In-House Counsel Guidebook: How to Handle Internet Defamation and Online Reputation Attacks August 2014 | Page 4

2 top strategic risk for large businesses. Not only was it the overall “highest impact risk area,” but reputation was also the top concern in most individual sectors. A primary cause for such concern is how easily and quickly information can spread on the internet and social media, and the resulting potential of widespread damage. Since these types of attacks are becoming so common, and considering the strong First Amendment protections in the United States, businesses are facing serious challenges in protecting and defending themselves against these attacks. Given that a legal analysis is often involved when determining how to handle these online reputation attacks – both against the businesses themselves and their professionals – we expect that in-house legal counsel will commonly be asked for input. This Guidebook provides a number of insights for in-house counsel involved with these types of situations – based on what we have learned from handling hundreds of these types of cases – and reflects what we believe will be most helpful to in-house counsel dealing with online reputation attacks on their businesses. © Copyright 2014, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. All Rights Reserved.