Talk:Strategic lawsuit against public participation

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[edit] Gunns 20 - Australian SLAPP

Gunns 20 - Wikipedia : Gunns Limited, a Timber and woodchip product company in Australia is sueing 17 individual activists, including Federal Greens Senator Bob Brown, as well as three not-for-profit environmental groups, for over 7.8 million dollars. Gunns claims that the defendants have sullied their reputation and caused them to lose profits, the defendants claim that they are simply protecting the environment. The defendants have become collectively known as the Gunns 20. It is widely believed that this move is intended to tie up these activists in court proceedings, during which time Gunns intend to build a Pulp Mill in northern Tasmania. The move is possibly also intended to scare off other activists... w:Gunns 20 --ErnMalley 16:58, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

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would the lengthy UK MacDonalds libel case be one of these? -- Tarquin

Absolutely. Industry Vs Activists. Very important SLAPP suit although I don't believe it is called such in Britain. Ilena 02:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I am not sure how the Scientology cases warrant mention but no others do. Having examples of several organizations handing out SLAPPs would make much better for POV than reference to a single organization, especially one as controversial as scientology. --67.134.44.82 17:15, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)

No, all their actions should be listed, but perhaps in their own special section.

[edit] Removed external links

I removed a few external links, which seemed to be part of an agenda-pushing, book-selling campaign across wikipedia. It seems like there are already a fair amount of external links for the California case, anyway.

kmccoy (talk) 08:58, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)


I'd love to see further explanation what separates SLAPP from a justified lawsuit. Who determines, how?

Think of the SLAPP as a kind of special version of the demurrer. Anyway, if a judge really screws up and grants an anti-SLAPP dismissal they shouldn't have (that is, the lawsuit was legitimate and not merely to harass), then the plaintiff can always appeal and get the dismissal vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings. --Coolcaesar 04:25, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Good question. SLAPP's are typically intended to exhaust the resources of an activist or critic by corporate interests ... they are usually referred to as "meritless" cases. I was SLAPP sued by someone (Christopher Grell) whose name I had never even mentioned! Ilena 17:50, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV-check

This page seems to be entirely based on one website. That is giving it a large bias IMO. Ansell 08:34, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

The bias seems not to be significant. The article just factually discusses the matter; while it has nothing positive about SLAPP, it as well has nothing negative. The overall picture is caused by the subject itself, not the article, so I think POV check template is not needed. However, I'll watch it in case there are objections or suggestions. CP/M comm |Wikipedia Neutrality Project| 09:15, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm afraid I still see some POV issues here. The first sentence defines a "SLAPP" as a form of litigation used "to intimidate and silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism." I think that is a accurate definition of SLAPPs. My concern is that the beginning of the article defines a SLAPP by making reference to the motives of the person or group who initiated the lawsuit, then gives "examples" of such behaviour below. This implies that the organizations that filed the lawsuits in the examples given did so with the intent to silence or intimidate critics, something I am sure they would dispute.
How about something like: "SLAPP is a label used to describe lawsuits that have the effect of intimidating or severely burdening..." etc.? The "examples" of SLAPP lawsuits could be "Legal action described as SLAPPs". The examples could then cite external sources that have described the legal actions as SLAPPs.
Loremipsum 22:47, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Examples of SLAPPs"

Purpose of a SLAPP lawsuit is - by definition - not (necessarily) to win, but to harass the defendant. Cattle industry v. Oprah Winfrey is not a good example of SLAPP: Oprah is not a "less powerful critic" (in fact, it would be hard to find a more powerful person on US television), nor she can be "severely burdened" by the cost of legal defense. GregorB 22:19, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

From what I have read about Ms Winfrey and this suit, it was a classic SLAPP suit, intended to silence a strong critic. Her comment was quite offhand on her TV show. I believe it should be included. Good evening all. Ilena 01:58, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
The Winfrey example contradicts the description of SLAPP in the opening paragraph: "...by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism...". Either this example should be removed or the description be updated. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 205.200.169.50 (talk) 23:04, 5 March 2007 (UTC).
This is an important category. I'm going to suggest a few other good examples.
Barrett Vs Rosenthal ==

Classic internet SLAPP suit just decided in November, 2006 for the third of three plaintiffs. Industry vs Activist. (original link removed - Barrett v. Rosenthal is internal link to same topic) Ilena 01:58, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Don't have all the details at hand. The environmentalist writer, Peter Montague. SLAPPED Here's the outcome, Monsanto's Gaffey VS Montague [1] Ilena 02:25, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for protecting me from fyslee. I'm Rosenthal in this classic SLAPP suit and fyslee works directly with the Barrett. He treats Wikipedia like it's Barrett's "Healthfraud List" where he is Assistant Listmaster and Censurer with Barrett for several years. He censors people there and attempts to do the same here. He tries to bully me off and then claims he's "helping" me. Here is when he set up shop on Wikipedia. [2] You can see him advertising his sites with Barrett, and then claims he's attacked when I explain the same relationship. I am very interested and have a lot of experience with SLAPP suits, and fyslee will attempt to change everything I edit. Barrett Vs Rosenthal is a classic SLAPP suit.Have a lovely evening.02:12, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
Just so that there's no confusion -- I am not protecting you, I am protecting the policies laid out in WP:TALK. I find many of your personal attacks to be unwelcome (such as your edit comment in this edit). I don't have enough knowledge of the dispute to have an opinion in the matter. I'm just reverting an edit that goes against policy. kmccoy (talk) 02:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
My response to Ilena's continued personal atacks can be found here. -- Fyslee 10:56, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not convinced that the RIAA cases count as SLAPP cases. The RIAA isn't trying to suppress public comment as far as I know; they're trying to suppress file sharing. Efalk 05:28, 17 October 2007 (UTC)