Eric David Presents Sports and Entertainment IP Law CLE for the North Carolina Bar Association

Brooks Pierce partner Eric David spoke at a continuing legal education event at the NC Bar Center in Cary on December 12th.  David’s talk, “Trash Talk: Gossip and Defamation in Cyberspace”  examined Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230. His presentation ended with this conclusion:

“Courts across the country have interpreted the First Amendment to require a plaintiff making a claim arising from Internet speech to overcome a number of procedural and legal hurdles, starting with identifying the defendant and carrying all the way through the merits analysis of the case.  Moreover, Section 230 has made it almost impossible to recover damages from a website for user-generated content.  As a result, an attorney familiar with these various hurdles stands the best chance of properly advising his or her high-profile client on how to respond to Internet speech.”