Disgruntled celebrities using Twitter and Facebook to fight their battles with others may have to start watching what their fingers type into cyberspace or be held liable for defamation.

Courtney Love has been sued in a “groundbreaking” case which probably will set a legal precedent for whether celebs can be held responsible for intentionally putting false or defamatory statements on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

This suit will hold particular importance because it will establish whether a public figure’s comments on social networks should be held to the same libel laws that apply to news media or if tweets should be given, as defamation expert Alonzo Wickers explained to The Hollywood Reporter, “the same latitude as an op-ed piece or a letter to the editor.”

In this particular case, Love is being sued by fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir for destruction of her reputation as a result of Tweets Love sent in March 2009. According to THR, Love charged Simorangkir with being “a drug-pushing prostitute with a history of assault and battery who lost custody of her own child and capitalized on Love’s fame before stealing from her.”

The lawsuit is set to being January 18 in Los Angeles and is unbelievably only the first defamation suit brought against a celebrity because of comments made on Twitter. “There has never been anything like this case before,” Simorangkir’s attorney Bryan Freedman told THR.

Wickers says, “The way Twitter is evolving, it seems to be more of a means to express opinion. I’ll be interested to see if the court gives people posting on Twitter more latitude than other media.”