Legal advice please regarding Rudy website.

[New York Central]

Member retired from forum.

[me3]

It's not a good idea to announce publicly on this forum (where Google will add it to their search results) that you are the owner of a possible spoof site.

Btw, I hope you are maxed out, because the campaign could have used the domain cost. :)

[DjLoTi]

What Is Libel?

If someone writes for publication a defamatory statement (a statement in which a person's reputation is seriously damaged), and that statement is false, and that person is identified in print, even without a name, then libel charges can be brought.

Associated Press's definition of libel:

Libel is the publication of writing, pictures or cartoons that expose a person to public hatred, shame, disgrace, or ridicule, or induce an ill opinion of a person, and are not true.

Actions for libel result mainly from news stories that allege crime, fraud, dishonesty, immoral or dishonorable conduct, or stories that defame the subject professionally, causing financial loss either personally or to a business (Associated Press Style and Libel Guide 251).

To call a person a murderer, a cheat, a child molester, an alcoholic, a liar, a thief, a drug abuser, etc., can be considered grounds for a libel case.

Any accusation that a member of society has violated common standards of ethical behavior can lead to a libel suit. In short, libel is publication of false information about a person that causes injury to that person's reputation.

Libel defense:

TRUTH is one libel defense. Remember that it is very difficult to prove truth.

FAIR COMMENT is another libel defense. The press can write an opinion about the performance of anyone who is a public performer including a politician, athlete, movie celebrity, etc. However, if you say something defamatory about that person's private life, you can be sued. You can say someone is a lousy writer; but, you can't say the writer is a lousy drunk (unless you can prove it's true).

"The publication of defamatory matter that consists of comment and opinion, as distinguished from fact, with reference to matters of public interest and concern, provided they do so fairly and with an honest purpose, are not libelous, however severe in their terms, unless they are written maliciously" (Associated Press Style and Libel Guide 251).

MALICIOUS means that the writer knew the information was false and only wrote it to injure the person being written about.

Another libel defense is PRIVILEGE. Privilege applies to libelous statements that may occur during government proceedings or in public documents. All public proceedings, including court sessions and most public records, are privileged and can be quoted even if they are defamatory. They, must, however, be quoted in context and not used as a malicious statement used out of context.

In cases regarding public figures, the person who says he was libeled about his public performance, must also prove the libel had malicious intent (reckless disregard for the truth).

ANY DEFAMATORY STATEMENT THAT CAN'T BE PROVEN TRUE AND WASN'T TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM A PUBLIC RECORD OR GOVERNMENT PROCEEDING HAS TO BE CONSIDERED DANGEROUS TO PRINT.

In writing about trials and arrests, make sure you check the record. Before the person is found guilty, always use words like "alleged" or "accused." In America, everyone is considered innocent before proven guilty.

The Right To Privacy:

When a person becomes involved in a news event, voluntarily or involuntarily, he forfeits some rights to privacy. Similarly, a person somehow involved in a matter of legitimate public interest, can be written about with safety.

However, a story or a picture that dredges up the sordid details of a person's past and has no current newsworthiness can be considered libel (The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual 261).

Public figures are generally thought of as people who seek the limelight, who inject themselves into public debate. The court says that involvement in a crime, even a newsworthy one, does not make one a public figure.

This is important because if you are proven to be a public figure and someone defames your job performance or ethics or whatever, you have to prove libel and you have to prove malicious intent.

If you are a private person, you only have to prove libel, but not malicious intent. Consequently, it's easier for private citizens to win a libel case than it is for a public figure to win a libel case.

[Primbs]

Make sure you don't profit from the site.

News, commentary, parody and other sites have great free speech protection.

However, Rudy is allowed to sue no matter how stupid his claim would be. It would be up to you to defend it.

Rudy would be dumb to sue because of the political and PR backlash.

Rudy is already viewed by many as too authoritarian. He most likely would try to ignore you. If he were to sue, you would get lots of TV attention and possibly donations for your cause.

But a lawsuit could cause you some sleepless nights.

There are not many instances of websites being sued in the political arena. Generally most campaigns hope the offending websites are ignored.

[Ninja Homer]

*Not a lawyer*, but I think if you just make it an open forum like fredthompsonforum.com, you won't have to worry about it.

[New York Central]

Member retired from forum.

[brandon]

What is the site????

[moonbat]

What is the site????

Try adding a 0 to the site mentioned above. ;)

[DaronWestbrooke]

I don't think anyone has had any problems from the spoof FredThompsonForums and ObamaForums.

[kylejack]

They can attempt to seize it through ICANN. It might be tough to defend. They probably won't get any monetary judgement against you, but they could get control of the domain, probably.

[KewlRonduderules]

Glad to have you back after your last posts:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=29292&highlight=york+central

;)

[torchbearer]

Just do it.

[vegetarianrpfan]

Personally, I think people are making way too big a deal out of this. Can we not do anything because we're afraid of a few lawyers?

There would not be a lawsuit in American courts about this, there would be an ICANN filing. I know someone who is a domain names dealer and has been involved in numerous ICANN cases, all of which he represented himself, and he's won all but one. It doesn't require an attorney and there's nothing that happens if you lose other than that you lose the domain name. This person I know went up against the British meat industry organization because he had registered the .org version of their domain name during the Mad Cow Disease scare in the UK and put up on the site, "Mad Cow: It's what's for dinner" or some such parroting of their slogan. They sued through ICANN and he won fair and square because he had an animal rights group for years, very informal, that he'd owned the rights to (he was one of the only members of this group, but ICANN doesn't even ask about that!). Just also get a domain maybe that is like "democratsjoinrudy.com" or something of that nature.

The main thing was that everything on my friend's site (eating meat in Britain will give you Mad Cow Disease) was pretty much true at that time, and the British meat industry could not argue that the meat didn't give people Mad Cow Disease.

Just stay with the truth: Giuliani is the best candidate for neocon Democrats, because he thinks abortion should be legal and has donated to Planned Parenthood, he will have us in Iraq for about 20 more years with no end in sight which will keep us safe from Osama even though Osama is in Afghanistan, he will lower some taxes but raise some others to make it look like he didn't raise taxes, he will give amnesty to all those illegal immigrants and he's pro-gay because he once lived with two gay people. He also is very pro-family, so much so that he has had three families (now on his third marriage, the first was even to his cousin, that's how much he values family). He will give us all a national ID card and maybe even join us with Canada and Mexico in a North American Union!

Just say things along those lines, that are all true, and you will be fine. I doubt that Giuliani is going to take you all the way to an ICANN ruling-- ICANN would list all the things you say on your site in their original ruling, thus preserving them forever. Then again, RG is so dumb that maybe he would do that.

----------------
Sorority Girl Gets Ron Paul License Plate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtdaK1UPNkQ

[Tidewise]

Guys, this is ABSOLUTELY PROTECTED FREE SPEECH! Read the First Amendment! This is not only core political speech and parody, but Giuliani is a public figure and this is a matter of public interest. If anyone tried to shut this down, you will have hundreds of attorneys jumping to your defense.

Read the First Amendment! Have no fear!

And last but not least:

Don't ask for free legal advice on the Intertubes! (including this advice, even though I am a lawyer!)

[kylejack]

Guys, this is ABSOLUTELY PROTECTED FREE SPEECH! Read the First Amendment! This is not only core political speech and parody, but Giuliani is a public figure and this is a matter of public interest. If anyone tried to shut this down, you will have hundreds of attorneys jumping to your defense.

Read the First Amendment! Have no fear!

And last but not least:

Don't ask for free legal advice on the Intertubes! (including this advice, even though I am a lawyer!)

A domain isn't really owned in the traditional sense of property. ICANN can transfer the domain to Rudy if they feel it should belong to him. This happens quite a bit when people camp someone else's name.

[Kap]

Couldn't you just post a few videos of Rudy contradicting himself without any comments? Or maybe just a few wonderful pics of him dressed in drag.

[smtwngrl]

I don't think anyone has had any problems from the spoof FredThompsonForums and ObamaForums.

Yet. :p And I didn't know there was an ObamaForums.

I think the worst result might be bad press, and that might be worse than any legal implications.

[Roxi]

can someone PM me the link cuz i don't know what im missing here but i don't know how to find the site

[ronpaul1]

Be sure to mention your site on Rudy's forum. http://www.rudygiulianiforum.com

[MozoVote]

Read up on the FAQ at ytmnd.com and you can see there is established precedent that pure Internet parody with no commercial content, has been upheld as free speech.

[Roxi]

nevermind i got it hee hee

[kylejack]

Read up on the FAQ at ytmnd.com and you can see there is established precedent that pure Internet parody with no commercial content, has been upheld as free speech.

Right, which is why he wouldn't get a legal judgment against him in court, but Rudy can still take the domain from him through ICANN's processes.

[conner_condor]

Just make it a real julie annie web site and don't boot anyone.. The RP supporters took over it.

[ButchHowdy]

So WHO in tarnations IS this New York Guy?

He/She/It makes one post, causes ruckus and just walks away!

[parke]

It was only $10 and spoof site it isn't, all facts and nothing but the facts. While all you Paulies think freedom and thinking for yourselves is the way to go, I have to agree with Rudy when he says;

What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

Who wants to think for themselves? It's a hell of a lot easier to have someone do it for me. Heck, I don't even want to speak for myself, as the Rudester once said.

You have free speech so I can be heard

Also, thanks for the quick reply about libel, privacy, etc.. My goodness, you must have had that canned somewhere, the response was so fast.

EVERYTHING would be factual that's posted. Rudy has so much of his glorious past documented and filmed. I just want to share that with my fellow Rudy supporters. I'd like to thank all you Paul supporters for being so congenial. Heck I support him too, anyone with a Republican tag at the end of their name!!!

What would be a shame is the post disappearing from the site.

We could generate the traffic to get it to the top of google too. Wow.. use Redstates tactics on Rudy.

Great idea.

Keep it honest though.