03/02/2020 Godfrey v. Demon Internet Limited [1999] EWHC QB 244 (26th March, 1999) "A person calling these numbers would hear accusations against plaintiff involving him in all sorts of scurrilous activities not the least of which was illegitimately fathering children by women and girls in the church. Jackson's telephones were attached to equipment leased to Jackson by the defendant. This equipment contained the recorded messages which would automatically play upon activation of the telephone by a caller" 38. Gabrielli J. said "The telephone company's role is merely passive and no different from any company which leases equipment to another for the latter's use" "In order to be deemed to have published a libel a defendant must have had a direct hand in disseminating the material whether authored by another or not" "It could not be said, for example, that International Business Machines, Inc, even if it had notice, would be liable were one of its leased typewriters used to publish a libel. Neither would it be said that the Xerox Corporation, even if it had notice, could be held responsible were one of its leased photocopy machines used to multiply a libel many times" 39. In my Judgment Anderson does not assist the Defendants who in the present case did not play a merely passive role. They chose to receive the "soc.culture.thai" postings to store them, to make them available to accessors and to obliterate them. 40. Mr Barca referred me to Cubby .v. CompuServe 776 F.Supp. 135 (S.D.N.Y. 1991) which illustrates clearly the difference in approach between New York and England. 41. The headnote reads:"Action was brought against computer service company for its alleged libel, business disparagement, and unfair competition. On company's motion for summary judgment, the District Court, Leisure, J., held that: (1) computer service company that provided its subscribers with access to electronic library of news publications put together by independent third party and loaded onto company's computer banks was mere "distributor" of information, which could not be held liable for defamatory statements made in news publications absent showing that it knew or had reason to know of defamation." 42. Leisure D.J. said:"CompuServe develops and provides computer-related products and services, including CompuServe Information Service ("CIS"), an on-line general information service or "electronic library" that subscribers may access from a personal computer or terminal. Subscribers to CIS pay a membership fee and on-line time usage fees, in return for which they have access to the thousands of information sources available on CIS. Subscribers may also obtain access to over 150 special interest "forums" which are comprised of electronic bulletin boards, interactive on-line conferences, and topical databases. One forum available is the Journalism Forum, which focuses on the journalism industry. Cameron Communications, Inc. ("CCI"), which is independent of CompuServe, has contracted to "manage, review, create, delete, edit and otherwise control the contents" of the Journalism Forum "in accordance with editorial and technical standards and conventions of style as established by CompuServe" "New York courts have long held that vendors and distributors of defamatory publications are not liable if they neither know nor have reason to know of the defamation" "The requirement that a distributor must have knowledge of the contents of a publication before liability can be imposed for distributing that publication is deeply rooted in the First Amendment, www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/1999/244.html 7/9