Business Defamation — a Claim Against False Facts
Defamation means direct monetary loss for a business: lost clients, cancelled contracts, damaged partnerships. The Georgian Civil Code gives this situation full judicial protection, and this page explains how a business-defamation claim is built: what the company demands, on which grounds, and how the false fact and the damage are proven. Every provision on which this page rests comes directly from the text of the Code.
The Legal Basis — What the Code Protects
The legal basis consists of three provisions. Article 18 of the Civil Code governs personal non-property rights: a person is entitled, through the court and in the manner established by law, to protect his honour, dignity, privacy of personal life, personal inviolability or business reputation from infringement. Where infringing statements have been disseminated through mass information media, their refutation must take place through the same media; where such data are contained in a document issued by an organization, the document must be replaced and interested persons informed. The injured person is also entitled to publish a reply in the same media.
Refutation, Reply and Correction of Documents
Under the same provision, the protection of this good operates regardless of the infringer's fault; where the violation results from a culpable act, the person may claim compensation for damage, including in the form of the profit the infringer obtained, and also compensation for non-pecuniary (moral) damage — independently of pecuniary damage. Where authorship or name is misused, the person may demand that the infringer cease the act; publication of a person's image without consent is likewise recognized as an infringement, subject to enumerated exceptions.