Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe, Inc.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
776 F. Supp. 135 (S.D.N.Y. 1991)
Relevant factsFree
CompuServe (defendant) hosted an independently managed online forum carrying Rumorville, a third-party publication with no direct contractual relationship with CompuServe and whose content CompuServe never reviewed before it was uploaded; Cubby (plaintiff), a competing publication, sued CompuServe for libel over allegedly defamatory statements Rumorville made about it, arguing CompuServe should be held to a publisher's higher standard of liability.
IssueFree
Whether, for libel actions, the owner of an online information service is treated like any other print vendor or distributor.