News Aggregation Issues Joined, But Not Resolved: A Review of Past and Pending Litigation Worldwide
Download PDF By David Hosp and Mark Puzella* In August of this year, the Australian website Inquisitr.com reported that Rupert Murdoch was preparing a lawsuit to be filed against Google and Yahoo, claiming that the popular services Google News and Yahoo News violate News Corp.’s copyrights in its news content. Whether the Inquisitr.com report was…
New Media, Defamation and the Doctrine of Vicarious Liability: Does Canadian Law Force News Media Organizations to be ‘Net Nannies’
Download Publication By Wendy Wagner* I. INTRODUCTION New media’s effect of making everyone a potential, and virtually instantaneous, publisher has led to a reassessment of many aspects of the law of defamation and other related torts. An issue which has not attracted significant attention is the extent to which a news media organization in Canada…
Search Engine Keyword Advertisements: An International Checkerboard of Rulings
Download PDF By Mark Sableman, Tiffany Schwartz, Niri Shan and Justine Wilkie* Search engine advertising arguably supports the Internet today. Google’s Adwords[1] program that sells advertisements that appear on search engine results pages reportedly accounts for the great majority of Google’s revenue.[2] And ads based on trademarks are an increasingly prevalent part of search engine…
The Emerging Free Expression Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Influence of the European Court
Download PDF By Eduardo Andrés Bertoni The American Convention on Human Rights is the principal international human rights instrument in the Americas. It was adopted in 1969, came into force in 1978 and has since been ratified by the majority of Latin American states.[1] Like the European Convention on Human Rights, the American Convention guarantees…
A Growing Distance Between The Hague and Strasbourg? An International Criminal Tribunal and the European Court of Human Rights Reach Different Results in Two Reporter’s Privilege Cases
Download Publication By Erik Bierbauer and Rebecca Jenkin* In March 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (“SCSL”) each issued an important decision on the extent to which journalists have a right to refuse to divulge information about their confidential sources. In each case, the court applied…
Libel Tourism and the Duke’s Manservant
Download PDF By Robert Balin, Laura Handman and Erin Reid* Among the more tangible results of this year’s G20 Summit in London was reaffirmation of the “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and United States. From the royal hug seen round the world to the economic policy embrace of the Prime Minister and President, stodgy…
Freedom of Expression and the Protection of Reputation: The Canadian Story
Download PDF By Peter Jacobsen and Adrienne Lee* As have many other jurisdictions, Canada has been grappling with how to balance the interests of freedom of expression with an adequate protection for reputation. Recently two cases dealing with this issue made their way to the Supreme Court of Canada. These decisions will show whether the…
The Supreme Court of Canada’s Free Expression Docket: Will A New Legal Landscape Emerge
Download PDF By Brian MacLeod Rogers* A “tidal wave” of Supreme Court of Canada appeals on free expression issues promises to reshape the legal landscape affecting the media in Canada. More than a dozen key cases involving political advertising, libel, confidential sources, statutory publication bans, courthouse access and freedom of information are either under reserve…
Reportage and Neutral Reportage – Are They Something New or Just Fair Report on Steroids
By Harry Melkonian* In the UK it is called ‘reportage’ and in those places in the US where it is even recognised, it is called ‘neutral reportage.’ In the UK, reportage is a welcome corollary to the still-emerging Reynolds defence while in the US, it is a rather tired doctrine that can boast only that…
Liability of Online Publishers for User-Generated Content: An Overview of English, German and French Law
Download PDF By Timothy Pinto, Niri Shan, Elisabeth von Braunschweig, Stefan Freytag and Valérie Aumage* This article looks at the potential liability of online publishers for user-generated content on their websites under the laws of England, Germany and France – with some comparisons to the law in the United States. Unlike the law in the…
Recent Developments in the Law of Privacy
Download PDF By Kevin Bays and Paul Chamberlain* Just a decade ago an article entitled “Recent Developments in the Law of Privacy” would have been very short. There was no such thing. There was no legal concept of a right to privacy in England and Wales, much the same way as there is now no…
MLRC Bulletin 2009 Issue 3 – International Media Law Developments
Download Publication Recent Developments in the Law of PrivacyBy Kevin Bays and Paul Chamberlain Liability of Online Publishers for User-Generated Content: An Overview of English, German and French LawBy Timothy Pinto, Niri Shan, Elisabeth von Braunschweig, Stefan Freytag & Valérie Aumage Reportage and Neutral Reportage — Are They Something New or Just Fair Report on…