More Protection From Defamation Liability For Website Owners

The Supreme Court of Canada has just issued a judgment on the increasingly important issue of Internet defamation, in an appeal from a decision discussed in Dispute Resolution's Winter 2010 edition. The decision is vital to every person and business that publishes material on the Internet or operates a website.

The judgment is good news to everyone who uses the Internet, confirming that just posting a hyperlink does not make a website owner or author liable for publishing defamatory material found on the hyperlinked website. Only when a hyperlinker "presents content from the hyperlinked material in a way that actually repeats the defamatory content, should that content be considered to be "published" by the hyperlinker", leading to potential liability.