Certain corporations do not have cause of action for defamation
9 Certain corporations do not have cause of action for defamation
A corporation has no cause of action for defamation in relation to the publication of defamatory matter about the corporation unless it was an excluded corporation at the time of the publication.
A corporation is an excluded corporation if —
the objects for which it is formed do not include obtaining financial gain for its members or corporators; or
it employs fewer than 10 persons and is not related to another corporation,
and the corporation is not a public body.
In counting employees for the purposes of subsection (2)(b), part‑time employees are to be taken into account as an appropriate fraction of a full‑time equivalent.
In determining whether a corporation is related to another corporation for the purposes of subsection (2)(b), section 50 of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth applies as if references to bodies corporate in that section were references to corporations within the meaning of this section.
Subsection (1) does not affect any cause of action for defamation that an individual associated with a corporation has in relation to the publication of defamatory matter about the individual even if the publication of the same matter also defames the corporation.
In this section —
corporation includes any body corporate or corporation constituted by or under a law of any country (including by exercise of a prerogative right), whether or not a public body;
public body means a local government body or other governmental or public authority constituted by or under a law of any country.
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