Google wins landmark defamation suit

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 21 Jul 2009 at 09:14

Google is not responsible for any allegedly defamatory comments that appear in its internet search results, a British judge has found in a landmark ruling.

Google's automated search engine trawls the internet and indexes content without any human input, noted Justice David Eady. As such, Google can not be considered a publisher under English law.

The case centred around Metropolitan International Schools, a European provider of long-distance vocational skills for adults, which sued Google as well as an online bulletin board for negative comments posted about its business practices.

Justice Eady claimed that Metropolitan International would have no reasonable prospect of success in holding Google liable for the comments.

Google had not authorised or caused the comments to appear on a user's computer screen, the judge wrote in his decision, "it has merely, by the provision of its search service, played the role of the facilitator."

Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker claims the company is pleased with the ruling, which he says reinforced the principle that search engines are not responsible for content that is published on third-party web sites.