Another victory: Wikipedia wins dismissal of defamation claims
by Colin Dodd
It’s shaping up to be a good day for openness.
Wikipedia Wins Dismissal of Baseless Defamation Claims | Electronic Frontier Foundation
In a victory for free speech and user-generated content, a New Jersey judge has dismissed baseless defamation claims against the operator of Wikipedia. In a recent ruling, the judge correctly found that federal law immunizes the Wikimedia Foundation from liability for statements made by its users.
This case began when literary agent Barbara Bauer sued Wikimedia, claiming the organization was liable for statements identifying her at one of the “dumbest of the twenty worst” agents and that she had “no documented sales at all.” EFF and the law firm of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton represented Wikimedia, and moved to dismiss the case in May, arguing that under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, operators of “interactive computer services” such as Wikipedia cannot be held liable for users’ comments.
