Defteros v Google Inc LLC

[2018] VSCA 176

Victorian Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Defamation
2. › Publication
3. › Internet search engines
4. › Whether owner of internet search engine is publisher of search results
5. › Whether question of law or mixed fact and law
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Pleadings
3. › Strike out
4. › Whether defence denying publication by search engine proprietor should be struck out
5. › No defect in form of pleading
6. › Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2015 (Vic), r 23.02
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Leave to appeal
3. › Interlocutory decision
4. › No real prospect of success
5. › No prejudice in leaving decision unreversed
6. › Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic), s 14C
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Precedent
3. › Intermediate appellate courts
4. › Obligation to follow decision of another intermediate appellate court unless plainly wrong
5. › Whether decision of Full Court of South Australia established binding principle of law

Quick Take

Whether the owner of an internet search engine is a publisher of search results for defamation purposes is a question of mixed fact and law to be determined at trial on the evidence, not a pure question of law that can be resolved on the pleadings. Google Inc v Duffy (2017) 129 SASR 304 does not establish a principle that search engine operators are publishers as a matter of law regardless of the evidence.