Shame shame shame, Clark Kent. I think Superman would be so disappointed if he knew of the lies and slander you were spreading about his arch-enemy.
As noted in the assignment, this analysis only applied to common law before the existence and passage of Section 230. Under the Restatement (Second) of Torts, a plaintiff in a defamation case must prove the following: (1) that a defamatory statement was published to a third party, (2) that the statement was false, and (3) that the plaintiff suffered harm as a result. §558. In the case of Clark Kent’s article, Clark Kent and The Daily Plant will be held liable for defamation. § 577. The same can’t be said for Slow Lane Coffee and Olsen Newsstands. While, yes, the coffee shop had copies of the newspaper available to the public and Olsen Newsstands sold the newspaper, that’s all they did. §578.
However, let’s say that Luthor notifies the parties that the article is defamatory. Then can Slow Lanes Coffee and Olsen Newsstand be held liable? Well, the answer is yes, as now they are knowingly selling and providing copies of the newspaper to their patrons. But this liability can be negated if the parties take reasonable steps to retract or correct the statements. Contrarily, if the parties were informed of the article’s falsity and continued to print or distribute it, they may be in even more trouble or held even more liable than before!
Continuing with the hypo, I have to give the generic lawyer answer: “It depends.” If the article appeared on dailyplanet.com and patrons viewed it using Slow Lane’s free wifi, the liability would depend on the parties’ active participation in the distribution of the article. So, for example, The Daily Planet and daleyplanet.com would still be held liable, seeing that they are the publishers of the defamatory article. However, as for Slow Lane, it would depend on if they were actively promoting the article (i.e., directing patrons to the website once signing into the wifi.) And for Olsen Newsstand, it would also depend on a couple of factors including if Olsen Newsstands also owned a website, if Olsen Newsstand only sold physical newspapers, and if the article was exclusively online.
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