Todd on Satire in Defamation Law

Jeff Todd, Texas State University, San Marcos, Department of Finance and Economics, is publishing Satire in Defamation Law: Toward a Critical Understanding in volume 35 of the Review of Litigation (2016). Here is the abstract.

Though defamation, with its blend of common law and Constitutional overlay, is already a complex area of law, when the subject of litigation involves satire, the confusion multiplies. Courts and commentators offer an array of definitions of satire and how it differs — or not — from parody and humor. The literary devices that satire employs receive only surface treatment or are considered as isolated figures and tropes. A variety of different tests have emerged to deal with satire and its devices, leaving satirists in a difficult position of trying to defend a work that has an uncertain place in the law. This essay discusses a suit filed by science writer Paul Brodeur against the makers of the Academy-Award-nominated film American Hustle as a frame to highlight the problems of satire in defamation and to suggest further avenues of study, including some of the practical benefits of additional scholarship.

The full text is not available from SSRN.