ROTF: Spelling, Grammar Help Defendant in Web Libel Suit - By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 13, 2003
If you're going to trash someone on an Internet message board, it pays to use bad punctuation.
Just over a week ago, a U.S. federal judge in California ruled that an anonymous investor who had been lashing out at a hedge-fund manager didn't libel the executive or his firm, Rocker Partners LP, in part because the investor used poor grammar and spelling in his postings.
Judge Charles Breyer said in his decision that the investor's haphazard writing style made it unlikely that any Yahoo Inc. readers who saw the postings would take them seriously. As a result, the judge said Yahoo isn't required to hand over the true name of the investor, who used the screen name "harry," to Rocker or Mark Cohodes, the executive targeted by the online postings, likely ending their quest to pursue their case. "The messages are replete with grammar and spelling errors; most posters do not even use capital letters," Judge Breyer wrote. "Many of the messages are vulgar and offensive and filled with hyperbole."
The judge also noted that Mr. Cohodes did some mudslinging of his own, at one point telling "harry": "DISRESPECT ... EVERYONE GETS WHAT THEY DESERVE...MAY YOU EAT CAT FOOD UNDER A BRIDGE. You lowlifes."
On the one hand, Judge Breyer's ruling likely will be met with cackles from message-board denizens, known for their lax spelling and aggressive use of abbreviations, capitalizations and punctuation tricks. But the ruling nevertheless could send a serious message about what is off-limits on the Web. "The court is not ruling a person cannot commit libel on the Internet," wrote Judge Breyer, who is the brother of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. But the context of the postings by "harry" make it unlikely that "a reasonable reader" would take them seriously, Judge Breyer wrote.
The judge also ruled that "harry" didn't use enough specificity when he went after Mr. Cohodes's firm in their online arguments about a stock, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. "Harry" was bullish on the stock, but Mr. Cohodes posted warnings about the company and its management. The pair soon began insulting each other's writing style, favorite sports teams and appearance. "Harry" wrote in a posting that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was "sniffing around" Rocker Partners, but the judge ruled that the phrase was too vague to be fodder for a lawsuit. "What does 'sniffing around' mean?" the judged asked rhetorically. As such, it couldn't be a libelous statement.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
