Defamation is when someone creates a bad name for someone else, thus damaging their reputation.. In the Brazilian Penal Code, defamation is a crime defined by the act of dishonoring someone by disclosing information about another, causing discredit to their public image.
Defamation is a moral damage to another, and qualifies as one of the crimes against honor, along with injury and defamation. It is defined in the article 139 of the Criminal Code (CP), which provides, as a consequence of the crime of defamation, the penalty of 3 (three) months to 1 (one) year in prison and a fine.
Defamation works against the so-called objective honor of the individual, which is his reputation. Some jurists argue that the legal entity can suffer defamation crime, for having the reputation as an asset of the company. It is different from injury, which is an offense against the subject's subjective reputation, with personal accusations against the individual.
Even if defamation is true information, the so-called truth exception by law Brazilian, the defamation process remains and the person who suffered the offense can still sue the slanderer.
Some words that are synonymous with defamation: dishonor, gossip, outrage and backbiting.
Difference between slander, defamation and injury
All are considered crimes against honor and are provided for in the Brazilian Penal Code.
Injury is an offense against dignity or lack of decorum. Between defamation and slander, the difference is in the accusation of a crime. It's slander when someone says someone has stolen something, for example. It is slander to say that someone has cheated on someone else. This is because, under Brazilian law, theft is a crime and treason is not.
Learn more about difference between slander, defamation and slander.
Examples of defamation
In the workplace, a defamation case would be accusing a co-worker of going to work drunk. Or spread among other colleagues that a certain person only won the promotion because he had romantic relationships with someone in charge.
Writing or sharing false information against someone, or even about a company, on the internet is also a crime. Defamation on the internet, defamation on Facebook, or any other social network, is punishable in the same way.
defame or defame
The correct spelling is defame. The word defame does not exist.
By etymology, the word defame comes from the Latin diffamare. The term is composed of dis, which has the sense of spoiling or destroying, plus fame, which is reputation, directly related to verm fari, which is talking.