The most significant development in Australia on the question of jurisdiction in cyberspace was the High Court decision in Dow Jones & Company Inc v Gutnick [2002] HCA 56.
In early December, the High Court reaffirmed the earlier decision of the Supreme Court in the State of Victoria that a person in Victoria is entitled to bring an action for defamation in Victoria, in respect of the publication of an article on the Internet uploaded outside Australia. The decision has far reaching implications for internet publication, wherever the material is uploaded to the internet.
Dow Jones operated WSJ.com, a subscription news site on the internet. Printed editions of the Wall Street Journal and Barron's online, published by Dow Jones were available to subscribers to WSJ.com. Articles in Barron’s Online were prepared in New York and uploaded into the Internet in New Jersey.
