Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bizarre Book News

Imagine our court system if judges actually heard suits brought by disgruntled authors against those who write bad reviews of their work. Ridiculous? Not in Russia, where on April 23 a federal court issued an unprecedented ruling, ordering a newspaper journalist to pay damages of US$1,000 to a writer unhappy with a book review the newspaper ran.

The author claimed the review caused he and his family "severe mental suffering" and damaged his professional reputation. He stated that after reading the book review, he experienced chest pains, headache and elevated blood pressure. (Okay, that last part I can relate with, but really now. $1,000 for a bad review? Apparently, Russians aren't familiar with the principle that there's no such thing as bad publicity.)

The writer had sought US$150,000. Both parties say they will appeal.

Unbelievable. I don't know Russian law, but if you ask me, that author was lucky to get a penny--or would it be a kopek? Clearly, their tort laws differ from ours if a bad review can be the basis of some kind of emotional injury claim.

On an unrelated note, this woman claims she was inspired by Agatha Christie--but not in a good way.

It's a strange world out there . . .

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