Jane Moir’s introduction to the world of libel, slander and defamation was extremely interesting and thought-provoking with lively participation from a riveted audience. As a former journalist, Jane has been on the receiving end of defamation letters but luckily, no action was taken. With her current hat on as a barrister in criminal law, her detailed presentation on the various terms used in this form of litigation was very insightful and given the prohibitive cost of lawyers and taking someone to court in Hong Kong, we all keenly waited for her advice on how we could defend ourselves should the situation arise! It seems that the most common route for this is for the libel to be considered as fair opinion as thought of by honest men and women and for the writer to immediately issue an apology. In that way, extremely expensive court action can usually be avoided. However she stressed that as a writer, you are ‘on your own’. She gave some fascinating examples of cases in Hong Kong and queries from WiPS members about constitutes a libel (especially those who were in the process of writing) moved the discussion towards possible infringement of copyright law. All in all, a really worthwhile evening so many thanks Jane for enlightening us all on this very relevant topic. (Reported by Sarah Cook)
