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Law and the internet

  • 24-04-2006 11:06pm
    #1
    misetusa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8 ✭


    Can anyone shed any light on what laws apply to a website. If I have a site hosted with an American company but it is aimed at an Irish market (Irish content etc) do Irish laws apply regarding libel or will American law be applicable?


Comments

  • #2
    dermot_sheehan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,062 ✭✭✭dermot_sheehan


    misetusa wrote:
    Can anyone shed any light on what laws apply to a website. If I have a site hosted with an American company but it is aimed at an Irish market (Irish content etc) do Irish laws apply regarding libel or will American law be applicable?

    Generally a defamation action could be taken in any jurisdiction the item in question was "published" in. In theory this could of course mean Ireland, but if the server is in the states and the people uploading the material are in the states, it would be difficult to enforce a court order from Ireland. Of course if the author of the material resides in Ireland, it would be quite simply to take an action against him directly.

    The internet poses problems for traditional geographic boundaries of courts, in the common law world I think a court in australia a few years ago said that a defamation action could take place their against the publishers (Was the wall street journal I believe) who had something defamatory about an australian on their website.

    However on the contrast, I know in Trademark Law, a case in England a few years ago involved an irish company which used a trademark registered in the uk on its website that was accessible in the uk. The english judge said there wasn't trademark infringement and took several factors into consideration including the fact that the website wasn't trying to sell to english based clients.


  • #3
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,774 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    http://www.digitalrights.ie/2006/01/06/libel-laws-in-ireland/

    There's an EU directive in there that classifies websites. You could take the name of it and google it to get the full copy.

    There's also some useful information on libel in that link.


  • #4
    Eru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,357 ✭✭✭Eru


    I dont know if this is off ajy help but I know an Australian firm took an Irish firm too court over the use of a copyrighted name. Even though the Oz company did not exist in Ireland they were still able to take an action.

    Also, wasnt there something recently in N Ireland against McDowell? Again, might be of no use.


  • #5
    padser
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,375 ✭✭✭padser


    misetusa wrote:
    Can anyone shed any light on what laws apply to a website. If I have a site hosted with an American company but it is aimed at an Irish market (Irish content etc) do Irish laws apply regarding libel or will American law be applicable?

    The internet brings about the interesting situation where every court in the court both has, and is denied, jurisdiction simultaniously. (insofar as technically they have jurisdiction, but have no right to make rulings affecting other jurisdicitons)

    Technically a court can bring an action against something on the internet but may have little or no power to enforce it.
    There was a recent case from Germany where the a german court ruled they had no jurisdiction over an American website. However the facts were that the website was in English, targeted at Americans (or at least English speakers) and the company could only show two hits on the website from Germany. It was intimated that it would be different had the website been aimed at Germans

    I will cite the case if I come accross it in my notes over the next few days, it was addressing the exact question you are asking, albeit from a German point of view.


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