German Court Ruling Says Wikimedia Liable for Contents of Wikipedia Articles

From IDG News Service:

The Wikimedia Foundation is liable for the contents of Wikipedia articles but does not have to fact check the contents before they are published, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart ruled, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The appeals court ruled against Wikimedia in a libel case in early October but the detailed verdict was only published recently on the court’s website. In the German legal system it often takes several weeks for a written ruling to be published.
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While Wikimedia does not have to check beforehand whether the contents of a Wikipedia article are true, it has a duty to check if somebody complains about the article, the court ruled. If someone complains about statements in an article, Wikimedia has to check them and if necessary remove the passages, the court said.

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