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Australian Court in Landmark Internet Ruling - Globalization - Global Policy Forum
Australian Court in Landmark Internet Ruling
by Owen Gibson
Guardian
December 10, 2002
In a decision that could threaten online publishing around the globe, Australia's highest court gave a businessman the right to sue for defamation over an article published in the US and posted on the internet.
The high court of Australia today unanimously dismissed an appeal by international news service Dow Jones aimed at stopping a defamation case in Australia by millionaire mining magnate Joseph Gutnick.
Tha article was published in Barron's magazine - a Dow Jones financial publication - and on the internet. The ruling could set a precedent that might affect publishers and internet sites accessible in the 190 nations that allow defamation cases.
The decision means Gutnick can sue New York-based Dow Jones in his home state of Victoria in Australia. Gutnick claimed a 7,000-word article that had appeared in the online version of Barron's defamed him by portraying him as a schemer given to stock scams, money laundering and fraud.
The ruling made no decision on the defamation case itself. Gutnick will have to pursue that in Victoria's supreme court.
Dow Jones lawyers had argued that allowing Gutnick to sue in Australia would make anything published on the internet subject to legal action in scores of nations and have a significant impact on freedom of speech.
"The result means that Dow Jones will defend those proceedings in a jurisdiction which is far removed from the country in which the article was prepared and where the vast bulk of Barron's readership resides," they said.
The case echoes others that have cropped up in the past year - earlier this year the Zimbabwean government brought a Guardian journalist, Andrew Meldrum, to court following publication of an article published on the newspaper's website in the UK. The Meldrum case was the first to assert local criminal jurisdiction over foreign web postings. In the event Meldrum won his case.
Mr Gutnick said the case should be heard in his home town, Melbourne, since people there were able to access the internet to read the article - thereby defaming him where he is best known.
The seven judges dismissed Dow Jones' contention that it would have to consider the defamation laws from "Afghanistan to Zimbabwe" in every article published on the internet.
"In all except the most unusual of cases, identifying the person about whom material is to be published will readily identify the defamation law to which that person may resort," the court said.
Analysts said the ruling means material published on the internet can be deemed to have been published in any place it is viewed online, not just the country of origin.
"It's a judgment that will be looked at very closely by people in this area, including the media, right around the world," said Dr Matthew Collins, a Melbourne lawyer and academic who has published a book on defamation and the internet.
"What it means is that foreign publishers writing material about persons in Australia had better have regards to the standards of Australian law before they upload material to the internet," he said.
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