Commercial Litigation Update – November 2005

by Michael Osborne, Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: MICHAEL OSBORNE, HARRY MCMURTRY, KENNETH DEKKER

DOES WORLD WIDE WEB MEAN WORLDWIDE LIABILITY FOR CYBER LIBEL?

The internet’s nature as a medium that is at once everywhere and nowhere leads to difficulties in applying traditional tests for jurisdiction. Courts in Canada and the Commonwealth have rejected suggestions that special, and more restrictive, rules be applied to jurisdiction over cyber libel. Instead, they have adapted the traditional rules for defamation and jurisdiction to defamation on the internet… and more.