Intellectual Property Law

Office Space Actor Sues Anonymous Wikipedia Vandal

By David Kravets

Office Space actor Ron Livingston has filed a lawsuit against an anonymous Wikipedia editor for repeatedly altering his entry on the free encyclopedia to claim Livingston is gay.

Livingston suspects the same vandal of posing as the actor in a phony Facebook profile.

Neither Facebook nor Wikipedia are named in the suit. Under the Communications Decency Act, such sites enjoy immunity from most types of lawsuits stemming from the actions of their users.

Actor Ron Livingston is not amused he is being called gay on Facebook and Wikipedia

But that does not mean the anonymous person or persons who wrote the allegedly defamatory statements are immune from being outed and hauled into court.

Livingston’s lawsuit against “John Doe” will likely give him the power to subpoena Wikipedia and Facebook to find out the real perpetrator or perpetrators.

The most recent high-profile outing of an anonymous writer came in April, when the identity of the author of the “Skanks in NYC” blog was unmasked after calling model Liskula Cohen a “psychotic, lying, whoring? skank.”

The Livingston lawsuit claims the anonymous Wikipedia editor is guilty of “despicable acts.” The suit alleges libel, invasion of privacy and, among other things, breach of publicity rights.

The Wikipedia entry, for example, says the 42-year-old Livingston was married Nov. 2 to Rosemarie Dewitt “although he is gay and officially confermed (sic) it in TMZ he is gay and darn proud.”

Ben Sheffner, a Hollywood copyright attorney, wonders in his Copyrights & Campaigns blog whether it is defamatory to falsely label somebody gay:

It’s a very interesting issue; Obviously many people don’t like being falsely called gay, but some gay rights activists argue that to permit a defamation action for a false accusation of homosexuality perpetuates the harmful notion that there is something wrong, or shameful, about being gay. Indeed, a New York federal court recently ruled that a false accusation of homosexuality is not defamatory per se.

He also doesn’t think a right of publicity was breached. The alleged pranks don’t appear to have any commercial purpose, he wrote.

It’s likely a judge would order Facebook and Wikipedia to fork over the identities of those responsible. But whether Livingston will continue with the suit is another matter.

Australian model Cohen decided not to sue Rosemary Port of “Skanks in NYC” after exposing her identity.

In that case, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden ruled that model Cohen demonstrated sufficient claims for the defamation lawsuit, and ordered Google to comply with the subpoena. The judge noted that Port’s inflammatory comments, posted in conjunction with provocative photos of Cohen, implied that the model was a “sexually promiscuous woman” undermining Port’s assertion that her comments were merely opinion or hyperbole.

Photo: AP

See Also:

• Who Is the Anonymous Author of the Web’s Best Physics Blog …
• The Talented Mr. Hypocrite: Anonymous Blogger Outed As Forbes …
• Lawsuit: Sex Blogs a Breach of Privacy?
• Investigative Report Reveals Hackers Terrorize the Internet for …
• ‘Skanks’ Blogger Unmasked by Google Vows to Sue Company

Full post as published by Threat Level on December 08, 2009 (boomark / email).