Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
|
|
|
RE: for real.. he did it! (and I ask) "did he?"
|
You are logged in as Guest
|
|
Users viewing this topic: none
|
|
Login  | |
|
   
gj Michelob
Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco
|
 RE: for real.. he did it! (in reply to keith)
|
|
|
quote:
gj: question for you: recently there was an article on msn about a company suing (sueing?) a reviewer of a product--i believe the interaction took place at amazon. i have heard of other similar types of legal action against people who post opinions on line. how far can we foro members push the legal envelope, so to speak, in writing our opinions of the guy who hawks those hideous looking guitars? we definitely do not want to be defendants given many of us would rather spend our money on guitars rather than legal costs. can we post everywhere possible to avoid him like the plague? thanks.
by the way, going forward i think we should not even acknowledge the guy or if we feel we must we should not write his name. why give this guy anymore time and energy.
It is a rather complicated subject, Keith. In the past, I scolded some members who posted undocumented, conclusory statements regarding Conde Hermanos guitars.
If one writes, "I can't imagine how the two Conde Hermanos (now one) brothers can produce so many instruments out of their small shop. And this suggests the guitars may be made by other luthiers and then labeled Conde Hermanos", this is obviously an opinion. No one can argue with one's difficulty in understanding Conde's ability to produce as they do. What can be contradicted is the inference, that perhaps they are made elsewhere by other luthiers.
However, if one writes: "Conde Hermanos does not make their guitars. I have it from a reliable source that other luthiers make them," this is not an opinion but a statement of fact. The defense against a claim sounding in defamation, would be to prove the statement is "true".
Of course, merchants' statements may amount also to "false advertising" (under the Lanham Act) as I suppose it is the case between Diaz and Estrada, where both have an interest in guitars allegedly endorsed by the late Paco De Lucia. (The Lanham Act generally prohibits false advertising. In particular, it provides a civil cause of action against "any person" who, in interstate commerce, uses... any ... false or misleading description of fact, or false or misleading representation of fact.)
Here is a more official overview:
"An opinion, is a statement incapable of being proven false"
(ONY, INC. v. Cornerstone Therapeutics, 720 F. 3d 490 - Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 2013. The ONY Court, provides a few helpful guidelines:
"(at page 496) Generally, statements of pure opinion are protected under the First Amendment.
But the line between fact and opinion is not always a clear one. In Milkovich, the Supreme Court declined to carve out an absolute privilege for statements of opinion and reaffirmed that the test for whether a statement is actionable does not simply boil down to whether a statement is falsifiable.
To illustrate the difficulty, the Court provided the example of a statement of fact phrased as a statement of opinion:
stating that "in my opinion John Jones is a liar" is no different from merely asserting that John Jones is a liar.
Thus, the question of whether a statement is actionable admits of few easy distinctions."
"(at page 497) In other cases involving "matters of argument" appearing in print, we have been reluctant to recognize causes of action grounded on statements of fact that are best evaluated by an informed reader. Statements made to summarize an argument or opinion within a book are to be accepted or rejected by those who read the book," even when such statements are made in advertisements.
Scientific controversies must be settled by the methods of science rather than by the methods of litigation.... More papers, more discussion, better data, and more satisfactory models — not larger awards of damages — mark the path toward superior understanding of the world around us."
ONY, INC. v. Cornerstone Therapeutics, Inc., 720 F. 3d 490 - Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 2013
Milkovich v. LorainJournal Co., 497 U.S. 1, 19-20, 110 S.Ct. 2695, 111 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990).
_____________________________
gj Michelob
|
|
|
|
REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 27 2014 15:32:48
 |
|
gj Michelob
Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco
|
|
RE: for real.. he did it! (in reply to Arash)
|
|
|
There is, of course, an added complication to anything published by means that reach the far corners of the world, such as the Internet. Where does the "defamation" take place, where it is written or where it causes damage? Well, both. So one can bring a claim anywhere in the world, applying the laws of the jurisdiction where the damage was suffered... New York or Spain or England or Lebanon.
Regardless of what the law permits or proscribes here or anywhere in the world, a sound rule of thumb, of civility, is to express one's opinion fairly.
I apply the ancient wisdom "De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum". I praise and wholeheartedly endorse the things I enjoy and like but am very careful with what I don't as, after all, one man's garbage is another's treasure, isn't it?
However, yet, it is the purpose of the Forum to foster knowledge and seeking answers about ambiguous issues is certainly something we ought to pursue.... civilly, but unhesitantly.
_____________________________
gj Michelob
|
|
|
|
REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 27 2014 16:56:31
|
|
BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
|
|
RE: for real.. he did it! (in reply to kudo)
|
|
|
quote:
i am sorry bill, i apologize! you are right, its my mistake. i deleted my post but im too lazy to fix my syntax punctuation error
Not a problem, Kudo. We all occasionally say and write things we later regret.
Now, let's get the guitars out and practice those elements that make us better tocaors of flamenco guitar!
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
|
|
|
|
REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 27 2014 18:42:34
|
|
 New Messages |
 No New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/ New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/o New Messages |
 Locked w/ New Messages |
 Locked w/o New Messages |
|
Post New Thread
Reply to Message
Post New Poll
Submit Vote
Delete My Own Post
Delete My Own Thread
Rate Posts
|
|
|
Forum Software powered by ASP Playground Advanced Edition 2.0.5
Copyright © 2000 - 2003 ASPPlayground.NET |
0.046875 secs.
|
Printable Version
