I have absolutely nothing charitable to say about Courtney Love, and we’re only doing this story at TG because it’s being considered a landmark in a legal technology suit. Or at least the press has been hyping it up that way.
Love was sued for allegedly defaming someone on Twitter, and this was the first time in history anyone was taken to court over such a thing. Love tweeted that a former lawyer had been “bought off,” and the attorney was pissed off enough to sue her and drag this out through the legal system.
The Hollywood Reporter called this “a trailblazing case,” and this was “believed to be the first trial in a US courtroom involving allegations of defamation on Twitter.” It’s also remarkable to consider this even would have gone to court in the first place. It’s a fact of modern life that trash is spewed all over the net with little to no veracity. It’s also a well known fact of life that Love spews a lot of trash with questionable veracity as well. (Not to mention hardly anyone would have known about this if a lawsuit hadn’t been brought to bear in the first place.)
Love testified that the tweet was meant to be a private message that accidentally got out, and it was deleted. She believed her statements were true when she sent them, because this case, like any libel case, has to prove that the defendant acted with malice with what they say or print. With so much being written for the net, this case was going to set precedent in what can legally be tweeted.
Although Love won this one, she’s being sued for defamation for comments she made on Pinterest by another defendant, a fashion designer, and that will probably also be the first Pinterest legal case in this regard.
