Consultation paper on multiple publication rule published by Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice today launched a consultation on the multiple publication rule and how it applies to the internet
Currently, the law allows a claim to be brought each time a libel is published. The government seeks views on whether this ‘multiple publication’ rule is appropriate in the Web age when content is republished every time a page is accessed.
Today’s consultation is part of a wider reform of defamation law currently underway, including the decriminalisation of seditious libel, and the introduction of a new defamation costs scheme.
The deadline for responses to the consultation is 16 December 2009.
Links
- Plan to update libel law for web – BBC
- Internet libel review launched – Guardian
- Radical online libel shake-up revealed – Press Gazette
- Reforms will clamp down on ‘menace’ of online libel – Times