DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan appeals court says a website doesn’t have to reveal the names of people who posted anonymous comments about a university scientist.
The court said Wednesday that the PubPeer Foundation, which operates pubpeer.com, is protected by the First Amendment. The case involves Fazlul Sarkar who filed a defamation lawsuit in Wayne County, claiming the anonymous criticism cost him a high-paying job offer at the University of Mississippi in 2014.
Sarkar returned to a job at Wayne State University but without tenure.
Pubpeer.com is a public website that allows people to discuss scientific research. The appeals court says the website statements cited in Sarkar’s lawsuit aren’t capable of defamatory meaning. The court says the comments simply are discussions that are “critical of Dr. Sarkar’s research.”
- Posted December 09, 2016
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Court says anonymous comments protected by 1st Amendment
headlines Oakland County
- Meet the Judges
- Phishing and Smishing and Skimming and Shimming: Nessel encourages public to watch out for common scams during NFL Draft
- 56 years later, bias case is closed: Hamtramck completes new housing
- Attorneys to explain new U.S. DOL rules
- Michigan employers, local partners spotlight Gov. Whitmer’s budget recommendations and benefits for Going PRO Talent Fund
headlines National
- New Legalese: You may have heard a deepfake, but what about ‘Twiqbal’?
- From Intake to Outcome: An in-house lawyer’s guide to matter management solutions
- 2 BigLaw firms in merger talks that could produce 1,600-lawyer firm with top 50 revenue
- Send in the paralegals
- Lawyer reprimanded after mistakenly emailing opposing counsel with plan to avoid judge’s call
- ‘I don’t play well’ judge who threatened to track down, jail misbehaving litigant gets tossed from case