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Media Giants to Join Dow-Jones Libel Appeal

Posted by timothy on from the chilling-effect dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "The Australian High Court has taken the unusual step of allowing 18 media companies from around the world the right to intervene in a landmark Internet defamation case."

1 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. What it's all about by qeL3-i · · Score: 2, Informative

    This story is about whether Mr Gutnick, from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, can sue Dow Jones in Victoria where he lives, or in New Jersey where Dow Jones's headquarters is. Geoffrey Robertson QC is appearing for Dow Jones on appeal from the Victorian Supreme Court, which said that Gutnick could sue in Victoria.

    As Robertson says, if Gutnick can sue Dow Jones in Victoria, then it would impose a severe burden on website publishers who would have to comply with the law of every country which the Internet reaches to.

    If courts in other countries use the ruling in this case as a precedent, it could affect web publishing all over the world. The High Court is thus allowing media companies such as CNN, Yahoo, Amazon, etc to join the case because it affects them.