ABFFE Urges Congress to Ban 'Libel Tourism'

On Wednesday, September 10, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) joined 18 groups in issuing a statement urging members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to support the Freedom of Speech Protection Act of 2008 (S. 2977), legislation that provides that foreign libel judgments cannot be enforced in the U.S. if the speech is not actionable under U.S. law. The groups are concerned about the growing threat posed by libel suits that are filed in foreign countries in an effort to intimidate American writers and publishers.

"Libel tourism is a serious threat to American writers and publishers who face the nightmare of defending themselves before unfriendly courts in countries where their books were never published," ABFFE President Chris Finan said. "It is undermining their ability to publish legitimate criticism and depriving Americans of books they have a First Amendment right to read."

As a recent example of libel tourism, ABFFE cited the lawsuit filed by Saudi billionaire Khalid Salim bin Mahfouz against Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, an American expert on terrorism, over statements in her book, Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It (Bonus Books).

Although the book was never published in England and only 23 copies have been sold there via online booksellers, Bin Mafouz brought suit in an English court. Under British law, the burden of proof in the first instance is on the defendant to prove the truth of any allegedly libelous statement. Faced with the prospect of enormous legal costs to meet this burden, and objecting as a matter of principle to having to litigate in England without having published her work there, Ehrenfeld refused to defend the suit. The English court entered a default judgment, enjoined further distribution of the book in the U.K., and awarded substantial damages and legal fees.

The Freedom of Speech Protection Act of 2008 authorizes authors to counter-sue the foreign plaintiffs in a U.S. court for damages of up to three times the amount of the foreign judgment if the foreign plaintiff acted to suppress the speech of the U.S. person.

In addition to ABFFE, the statement was signed by the American Association of University Professors, American Independent Writers, the American Library Association, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Association of American Publishers, the Association of American University Presses, the Defending Dissent Foundation, DKT International, the Entertainment Consumers Association, the Freedom to Read Foundation, the Independent Book Publishers Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the New York Center for Independent Publishing, Peacefire, the Online Policy Group, PEN American Center, Reporters Without Borders, and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.