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Puppy Lemon Law & Slander/Libel

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BODI511

Junior Member
Hi, I live in NY State. I have a question regarding slander and libel. I recently purchased a puppy from a breeder and it has turned into a complete horror story and I need some advice. We are taking the breeder to small claims court early December but in the meantime I have posted a video on youtube to warn others of his wrong doings. Everything stated in the video is 100% true. I have documents to prove it all. The images that I used were taken from the breeders website. I made the video to warn others so that no one will have to go through what I went through with the loss of my poor puppy.

I would like to know if there is anyway that I can get into trouble for uploading this video. If anyone would like to know the entire story I can tell it, but I sum it up in the video. Again, it is entirly true and the information was taken from the breeders website which does not have a copy right. Thanks in advance!
 
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quincy

Senior Member
There is no copyright notice necessary for material on a website to be copyrighted. As soon as any creative expression is fixed in tangible form, it is automatically copyrighted. There is no government registration needed and no copyright bug (©), name or date required.

So first of all, you could probably be in trouble for infringing on the breeder's copyrighted website images.

In addition, anything that you say online that is derogatory about this breeder (whether defamatory or not) can lead to a lawsuit, if what you say leads to reputational injury to the breeder or his business. A lawsuit may not be a successful one, if what you display online is provably true or pure opinion, however the fact that you have a valid defense to a defamation action does not prevent one from being filed against you anyway. And defending against a defamation action can get quite costly.

I definitely recommend you have an attorney review your YouTube video prior to publishing it online. If you have already posted it, and you are using the material from the breeder's website without permission, and you are making derogatory comments about this breeder, I recommend you pull your posting, if possible, until an attorney can review it and advise you on the specific problems you face or could face.

Removing the video after it has already been displayed will not prevent a lawsuit from being filed against you, if the breeder has seen it, or his customers have, and he decides to sue over its content, but removing it now will help to mitigate any damages, should you find yourself on the losing end of a lawsuit.

So, the problems are: You would have no defense at all if the material you copied from the website is copyrighted material (which I think it probably is). And how successful a defense of truth or opinion would be in a defamation action depends entirely on exactly what you said and how you said it. Since any generalizations could defeat a defense of truth, and any implied false facts made would defeat both a truth and opinion defense, it is important to have it reviewed.

I see risks here, BODI511, although I certainly think exposing bad dog breeders has merit.

And I am really very sorry for the loss of your dog.
 
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sagito327

Member
If everything you say is true and provable then there is no defamation suit. Period. As the other poster said, however, you should not be using the breeder's images.
 

quincy

Senior Member
A slight correction. If everything you say is true and provable there is generally no winnable defamation action possible. Period. ;)

Many, perhaps most, state laws say that truth is an absolute defense to defamation. However, many or most is not all. Some states require that the publication of a truthful statement is made with "good motives and justifiable ends."

SO, truth alone is not always an absolute defense, and truth will not prevent a lawsuit from being filed. Even truthful statements made can lead to costly and lengthy defamation battles. That is why it is important to have even truthful statements reviewed by an attorney when the truthful statement is one which is overly critical of a person or business and when this truthful statement can lead to reputational injury.
 

Country Living

Senior Member
Board decorum:
  • Don't hijack someone else's thread.
  • Don't respond to old threads - it's called necroposting.

Please delete your posting and start a new one.
 

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