There was a quite extraordinary case of an author suing Joseph Weiler for defamation for allowing a negative review to be published in a European Law journal that he edits. The review was somewhat negative about the book but I have seen much worse. Weiler is at the very top of his field and he was being sued by an Israeli academic with a solid enough reputation -- now much damaged by the fact that she brought such an absurd case.<div>
<br></div><div>She lost conclusively with costs against her. See Weiler's note after the judgement</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.ejiltalk.org/in-the-dock-in-paris-%E2%80%93-the-judgment-by-joseph-weiler-2/">http://www.ejiltalk.org/in-the-dock-in-paris-–-the-judgment-by-joseph-weiler-2/</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>Adam<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 9:56 AM, David Smith <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:david.smith@cabi.org" target="_blank">david.smith@cabi.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">In singling out peer reviewed scholarly articles, it would also seem to imply no additional protection for material in scholarly books or other longer form content.
It does raise an interesting question as to whether somebody could go after a pre-print even if it was in a published journal. Or whether a paper in review has any form of protection – only a problem if you’ve made it public (via a repository) first I guess.
Are there any defamation cases that pertain to published literature? The only thing I can think of that comes close is the libel case by the British Association of Chiropractors against the author Simon Singh (</span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8621880.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8621880.stm</a>)<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">
<span style="color:#1f497d">but that was against an article/blog in the Guardian.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> <a href="mailto:goal-bounces@eprints.org" target="_blank">goal-bounces@eprints.org</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:goal-bounces@eprints.org" target="_blank">goal-bounces@eprints.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>CHARLES OPPENHEIM<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 11 May 2012 09:27<br>
<b>To:</b> Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [GOAL] UK Defamation Bill and OA<u></u><u></u></span></p><div class="im">
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<p class="MsoNormal">This has just been published - see <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2012-2013/0005/13005.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2012-2013/0005/13005.pdf</a>. Clause 6 gives special protection
against defamation actions to peer reviewed scholarly articles (the first time peer review has figured in a piece of legislation??). This is something that scholarly publishers will no doubt pick up on as an argument against unrefereed green OA.<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">Charles<br>
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Professor Charles Oppenheim<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:Webdings;color:#78be20">P</span><span style="font-family:"Courier New";color:#78be20">
</span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#78be20">Think Green - don't print this email unless you really need to<u></u>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Adam Hodgkin<br><br><a href="http://www.exacteditions.com">www.exacteditions.com</a><br>Italian: +39 3460964211<br>skype name: adam.hodgkin<br><br>
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