Quote:

---

A California court of appeal recently issued what legal experts say is a precedent-setting decision on the right to make comments about a public company on Internet message boards.
...
ComputerXpress claimed defendants made "numerous false and disparaging statements" about the company on the Internet.
Defendants moved to dismiss the suit by seeking protection from a California law written to protect individuals from retaliatory lawsuits by corporations that feel they have been disparaged. These are referred to as "Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation," or SLAPP lawsuits.
...
The appellate court found that postings on an Internet message board constituted a "public forum," as defined in the anti-SLAPP statute. The court further ruled the defendants posted opinions as shareholders of ComputerXpress, not competitors, and the matter was therefore "an issue of public interest."
As for the content of the postings, the court said they "certainly could be considered disparaging," but found that, "their tone and content identified them as statements of opinion and not fact."
...
In the Global Telemedia case, the court said that, unlike many traditional media, there are no controls on the postings in chat rooms. As a result, such writings are almost always opinions, and therefore are protected under the First Amendment.
...
"We won attorney's fees upon rehearing," said Renfrew. "Not only is this case important in that it clarifies First Amendment protection for Internet postings, it is very important that people have the ability to recover fees. In many cases, people are silenced by the threat of a lawsuit because they cannot afford to spend $200,000 to defend themselves."

---