Australian High Court To Decide Net Defamation Case

natslovR writes: "In a World first for a 'final' court, the defamation case against Dow Jones by an Australia businessman will go before Australia's High Court, allowing it to determine whether defamation laws apply across the Internet irrespective of geography. The businessman claimed he was defamed by an article that Dow Jones published in a US based online magazine. Australia's High Court will now determine if a lower court erred when it ruled that the article was published in Melbourne, Australia and so defamation proceedings could be brought against Dow Jones under Victoria's strong anti-defamation laws, despite the webserver on which it was 'published' residing in the U.S, the writer residing there too, and the online magazine's primary audience being U.S. based."

Comments

Re:LOL @ those arrogant fools

[nerdlyone]

If a US company has any assets in a foreign country, they are subject to jurisdiction in that country. At least the assets are. It is called "in rem" jurisdiction, if I remember rightly. Such assets can be used to satisfy any judgment a court of that land makes. If any company representatives shows up to defend the suit, then they have just agreed to personal jurisdiction there too.