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.

It is thought to be the first such decision by a top court in any country to consider the question of jurisdiction and the internet. Media companies fear it may lead to lawsuits around the world and will make them review the content of articles on their websites.

“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,” the company said in a statement.

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.

“It is a judgement 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.