Dow Jones & Co. of New York, best known as the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, won the right to appeal in an Australian High Court ruling on Friday. It follows a decision in August by the Victoria Supreme Court which said that Australian entrepreneur Joseph Gutnick could bring his case against the publisher over an allegedly defamatory article about him that was posted by Dow Jones on one of its web sites.
Mr Gutnick argued that because the article could be downloaded and read in Australia, the hearing should be held there, where he was most defamed. Dow Jones argued that the article was written by an American, in the US, and intended for consumption in the US. Therefore, it should be held there.
The date of the hearing has still to be fixed.
In the hearing in Victoria, the judge wrote:
"To say that the country where the article is written, edited and uploaded and where the publisher does its business, must be the forum is an invitation to entrench the United States, the primary home of much of internet publishing, as the forum. [Dow Jones'] argument that it would be unfair for the publisher to have to litigate in the multitude of jurisdictions in which its statements are downloaded and read, must be balanced against the world-wide inconvenience caused to litigants, from Outer Mongolia to the Outer Barcoo, frequently not of notable means, who would at enormous expense and inconvenience have to embark upon the formidable task of suing in the USA".