Internet libel case raises free speech questions

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 defamation case was brought by Melbourne mining magnate Joseph Gutnik, who argued that the article by international news service Dow Jones & Co could be read on the web by people who knew him in Melbourne.

Dow Jones had argued the article was published on its Barron’s website in the US and wanted the case to be heard there. Dow Jones publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and other financial publications.