Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!muscat!jfcl.dec.com!frg
From: frg@jfcl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Midi Mega's
Keywords: The (questionable?) facts
Message-ID: <365@jfcl.dec.com>
Date: 28 Jun 88 15:59:54 GMT
References: <1073@atari.UUCP> <3160@druhi.ATT.COM> <335@bdt.UUCP> <504@amcc.UUCP>
Reply-To: frg@jfcl.UUCP (Fred R. Goldstein)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 33

In article <504@amcc.UUCP> chuckw@amcc.UUCP (da implem) writes:
>In article <335@bdt.UUCP>, david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) writes:
>> 
>> You said it loud and clear!  When was the last time Atari Corp. ever
>> called any of us before spewing out TOTALLY FALSE statements?  And even
>[some stuff deleted for brevity] 
>Corp. sales so far as you are able.  As for, "this is America Jack", you
>are absolutely right that you have the right to pubicly air your opinions;
>however, that right may be limitted in cases where, by dent of your
>position, influence, access, etc., you materially exert an improper influence
>causing culpable harm, which then may be to wit actionable.
>
>	My own experience with the 1040 ST, color monitor, Supra 20MB hard
>disk, Panasonic 1080i printer, has been EXTREMELY positive.  The machine
>					Chuck Werner

Mr. Werner, please do not create new libel laws where none exist.

Mr. Beckemeyer's statements are actionable if he a) violates a contract
he had with Atari to not criticize them or divulge certain information
which he then divulges (and I doubt such a contrcat exists, but for
the sake of argument I'll admit the possibility), or b) he commits
libel.  Now libel involves knowingly making a public false statement
that causes harm.  If I say something that causes harm but it's true,
then it's not actionable.  If I say something false but it's harmless,
then any libel judgement would be rather limited!  If I say something
false and cause harm, then I'm potentially in trouble. 

Consult a lawyer for details; I remember the above from my undergrad 
Con Law classes.

Dave, keep up the good work!
--
(usual disclaimers)