On 13 August 2014 Mr Justice Bean handed down his judgment in the case of Cooke v MGN ([2014] EWHC 2831 (QB)). This was the first case in which the requirement for ‘serious harm’, as newly prescribed by the Defamation Act 2013 (the “2013 Act”), was considered. Continue reading
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Tag: Defamation Act
Section 5 of the Defamation Act 2013 provides (or will do when the Act comes into force) a complete defence from a defamation claim for a website operator who can show that it did not post the statement on the website. This is a significant new protection for website operators. Continue reading
The Ministry of Justice (the “MOJ”) last week published its draft regulations (the “Regulations”) for the notice and take-down procedure for website operators under Section 5 of the Defamation Act 2013 (“Section 5” and the “Act”). Continue reading
In this third part of four posts by Timothy Pinto of Taylor Wessing, he assesses the liability of intermediaries under the Defamation Act 2013. Part 1 dealt with “Serious Harm, Truth and Honest Opinion” and Part 2 with “Public Interest and Privilege“. Continue reading
In this second part of four posts by Timothy Pinto of Taylor Wessing, he considers the changes to common law and statutory privilege which will result from the Defamation Act 2013. Part 1 on “Serious Harm, Truth and Honest Opinion” can be found here. Continue reading
This is the first of four posts by Timothy Pinto of Taylor Wessing where he provides analysis of the key provisions of the UK’s Defamation Act 2013 and its likely practical implications under English law. The four posts will cover: Serious harm, Truth and Honest opinion, Privilege, Intermediary liability, and Other key provisions.
As we noted in March, the Defamation Act 2013 will not extend to Northern Ireland. This is slightly surprising. In contrast to Scotland – where the law of defamation has never been the same as in England – the law in Northern Ireland has always, been in all relevant respects, identical to that in England in Wales (see Olivia O’Kane’s post here). Why then has the Northern Ireland Executive not passed a “legislative consent motion” to extend the Defamation Act to the province? Continue reading
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