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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: Re: What happened to Consumer Reports? (nt) posted by Stephæn on March 2, 2000 at 09:51:26:
One's opinion doesn't get the site shut down. Generally speaking, pure opinion is not actionable. However, like all things legal, the application of the principle is not so simple -- especially when the opinion is based on asserted facts or includes statements of fact. And, on that subject, the troubling thing about Bose v. Consumers Union was that I always felt that the case should have gone off on the "opinion." The reviewer was simply stating his perception of the speaker's sound. Unfortunately, he was honest (or stupid) enough to admit that the sound did not really appear to be wandering around the room, just to be wandering along the front wall between the speakers. So, in a technical sense, he had falsely reported his perceptions. If I remember correctly, the Court of Appeals bought the opinion argument; but the Supreme Court upheld the result (a win for CU) on different grounds, having to do with Bose's "public figure" status and a failure to show that CU acted with "reckless disregard" for the truth of the statements it was making. It's been a while since I last read the decision, so don't count on my recollection.As to the "productsucks.com" web sites, there are a variety of ways of dealing with them. One is if the site uses a registered trademark for the product. Another is if the site makes false statements of fact disparaging the product or the company. In the particular case that I was involved in, the sponsor of the site was an outfit that was selling a competing product and was, in effect, using the name of my client to attract customers for his product. So that raised a lot of special issues. I'm not saying that there is a legal way of eliminating every "productsucks.com" web site. Far from it. In fact, if a "productsucks.com" web site consists of nothing but posts by people who owned the product who recount their experiences with it, I can't think of a basis for getting rid of it.
With respect to your final question, I will simply say in a public posting, that the law is far from settled on this point and people should be careful. You may recall my vigorous complaints about the continuation of the dialog regarding the Audio Note Onagaku controversy . . . Now that I've identified myself publicly, there are risks for both me and the Asylum in my providing a more detailed public explanation or discussion of that question. If you want further elaboration, please e-mail me; and I will respond and also give you my business e-mail and business telephone.
Just to remove any lingering doubt you may have about where I'm coming from, my point of view is that I support the asylum and would be glad to do what I can to assure its continued existence.
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Follow Ups
- Re: What happened to Consumer Reports? (nt) - Bruce from DC 11:12:19 03/02/00 (2)
- Re: What happened to Consumer Reports? (nt) - nataraj 14:18:01 03/02/00 (0)
- Hey Bruce! - Rod M 12:59:41 03/02/00 (0)
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