Perils of publishing on the internet: Broader implications of dow jones v gutnick

Abstract

This article takes as its starting point the brief but illuminating discussion of the transnational phenomenon of the internet in Michael Whincop and Mary Keyes’ 2001 book Policy and Pragmatism in the Conflict of Laws, and observes that the prospect of internet publication will inevitably influence the framing of choice of law and jurisdictional rules from now on. This has already been shown by the High Court’s decision in the recent case of Dow Jones & Company Inc v Gutnick where, in attempting to adapt the previously certain lex loci delicti defamation choice of law rule to the exigencies of the internet, the court effectively transformed the rule into a more fluid — and more reasonable — ..