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ARTICLE · 30 JULY 2013

Final Word: No Strict Liability On Forum Hosts For Defamatory Postings

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Hong Kong's highest court upheld that operators of a popular online forum are not primary publishers of defamatory postings, and can rely on the defence of innocent dissemination.

Hong KongLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Kenny Wong
Kenny Wong
Eugene Low
Eugene Low
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Keywords: Final Appeal, innocent dissemination, graffiti cases,

Hong Kong's highest court upheld that operators of a popular online forum are not primary publishers of defamatory postings, and can rely on the defence of innocent dissemination.

The plaintiffs in Oriental Press Group Limited v. Fevaworks Solutions Limited appealed all the way to the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong. In the lower courts, the defendant operators of a popular online forum (forum.hkgolden.com) were found liable and ordered to pay HK$100,000 for failing to promptly remove a defamatory posting on one occasion. They were held not liable in two other instances where they removed similar postings within a day.

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