Protection of honor and dignity and business reputation

The modern world is developing rapidly and the Internet as a way of distributing information is becoming more and more popular than it was 5 or 10 years ago.

In the era of mass digitalization, the issue of protecting the honor, dignity, and business reputation of both individuals and legal entities is gaining relevance.

If false information about you or any other data that violates your legal rights and interests has been published, you should file an appropriate lawsuit with the judicial authorities.

Qualified specialists from the “Prikhodko and Partners” law office will provide all the necessary assistance to protect your rights in practice.

What circle of subjects can apply for the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation?

Ukrainian legislation determines that in order to protect their violated rights in respect of honor, dignity, and business reputation, natural persons have the right to apply if false information or any other data that violates their personal non-property rights has been spread against them.

Other third parties (interested parties in the case) whose rights have been directly or indirectly violated in connection with the dissemination of false information may also be involved in the case, usually family members or close relatives of the affected individual.

In cases of dissemination of false information about minors (over 14 years), minors (under 18 years) or incapacitated persons have the right to apply to the court by their legal representatives (parents, guardians or custodians, etc.).

In the case of dissemination of false information about a citizen who has died, they have the right to appeal to the court his close relatives, family members and other interested persons.

Importantly! Plaintiffs in business reputation protection cases may also be representatives of legal entities whose rights have been violated by disseminating inaccurate information to the mass media or other sources.

What are the features of the offense of protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation?

1. Dissemination of information to an unspecified circle of citizens (at least 1 person) in any possible way. This fact about the dissemination of information can be proven with the help of electronic evidence:

• information that is in digital (electronic) form and is directly related to the case (for example, text documents, graphic images of information, plans of the offender to distribute data, photos, videos, and audio recordings, etc.);
• text websites, voice messages, databases, and other information that may take any form in electronic form (for example, data stored on portable devices, servers or cloud backup systems, etc.);

2. Disseminated information always concerns a certain natural or legal person, that is, the plaintiff in the case. This may be a situation where the name of an individual, his place of residence the EDRPOU code of a legal entity, his place of registration, etc. are specifically indicated. That is, from the disseminated information, it can be concluded that it concerns the relevant legal entities or individuals;
3. Disseminated information must be unreliable. Unreliable should be considered information that does not correspond to real facts and is presented with a distortion of those events or phenomena that actually took place, that is, it is false. It should be noted that the burden of proving that the disseminated information is unreliable rests with the plaintiff, while the defendant must provide counter-arguments as to why the published information should be considered true.
4. Dissemination of information that violates the personal non-property rights of a citizen. In this aspect, it should be understood that each individual has a corresponding authority in society, which is confirmed by positive reviews from other citizens. If the disseminated information raises doubt among the population about this authority gained over the years and does not correspond to reality, then it violates the personal rights and interests of the citizen.

How can it be useful to contact a lawyer from the “Prikhodko and Partners” law firm?

First of all, it should be noted that a lawyer for the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation is an experienced specialist who specializes in protecting the rights, dignity, and business reputation of its clients.

He provides legal assistance in solving various legal issues related to the spread of false information in social networks, messengers, mass media, and other Internet resources.

Thanks to his many years of experience and knowledge gained in practice, a professional lawyer from the law office “Prikhodko and Partners” will be able to provide effective protection for the client against the spread of unreliable data, force the offender to delete false reviews and articles, while ensuring the preservation of the person’s honor, dignity, and business reputation, as well as the restoration of his violated rights.

In addition, experts from The «Prikhodko and Partners» law firm provide the following services in cases related to the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation, namely:

1. Consultations and legal analysis of the client’s case;
2. Protection against false information, refutation of slander;
3. Restoration of violated rights regarding business reputation;
4. Protection of the client’s legitimate interests against humiliation of his honor and dignity by other persons;
5. Development of an effective defense strategy for the case;
6. Representation of the client’s interests in various law enforcement and judicial authorities.

To calculate the price for the services of a lawyer for the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation, fill out the application form below.