Free press wins in Perlman v. Vox Media

Tonda Rush

Apr 1, 2021

Free Press advocates in March received good news from the Supreme Court of Delaware, which ruled in favor of Vox Media and affirmed that the single publication rule that has long been applied to wire service stories also applies to internet links.

Under the single publication rule, a wire service story amounted to one publication and did not create multiple occasions for lawsuits as it appeared in various publications.

In Perlman v. Vox Media, the question was whether a story could live on indefinitely through its links, which would set the stage for lawsuits long after the statute of limitation for the original story ran out. The Delaware court stuck to the traditional rule for internet links. National Newspaper Association joined an amicus brief by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, written by Delaware attorney David Finger.