Case Law: Thompson v James – blogger loses libel claim against Council – Gervase de Wilde

There may be no typical cases in this area of the law, but Thompson v James epitomised the controversy which can surround libel litigation. The protracted and bitter nature of the dispute, the Claimant’s focus on local government transparency, and the issue of access to Council proceedings all made the action a subject of concern to a range of vociferous interest groups in the print media and online.

Case Law: Rana v Google Australia – Google continues to resist claims for publication – Gervase de Wilde

Google has for the most part successfully fought off attempts to make it liable for third party publications, or search results. But, given the company’s enormous power and influence over the online world, it is unsurprising that claims against it and its subsidiaries continue to be brought. In Rana v Google Australia Pty Ltd ([2013] FCA 60), an Australian court considered whether such a claim could be made, or served on the American parent company.

Case Law: Tamiz v Google Inc, Google may be a common law publisher – Gervase de Wilde

The Court of Appeal’s decision in Tamiz v Google Inc ([2013] EWCA Civ 68) comes at a moment when defamation on the internet is in the spotlight. It has been ‘the elephant in the room’ during the Leveson inquiry, it is being considered in relation to this year’s Defamation Bill, and has recently been the subject of decisions by Commonwealth courts which have diverged from the established position in England and Wales. The judgment is the first time the Court of Appeal has considered the topic.

Defamation claims and Google’s autocomplete – Gervase de Wilde

Google’s autocomplete function has become yet another of the company’s range of services which most internet users use unthinkingly. It offers suggested terms according to the characters you have already typed, based on other users’ search activities, and on the content of existing web pages. The user-driven nature of internet search means that the suggestions it makes for particular individuals’ names are not necessarily those that they would welcome themselves, or ones which are genuinely useful.

US Freedom of Expression and Media Law round-up – 27 August 2012 – Gervase de Wilde

The boom in litigation which features social media, both as a means of publication, and where its use plays a part in other proceedings, continues throughout the American court system. This phenomenon was highlighted here when Northcliffe Media tried and failed, in a California court last month, to force Twitter to reveal the identity of an anonymous poster behind a spoof account. Judges at all levels grapple with the difficulties presented by new technology and their decisions, as evidenced in the links below, receive more comment and scrutiny than ever.

Case Law: El Naschie v Macmillan – claim against scientific publisher dismissed – Gervase de Wilde

One of the longer-awaited libel judgments of recent times was handed down on 6 July 2012, having been reserved for a period of over 5 months.  Sharp J produced a comprehensive, 383 paragraph judgment comprehensively dismissing the claim by an Egyptian scientist against the scientific journal Nature (El Naschie v Macmillan Publishers Ltd  (t/a Nature Publishing Group) & Anor [2012] EWHC 1809 (QB)).