Geoffrey Robertson QC is defending the US-based business information organisation Dow Jones against defamation claims brought by Joseph Gutnick, an Australian entrepreneur and religious and sporting personality. Gutnick claims that he was defamed in an article by Dow Jones on the internet.
The current hearing is set to decide whether the trial should go ahead in the US or Victoria. Gutnick says that because the article was accessible to people in Victoria, it defamed him where he is best known. Therefore, he argues, the hearing should be in Melbourne. Dow Jones argues that the article was written by an American, in the US, and intended for consumption in the US.
Robertson says that the location of any future defamation trial hinges on where the internet article was published and what constitutes an act of publication. Citing the 19th century case, he maintains that publication on the internet occurs at the point where the material is uploaded to a web server.
In the Duke of Brunswick case, the Duke had sent his servant to a newspaper office for a copy of a publication that contained libel against him. The court ruled that the act of publication occurred when the servant took delivery of the paper.
The cases continues.