolute; they are limited by limitations and exceptions to copyright law, including fair use.

Defamation—also calumny, vilification, and traducement—is the communication of a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual person, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation as well as other various kinds of defamation that retaliate against groundless criticism. Under common law, to constitute defamation, a claim must generally be false and have been made to someone other than the person defamed.[1] Some common law jurisdictions also distinguish between spoken defamation, called slander, and defamation in other media such as printed words or images, called libel.[2] False light laws protect against statements which are not technically false but misleading.[3]

Types Slander The common law origins of defamation lie in the torts of "slander" (harmful statement in a transient form, especially speech), each of which gives a common law right of action. "Defamation" is the general term used internationally, and is used in this article where it is not necessary to distinguish between "slander" and "libel". Libel and slander both require publication.[6] The fundamental distinction between libel and slander lies solely in the form in which the defamatory matter is published. If the offending material is published in some fleeting form, as by spoken words or sounds, sign language, gestures and the like, then this is slander. Libel1 Libel is defined as defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures.[7] The law of libel originated in the 17th century in England. With the growth of publication came the growth of libel and development of the tort of libel.[8] Examples of libel An early example of libel is the case of John Peter Zenger in 1735. Zenger was hired to publish New York Weekly Journal. When he printed another man's article that criticized William Cosby, who was then British Royal Governor of Colonial New York, Zenger was accused of Seditious Libel.[9] The verdict was returned as Not Guilty on the charge of seditious libel, because it was proved that all the statements Zenger had published about Cosby had been true, so there was not an issue of defamation. Another example of libel is the case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964). The U.S. Supreme Court overruled a State court in Alabama that had found The New York Times guilty of libel for printing an advertisement that criticized Alabama officials for mistreating student civil rights activists. Even though some of what The Times printed was false, the Court ruled in its favor, saying that libel of a public official requires proof of Actual Malice, which was defined as a "knowing or reckless disregard for the truth".[10] Proving libel There are several ways a person must go about proving that libel has taken place. For example, in the United States, the person must prove that the statement was false, caused harm, and was made without adequate research into the truthfulness of the statement. These steps are for an ordinary citizen. For a celebrity or a public official, the person must prove the first three steps and that the statement was made with the intent to do harm or with reckless disregard for the truth,[11] which is usually specifically referred to as "proving malice".[12]

[Category:All Concise Help Instructions] [Category:Site structure and buildup help]

Iframes

{{subst:Iframe}}

Photos

{{subst:Gallery}}