Are you offering legal advice for US or GB?
I have written a book based on a true story that will be published in the US. The book includes abuse inflicted on my children. (It’s about forgiveness.) I use a pen name and false names for everyone in the book. I am a public speaker and the publisher’s representative told me by phone their legal department said (by phone, not recorded) that I can still speak in public under my pen name without a libel problem because I’ve hidden everyone’s identity, including my own.
In reviewing my contract with the publisher now that the book is going into production, I see the following statement:
“Legal Responsibility for Content. You are solely and fully responsible for the content of the Manuscript and the Work. We shall not be liable to any third party or other person or entity for the Manuscript or the Work, regardless of whether We had any knowledge or could have reasonably known of any illegal, unlawful, or objectionable content in Manuscript or the Work, including, but not limited to, pornography, information protected by privacy law, libel, hate speech, or copyright infringement.”
Have I been strung out on a fence?
Alasdair Taylor's Answer
Our expertise is in English law, not US law.
