Canadian Supreme Court says hyperlinking to a defamation is not defamatory

The emergence of the Internet has raised new questions around the law of defamation – most recently, whether hyperlinking comes within the scope of the publication rule.

The Canadian Supreme Court, in a decision released this month, has given freedom of the Internet a fillip by concluding that to hyperlink is not to publish and therefore that simply to hyperlink to a defamation is not to defame.

This Brief Counsel looks at the judgment and its implications.

The legal test for defamation

A defamation claim involves legal action to protect a person's reputation from unwarranted injury by the words of another.  Defamation law 101 requires the aggrieved party to show:

• publication of words