Google. v. Equustek Solutions

(We Are Not the World)

Now that we are 20-some years into the Internet revolution it has become clear that as laws are necessarily tied to a jurisdiction they can appear ineffective when confronted by a globalised suite of technologies that are designed to efficiently route around a locally expressed challenge to data transmission. That dilemma is increased when different jurisdictions cannot agree on the breadth of protection to be offered to Internet intermediaries.

In June of this year in a case which involved the assertion of intellectual property rights, the Supreme Court of Canada by a majority of 7-2, upheld a worldwide interlocutory injunction ordering Google to de-index the website of Datalink Technology Gateways from its global search results as those websites were being used to sell products that violated Equustek Solutions' intellectual property rights. Via this controversial decision the Supreme Court asserted a global power to alter online content