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From: fostel@ncsu.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.general
Subject: Slander and Liable
Message-ID: <2271@ncsu.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 5-Aug-83 10:31:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: ncsu.2271
Posted: Fri Aug  5 10:31:17 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 6-Aug-83 17:53:36 EDT
Lines: 22



    I just read a bit of news about some company selling products, likely
    to UNIX based organizations among others; the idea was hard to miss:

    I will certainly avoid buying stuff from them, but I wonder, as we all
    should, what that company, or more particularly, its lawyers, might have
    to say about such claims of poor quality, imminant collapse.
    Etc.  If the statement is true, of course, one feels that the writer has
    the weight of Common Law tradition, if not an adequate counsel; what if
    the criticism is severe enough to have noticable effect on the vendor?
    What if it was, perhaps an exageration inspired by swarms of bugs in the
    night and an empty coffee pot?   The embossed letter with the stuffy
    wording from the companies legal staff could be the start of a personal
    nightmare.  (Of course, I prefer not to think that the critic might be
    employed by a competitor ...)

    Ok legal jocks.  Whats the word?  Can we flame in peace?  Has anyone
    ever gotten in trouble?  Does electronic mail carry the quality of
    witness verbal or sighned written comminucations needed to stand up
    in court?  In any event, try to be mindful of possible trouble.
    ----GaryFostel----