Protection of appropriate (business) reputation of a legal entity in the law of the russian federation and the united states

Introduction: the business reputation of a legal entity characterizes it in a certain activity area and affects the competitiveness of the company, which determines the existence of the mechanisms for its protection in the law. For this purpose, the author compares the legislation of Russia and the United States in the field of regulating the protection of the business reputation of a legal entity, since the doctrine of defamation is more developed in the US law. Using the methods of scientific knowledge, first of all, the method of comparative analysis, the author reveals the advantages and disadvantages of the Russian legislation in the field of interest. Results: the author indicates that currently the concept of “business reputation” of a legal entity has a market economic (property) content, and therefore, considers the position of the Russian law enforcers on the existence of a link between the defamation in relation to the government agencies, other bodies, employees and the defamation in relation to the legal entity to be a positive trend, if the activities of these persons is associated with the legal entity’s activities. Conclusions: the author concludes that it is necessary to consolidate in the Russian legislation the definition of “business reputation of a legal entity”, the relationship between the defamation against the government agencies’ members and ones of other bodies associated with their professional activities, and the damage to the business reputation of the legal entity. The US law is a well-developed effective tool for the protection against defamation, the limit of which is the constitutional right to freedom of speech; the Russian law is more protective of the personal interest, not the public one. This fundamental difference does not allow us to fully integrate some effective provisions of the American legislation into the Russian legislation.