Defamation vs. Injurious Falsehood

Defamation is the communication of a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation.

Injurious falsehood is a subcategory of defamation, written or oral and applies when substantial economic or commercial interest are involved. Cases of injurious falsehood typically relate to the commercial interest of a company.

As far as the common law is concerned, defamation and injurious falsehood are quite distinct. Primarily, injurious falsehood involves maliciously publicising false statements that ...