A bad word in the media, a rumour spread through social networks or through the business environment causes real damage: reputation is built over years and a single publication diminishes it. In Georgia the route of this protection is civil law: the Civil Code gives a person the right to protect, through the court, honour, dignity, the secrecy of private life, personal inviolability and business reputation. This page explains how that protection works, how data spread through mass media is refuted, and when compensation for damage may be claimed.
The Legal Basis
The eighteenth article of the Civil Code unites two directions. The first is the protection of the name: a person deprived of the right to bear a name, or whose interests are infringed by unauthorised use of the name, may demand of the infringer the cessation of the act or its repudiation. The second is judicial protection: a person has the right, through the court and in the manner established by law, to protect honour, dignity, the secrecy of private life, personal inviolability or business reputation from infringement. The character of the protection matters as well: the good protected by this article is protected irrespective of the infringer's fault — refutation may be demanded even where the distributor bears no blame; compensation of damage, however, requires a culpable act. This split defines the strategy: quick restoration of the picture of facts first, money second, and the evidentiary standards for the two differ accordingly.