email and lawsuit

[quincy]

cbg -

Not really. All written works created are automatically copyrighted. Copyright laws apply to emailed letters, as they do to letters sent through regular mail. There are exceptions (works posted on forums, if the TOS state that all posts become the property of the forum owner, for instance), but without an agreement stating otherwise, the letter writer retains all rights to the written words. No different than purchasing a book - you may have physical possession of the book, but the author retains the rights to the written work - including all rights to reproduce it.

I suppose it could be argued that sharing an email with other people is like loaning a book that you legally obtained, but by emailing several people copies of the one email in your possession, it could more legitimately be argued that you were illegally reproducing copyrighted material.

In either case, awl2005, there is often no gain to be had from suing someone over an email, but a LOT of expense in bringing a suit.

 

[awl2005]

response

Ok, then it still comes back to why is the author liable to be sued when they are not the ones that distributed the email in the first place? They never intended it to go out to anyone than the person originally sent to. Why are they not liable for repeating heresay?

 

[awl2005]

response

Ok, then it still comes back to why is the author liable to be sued when they are not the ones that distributed the email in the first place? They never intended it to go out to anyone than the person originally sent to. Why is the person that blasted it out to the public liable for repeating heresay?

BTW, I don't intend to sue anyone because I think the whole thing is ridiculous in the first place. No difference to me in me telling Bob that I think that Mary's hair looks terrible. Mary could take offense at that and Bob could run off and tell Joe that Bob told him that Mary's hair looked terrible. I have no power or authority over Mary or anything that would affect Mary in any way.

BUT, I just want to point out to Bob that by forwarding my email to another person that I had not intended it to be sent to, can get him into just as much trouble as me. He thinks it was really funny, but I don't. Need some opinions on that matter.

Thanks.

 

[quincy]

The author is liable because the author is the one responsible for printing libelous material in the first place. Whether you intended others to see the material or not does not excuse your printing it originally. No one would have had access to the defamatory material if it had not been for you.

Additionally, although it is assumed that emails are private, they aren't. There is a stored copy that can be accessed. On a company computer, for instance, the employer has the right to view anything printed on it.

If you were having a conversation with someone, for another example, and you said something defamatory about someone else and this was overheard - the person who overheard it was not guilty of saying anything defamatory, you were. Now, if this person spreads what he heard around, he may ALSO be liable for defamation, depending on circumstances. But even if he IS found liable of defamation, it does not lessen or remove your liability.

The best policy is to just not say mean and defamatory things about anyone - but if you feel an overwhelming urge to say something defamatory, SAY it, don't PRINT it. Slander (spoken defamation) is a lot harder to prove .

 

[Quaere]

They never intended it to go out to anyone than the person originally sent to.

The author is responsible if he told the defamation to anyone other than the subject. Any ONE person. The theory is, that once the lie has been communicated to ONE person, it WILL be communicated to others. As you can see, things have a way of getting out, whether the original writer wanted/expected it to or not.

In a case where there are multiple defendants (as I presume there would be in your case), a jury would decide what percentage of damages should be assessed against each defendant, depending on the culpability of each.