Name calling and mockery are not libel unless it is defamatory and is presented in a realistically believable manner. Libel is something that affects you seriously either by hurting your finances or by causing an emotional breakdown.
Also one of the most important elements to Libel is identity of the person being libeled. For example if I described a person as "the President of the United States", you know who I am talking about. If I described this person as "a former cocaine user whose niece is accused of forging prescriptions for drugs," it is much harder to know I am talking about GW Bush.
If you are being identified as a handle on a website without your real name, then there is no way you can be libeled, unless everyone knows who you are in the outside world by that handle. For example a stripper named Star can be libeled very easily on a website if someone says she is a hooker and she is not. That would affect her reputation and profession and that is libel per se. Everyone knows her business name Star and can easily identify the person. Unless your handle can be linked to you personally and is known in an ascertainable community, you have no case.
I am being defamed by some person/persons on an Internet message board. This person or persons have been posting phoney messages on a board, call it 'Board A'. under my exclusive handle that I use on yet another message board, call this one 'Board B'.
It seems to be a vendetta, having gone on for a couple of weeks, with no end in sight.
Board A has no controls to preclude the use of any name pulled from anywhere when posting to their message board.
I would like to do a little research into this libel situation with the ultimate goal of securing a cease and desist order (whom would I target) to put an end to this malevolence.
Can any lawyers in the arena of intellectual property suggest sources (for a layman) to use for my quest? Thank you.
From what I gather, it would be extremely difficult to bring any successful legal action against this person. Beyond the usual difficulty in proving libel, it's going to be very, very hard for you to prove any monitary damages.
If I was in your position, I'd make a plea to the owners/operators of "Board A", and ask them to ban/block the handle. Be prepared to demonstrate that this person is out to hurt you and your reputation.
If you were to try and bring legal action, you'd have to file a case, then the registration information from "Board A". Assuming there's a valid email address in the registration, you'd then have to get the ISP's/Mail host's records and try to find the human behind the email address. You'd then have to prove that this person is the same one that is posting. You'd then have to prove they were committing libel (which is pretty hard).
Name calling and mockery are not libel unless it is defamatory and is presented in a realistically believable manner. Libel is something that affects you seriously either by hurting your finances or by causing an emotional breakdown.
Also one of the most important elements to Libel is identity of the person being libeled. For example if I described a person as "the President of the United States", you know who I am talking about. If I described this person as "a former cocaine user whose niece is accused of forging prescriptions for drugs," it is much harder to know I am talking about GW Bush.
If you are being identified as a handle on a website without your real name, then there is no way you can be libeled, unless everyone knows who you are in the outside world by that handle. For example a stripper named Star can be libeled very easily on a website if someone says she is a hooker and she is not. That would affect her reputation and profession and that is libel per se. Everyone knows her business name Star and can easily identify the person. Unless your handle can be linked to you personally and is known in an ascertainable community, you have no case.
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