In law, slander of title is normally a claim involving real estate in which one entity publishes a false statement that disparages or clouds another entity's title to property, causing a financial loss. Alternatively, it is casting aspersion on someone else's property, business or goods, e.g., claiming a house is infested with termites (when it is not), or falsely claiming ownership of another's

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

(what allegedly occurred in the '' SCO v. Novell'' case). Slander of title is a form of jactitation. Slander of title is one of the "specialized" common law intentional torts. The State of California has adopted the definition of slander of title set forth in section 624 of the ''

Restatement of Torts Restatement may refer to: *Restatements of the Law, published by the American Law Institute as scholarly refinements of black letter law; these include: **Restatement of Contracts, Second, completed by the American Law Institute in 1979 *Restatemen ...

'' as follows: The term "slander of title" is somewhat of a misnomer, as slander refers to that which is spoken yet the tort slander of title requires publication. A more accurate term would be "disparagement of title". A slander of title suit can be pursued with merit in a variety of circumstances including "the filing of an invalid lien against real property or virtually any type of recordable instrument recorded against a property by one without privilege which is untrue." It is not a requirement that it be recorded, merely published, and in the broadest sense of the word. "Published" can even refer to the placement of a

lawn sign Lawn signs (also known as yard signs, bandit signs and placards, among other names) are small signs that can be placed on a street-facing lawn or elsewhere on a property to express the support for an election candidate, or political position, by ...

with an untrue disparaging statement in front of someone's property.

References

Property law Defamation {{law-term-stub