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Google Wins Ruling to Block Global Censorship Order (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the major-decision dept.

A U.S. judge has partially blocked a recent decision by Canada's Supreme Court that requires Google to delete search results not just in Canada, but in every other country too. From a report: Citing the violation of American laws as well as a threat to speech, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila agreed to grant Google a temporary injunction, which means the company can show the search results in the United States. The search results in question are part of an intellectual property dispute between a Canadian industrial firm called Equustek and a rival company that is reportedly misusing Equustek's trademarks to poach its business. In response, Equustek obtained an injunction in Canada that treated Google as a defendant even though it had no direct relationship with either company. In a controversial decision in June, Canada's highest court agreed by a 7-2 margin to leave the injunction in place.

7 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Whats Good for the Goose by Luthair · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Should be good for the gander. When I browse google.ca I see references that entries have been removed due to the US DMCA, so why should other countries in which Google operates be able to do the same.

    1. Re:Whats Good for the Goose by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Slightly different in that case though - the DVD producer is putting them their out of their own self-interest vs the legal system of another jurisdiction.

  2. US Court cannot overturn Canadian decision by j-beda · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Directly from the article:
    "It’s unclear, however, what exactly what will happen now since Google, if it restores the search results in the United States, could be acting in contempt of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision. Currently, there are over 300 search results Google has had to suppress."

    While the original Canadian decision seems like overreach, the US result doesn't really sheild Google if they restore the results in the US. In some sense it is an overreach too.

    1. Re:US Court cannot overturn Canadian decision by c · · Score: 3, Informative

      My understanding is that in their ruling, the Canadian Supreme Court basically pointed out that while it was possible that their decision would violate laws in other countries, nobody hadn't presented any arguments or evidence to that effect.

      In other words, they specifically left it open as an "out" for Google: prove that the ruling violated US law and they'd be able to walk it back.

      --
      Log in or piss off.
  3. A Canadian court overreaching??!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I bet they apologized first, though.

  4. Re:Uh, US can't override Canadian law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    They are trying to get Google, in the US, to comply with a Canadian law. The US court is saying, no you don't have to.

    Yes, we got that. But the Canadian court ruling stands. To the extent that the Canadian Courts could enforce it before (e.g. by seizing Google owned assets in Canada), they still can. To the extent that they couldn't enforce it before (e.g. by seizing assets outside of their jurisdiction), they still can't. Nothing is changed by the US ruling. The statement that the Canadian ruling has been 'blocked' is simply wrong.

  5. Honestly... by argStyopa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...The idea that an American judge can block the ruling of a Canadian court in the context of the global actions of a company is no sillier than the idea that Canadian court coins have any jurisdiction on what happens outside their borders.

    Face it, the legal structures have a long way to go before they've internalized the modern internet.

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    -Styopa