Suing for false accusations from a competitor?
Hello,
I run several websites, and recently, one of my competitors made some bluntly false accusations against me. He claimed that I start threads on a public forum to "steal" the replies to put up on my blog. These claims are completely baseless, and nothing on my blog is something other than my original ideas and tips.
He made these accusations, as well as calling me a fraud, in a public forum. About five or six times, I asked him to mention just one post that he thought was copied. Each time, he avoided the question and started to continue to call me a fraud and completely avoid the question.
He also went on to say several other completely false accusations.
The one thing I noticed is that after he said that I stole replies to put them up on my blog (that he said as a fact), he started to say things like "I think you're a fraud," instead of "you're a fraud." However, that turned into "you're a fraud" later. He also started making other false accusations without backing up anything with evidence when I asked him.
So here's my question -- can he be sued for libel (as I believe it's called)? I'm in the U.S. but he's in Greece.
He's clearly a competitor and just trying to ruin a reputation, but what case would I have based on these claims? And what about him being in another country?
Thanks for your time!