Australia's highest court has handed down a landmark ruling that online publishers are open to defamation actions from anywhere in the world, regardless of where the offending article was written.
The High Court unanimously dismissed an appeal by international news service Dow Jones to have a defamation action brought by mining magnate Mr Joseph Gutnick heard in the US rather than Australia.
|
|
Dow Jones owns the Barron website hosted by the
The Wall Street Journalwhich faced an Australian defamation action.
|
The court ruled online publishers could be sued for defamation in the place where their material is viewed, not the country of origin where it is uploaded.
It allowed the case to proceed in Mr Gutnick's home state of Victoria, which has strict defamation laws and no equivalent of the first amendment right to free speech that Dow Jones could have invoked in the United States.
Legal experts said the court decision, believed to be a world first, would force publishers to handle online material more cautiously and hamper free debate on the Internet.
Mr Gutnick sued over an article about his tax affairs that appeared in October 2000 on the Dow Jones-owned Barron's website hosted by the The Wall Street Journal.
Dow Jones had argued in court that the article was written by a US journalist for a publication aimed primarily at US citizens and since it was also uploaded in that country the defamation action should take place there.
The company, which was supported in its appeal by other media heavyweights such as News Corp, CNN, Bloomberg and Reuters said it was disappointed in the decision but still planned to fight Mr Gutnick's action, which will now proceed in the Victorian Supreme Court.
AFP