SYDNEY, 11 December 2002 — In a landmark case, Australia’s highest court yesterday gave a businessman the right to sue for defamation in Australia over an article published in the United States and posted on the Internet.
The ruling against the Dow Jones & Co. publishing company — the first by a nation’s highest court to deal with cross-border Internet defamation — could affect publishers and websites worldwide. Some 190 nations allow defamation cases. "This is the first time that a Supreme Court anywhere in the world (rules) not just in libel but really tries to look at how jurisdictional law maps onto the Internet," said Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor who tracks Internet cases around the world.
The High Court of Australia unanimously dismissed an appeal by Dow Jones & Co. aimed at stopping a defamation suit in Australia by mining magnate Joseph Gutnick.
Gutnick claimed that a 7,000-word article that had appeared in Barron’s in October 2000 portrayed him as a schemer given to stock scams, money laundering and fraud. The article was also published online.
The decision means Gutnick can sue New York-based Dow Jones in his home state of Victoria, in Australia.
Dow Jones & Co., which publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Dow Jones Newswires and several stock market indicators, said it was disappointed with the ruling and promised to continue its defense. "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," it said in a statement.
Several media and Internet organizations, including The Associated Press, Amazon.com and AOL Time Warner, filed legal briefs in support of Dow Jones. "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. (AP)
