Jurisdiction in Cross-Border Defamation Disputes

Abstract

The possibility of a harmful effect from information in cyberspace creates «libel tourism», when plaintiff looks for favorable jurisdiction in the absence of close connection between the alleged defamation and forum. In order to correctly interpret the close connection in asserting jurisdiction over defamation disputes it is proposed to use a combination of objective factors and subjective factors. The methodological basis of the article is general scientific methods of cognition. The main importance in the research are special legal methods: the method of formal legal analysis, the comparative that let to identify the key features of judicial jurisdiction to resolve cross-border defamation disputes based on flexible criteria in cyberspace.