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Canadian Court Rules Linking Not Republication in Defamation Case
The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled that posting hyperlinks to websites containing defamatory material does not constitute publication.
The defendant Jon Newton operates a website called www.p2pnet.net (“p2pnet”), which contains commentary on issues surrounding the Internet as well as other subjects. Newton posted hyperlinks on p2pnet to websites containing materials which were allegedly defamatory against Wayne Crookes, a former Green Party organizer. Newton did not write the articles, he did not quote any of the allegedly defamatory words from the articles, and he expressed no views about Crookes.
In deciding that the mere creation of a hyperlink in a website does not lead to publication, Justice Kelleher analogized hyperlinks to footnotes. While a footnote may lead readers to further material, that does not make the author who provided the footnote a publisher of what the reader finds when the footnote is followed. Similarly, the purpose of a hyperlink is to direct the reader to additional material from a different source. The only difference between footnotes and hyperlinks is the ease with which a hyperlink allows the reader to instantly access the additional material. Such ease of access does not amount to republication of the content on the originating site.
For a copy of the decision (Supreme Court of British Columbia), visit:
Crookes v. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.