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Fitzgerald, Brian --- "Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick: Negotiating 'American Legal Hegemony' in the Transnational World of Cyberspace" [2003] MelbULawRw 21; (2003) 27(2) Melbourne University Law Review 590

[*] (2002) 194 ALR 433 (‘Gutnick’).

[†] BA (Griffith), LLB (Hons) (QUT), BCL (Oxon), LLM (Harv); Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia; Professor and Head, School of Law, Queensland University of Technology.

[1] Brian Fitzgerald, ‘Software as Discourse: The Power of Intellectual Property in Digital Architecture’ (2000) 18 Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal 337, 353 fn 52.

[2] (2002) 194 ALR 433.

[3] On this term, see Lawrence Lessig, ‘The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach’ (1999) 113 Harvard Law Review 501.

[4] See generally Brian Fitzgerald and Anne Fitzgerald, Cyberlaw: Cases and Materials on the Internet, Digital Intellectual Property and Electronic Commerce (2002) ch 5.

[5] See, eg, David Johnson and David Post, ‘Law and Borders — The Rise of Law in Cyberspace’ (1996) 48 Stanford Law Review 1367.

[6] The bases of jurisdiction pursuant to international law are territorial sovereignty (territorial principle), nationality (nationality principle), protection of nationals (passive nationality principle), protection of the state from outside events that may have an effect within the jurisdiction (protective principle) and universality of the crime (the universal principle): Louis Henkin et al, International Law: Cases and Materials (3rd ed, 1993) 1049.

[7] Yahoo! Inc v La Ligue Contre Le Racisme et L’Antisemitisme, 169 F Supp 2d 1181 (ND Cal, 2001) (‘Yahoo!’); Restatement (3rd) of Foreign Relations § 403 (1987).

[8] Michael Whincop, ‘Choice of Law, Jurisdiction and the Internet: A Policy Analysis’ (1999) National Law Review 10. See generally Hilton v Guyot, [1895] USSC 185; 159 US 113 (1895); Hartford Fire Insurance Co v California, [1993] USSC 100; 509 US 764 (1993); CSR v Cigna Insurance Australia Ltd (1997) 189 CLR 345; Lipohar v The Queen [1999] HCA 65; (1999) 200 CLR 485; Joel Paul, ‘Comity in International Law’ (1991) 32 Harvard International Law Journal 1.

[9] For a definition of the ‘Internet’ and ‘World Wide Web’, see Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433,

452–4 (Kirby J).

[10] If jurisdiction cannot be established on the basis of personal presence, domicile or consent then due process as guaranteed by the United States Constitution requires that a non-resident defendant have ‘certain minimum contacts with [the forum state] such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend “traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice”’: International Shoe Co v Washington, [1945] USSC 158; 326 US 310, 316 (1945) (Stone CJ).

[11] Zippo Manufacturing v Zippo.com, 952 F Supp 1119 (WD Pa, 1997) (‘Zippo’); Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc v Grokster Ltd, 243 F Supp 2d 1073 (CD Cal, 2003) (‘MGM’); Young v New Haven Advocate, [2002] USCA4 228; 315 F 3d 256 (4th Cir, 2003); Pavlovich v Superior Court of Santa Clara County, 29 Cal 4th 262 (2002); Griffis v Luban, 646 NW 2d 527 (Minn, 2002). See generally Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald, above n 4; Gaye Middleton and Jocelyn Aboud, ‘Jurisdiction and the Internet’ in Anne Fitzgerald et al (eds), Going Digital 2000: Legal Issues for E-Commerce, Software and the Internet (2000) 245; Mark Lemley et al, Software and Internet Law (2000) ch 9.

[12] The United States courts were accused of doing this in Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation v ICRAVETV (Unreported, United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Judge Ziegler, 28 January 2000). See also Michael Geist, ‘ICraveTV and the New Rules of Internet Broadcasting’ (2000) 23 University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review 223; Michael Geist, ‘Is There a There There? Toward Greater Certainty for Internet Jurisdiction’ (2001) 16 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 1345.

[13] See generally Lawrence Lessig, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (1999) 166–7, 186, cf 203–4; James Boyle, ‘Foucault in Cyberspace: Surveillance, Sovereignty, and Hardwired Censors’ (1997) University of Cincinnati Law Review 177. See also David Johnson, Volume Controls in Cyberspace? Hard First Amendment Questions in the Age of Electronic Networking (1994) Electronic Frontier Foundation <http://www.eff.org/Censorship/cyber_first_amend_johnson.

article>:

Some call for enforcement of the First Amendment in cyberspace. Some point out that the First Amendment is a local US ordinance — not applicable, for example, to those sued in England or Australia under lower standards applicable to defamation in those locales. But no one has yet come to grips with the hard question of how we will balance the community interests in imposing some limitations on speech against the desire to facilitate open communication over the Net.

[14] Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433, 445, 447 (Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ), 448 (Gaudron J), 475 (Kirby J), 479 (Callinan J).

[15] At first instance, Hedigan J remarked: ‘I add that Mr Robertson briefly flirted with the proposition that cyberspace was a defamation-free zone, but did not develop it’: Gutnick v Dow Jones & Co Inc [2001] VSC 305 (Unreported, Hedigan J, 28 August 2001) [20]. See also at [17]–[18].

[16] Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433, 483. On the notion of hegemony see Robert Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy (1984); Robert Kagan, Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order (2003).

[17] See Yahoo!, 169 F Supp 2d 1181, 1192–3 (ND Cal, 2001) (Fogel J). See also Bachchan v India Abroad Publications Inc, 585 NYS 2d 661, 665 (1992) (Fingerhood J):

It is true that England and the United States share many common-law principles of law. Nevertheless, a significant difference between the two jurisdictions lies in England’s lack of an equivalent to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The protection to free speech and the press embodied in that amendment would be seriously jeopardized by the entry of foreign libel judgments granted pursuant to standards deemed appropriate in England but considered antithetical to the protections afforded the press by the US Constitution.

See also Matusevitch v Telnikoff, 877 F Supp 1 (DC, 1995); Griffis v Luban, 646 NW 2d 527 (Minn, 2002).

[18] Cf ‘[I]n Cyberspace, the First Amendment is a local ordinance’: John Perry Barlow, ‘Leaving the Physical World’ (Paper presented at the Conference on HyperNetworking, Oita, Japan, 1998) <http://www.eff.org/pub/Publications/John_Perry_Barlow/HTML/leaving_the_physical_world.html> (explaining the inapplicability of physical space norms in cyberspace). See also Johnson, above n 13.

[19] Opened for signature 19 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976) (‘ICCPR’).

[20] Gutnick v Dow Jones & Co Inc [2001] VSC 305 (Unreported, Hedigan J, 28 August 2001).

[21] Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick [2001] VSCA 249 (Unreported, Buchanan JA and O’Bryan AJA, 21 September 2001).

[22] These included Amazon.com, Associated Press, CNN, Guardian Newspapers, The New York Times, News Ltd, Time, The Washington Post, Yahoo! and John Fairfax Holdings: Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433, 453 fn 96 (Kirby J).

[23] Ibid 438 (Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ).

[24] Ibid 438–9 (citations omitted).

[25] Ibid 439.

[26] Ibid 440.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Ibid 443.

[30] Ibid 444.

[31] Ibid.

[32] Ibid.

[33] Ibid.

[34] Ibid 445.

[35] Ibid 436. See also Regie National des Usines Renault SA v Zhang [2002] HCA 10; (2002) 187 ALR 1, 436–7 (Gleeson CJ, Gaudron, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ): in an action for a tort with a foreign element, the choice of law rule to be applied is that matters of substance are governed by the law of the place of the commission of the tort (lex loci delicti).

[36] Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433, 446 (emphasis in original).

[37] Ibid.

[38] Ibid (citations omitted).

[39] Ibid 447 (citations omitted).

[40] Ibid.

[41] Ibid 449.

[42] Ibid 451–2.

[43] Ibid 452 (citations omitted).

[44] Ibid 452–5. ‘The nature of the Web makes it impossible to ensure with complete effectiveness the isolation of any geographic area on the earth’s surface from access to a particular website’: at 454.

[45] Ibid 455.

[46] Ibid 456.

[47] Ibid 460 (citations omitted). The lex mercatoria (‘law merchant’) comprised the customs and usages of merchants which were accepted into the common law of England by judicial recognition.

[48] Ibid 461.

[49] Ibid 462.

[50] Ibid 462–3 (citations omitted).

[51] Ibid 464.

[52] Ibid. This includes the notion that ‘words must be communicated to a third party who comprehends them’: at 464.

[53] Ibid 465.

[54] Ibid.

[55] Ibid 467.

[56] Ibid.

[57] Ibid 457.

[58] Ibid 458.

[59] Ibid 473.

[60] Ibid 472.

[61] Ibid.

[62] Ibid 474.

[63] Ibid 474–5.

[64] Ibid 475.

[65] Ibid (citations omitted).

[66] Ibid 478.

[67] Ibid 479.

[68] Ibid. During argument Callinan J remarked: ‘I do not understand that, Mr Robertson. In the past “The Times” newspaper would have gone to every colony in Australia. It might have got there rather late, but it would have gone to every colony in Australia, every province in Canada, it would have gone throughout the whole of that part of the world which was coloured red. I do not see the Internet as introducing anything particularly novel, you just get it more quickly’: Transcript of Proceedings, Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick (High Court of Australia, Callinan J, 28 May 2002).

[69] Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433, 480.

[70] Ibid 483.

[71] Ibid.

[72] Ibid 484.

[73] Ibid 475.

[74] Yahoo!, 169 F Supp 2d 1181, 1192–3 (ND Cal, 2001) (Fogel J).

[75] Matthew Collins, ‘Defamation and the Internet after Dow Jones & Co v Gutnick’ (2003) 8 Media & Arts Law Review (forthcoming). See also Lukowiak v Unidad Editorial SA [2001] EMLR 1043; Dan Svantesson, ‘Learning from Dow Jones v Gutnick — A Model Addressing Internet Defamation’ (unpublished paper, 2003).

[76] Collins, above n 75.

[77] See generally Peter Bartlett, ‘Jurisdiction on the Internet’ (Paper presented at the 5th LAWASIA Business Law Conference, New Dehli, India, 12–13 June 2003) 10–11.

[78] See Kirby J’s reference to the notion of ‘habitual residence’: Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433, 467. Some have talked in terms of balancing the interests of the country of origin and country of destination: see Margaret Radin, John Rothchild and Gregory Silverman, Internet Commerce: The Emerging Legal Framework (2002) 42–3.

[79] [2002] USCA4 228; 315 F 3d 256 (4th Cir, 2003) (‘Young’). See also ALS Scan Inc v Digital Service Consultants Inc, [2002] USCA4 124; 293 F 3d 707 (4th Cir, 2002) (‘ALS Scan’). Cf Northwest Healthcare Alliance Inc v Healthgrades.com Inc (Unreported, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judges Hall, Tashima and Rawlinson, 7 October 2002). On 28 April 2003 the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal: Healthgrades.com Inc v Northwest Healthcare Alliance Inc, [2003] USSC 3230; 155 L Ed 2d 826 (2003).

[80] International Shoe Co v Washington, [1945] USSC 158; 326 US 310, 316 (1945) (Stone CJ).

[81] Factors to be taken into consideration in this analysis include whether the defendant is incorporated or licensed to do business in the forum state, has offices, property, employees or bank accounts there, pays taxes, advertises or solicits business, or makes sales in the state: see Hirsch v Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Kansas City, 800 F 2d 1474, 1478 (9th Cir, 1986) (Fletcher J); Bancroft & Masters Inc v August National Inc, 223 F 3d 1082, 1086 (9th Cir, 2000) (Schroeder J); Amoco Egypt Oil Co v Leonis Navigation Co, [1993] USCA9 2340; 1 F 3d 848, 851 fn 3 (9th Cir, 1993) (Boochever J); MGM, 243 F Supp 2d 1073, 1083 (CD Cal, 2003) (Wilson J).

[82] Ziegler v Indian River County, [1995] USCA9 2454; 64 F 3d 470, 473 (9th Cir, 1995) (Farris J).

[83] Perkins v Benguet Consolidated Mining Co, [1952] USSC 38; 342 US 437, 447–8 (1952) (Burton J).

[84] 243 F Supp 2d 1073, 1083 (CD Cal, 2003) (Wilson J).

[85] Perkins v Benguet Consolidated Mining Co, [1952] USSC 38; 342 US 437, 447–8 (1952) (Burton J). Cf Amoco Egypt Oil Co v Leonis Navigation Co[1993] USCA9 2340; , 1 F 3d 848, 851 fn 3 (9th Cir, 1993) (Boochever J).

[86] Burger King Corporation v Rudzewicz, [1985] USSC 126; 471 US 462, 471–2 (1985) (Brennan J). See also World-Wide Volkswagen Corporation v Woodson[1980] USSC 12; , 444 US 286 (1980).

[87] MGM, 243 F Supp 2d 1073, 1084 (CD Cal, 2003) (Wilson J).

[88] See Zippo, 952 F Supp 1119 (WD Pa, 1997).

[89] See Calder v Jones, [1984] USSC 53; 465 US 783 (1984) (‘Calder’).

[90] Sonal Mehta, ‘Cyberlaw’ (2002) 17 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 337, 348.

[91] 243 F Supp 2d 1073 (CD Cal, 2003).

[92] Ibid 1088–91 (Judge Wilson). Cf Pavlovich v Superior Court of Santa Clara County, 29 Cal 4th 262 (2002).

[93] [2002] USCA4 228; 315 F 3d 256 (4th Cir, 2003). Cf Amway Corporation v Procter & Gamble Co, (Unreported, United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Judge Holmes Bell, 6 January 2000); Blumenthal v Drudge, 992 F Supp 44 (DC, 1998). For further discussion of these cases see Mehta, above n 90, 350–1.

[94] [2002] USCA4 124; 293 F 3d 707 (4th Cir, 2002).

[95] Young, [2002] USCA4 228; 315 F 3d 256, 262–3 (4th Cir, 2003) (Michael J) (citations omitted).

[96] [2002] USCA4 124; 293 F 3d 707, 714 (4th Cir, 2002) (Niemeyer J).

[97] [2002] USCA4 228; 315 F 3d 256, 262–3 (4th Cir, 2003) (Michael J) (citations omitted).

[98] Ibid 264.

[99] 646 NW 2d 527 (Minn, 2002). On 10 March 2003, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in this matter: Griffis v Luban, [2003] USSC 1955; 155 L Ed 2d 225 (2003).

[100] Griffis v Luban, 646 NW 2d 527, 535–7 (Minn, 2002) (Blatz CJ).

[101] See, eg, Revell v Lidov, [2002] USCA5 522; 317 F 3d 467 (5th Circ, 2002).

[102] See Brian Fitzgerald, ‘An Emerging Liberal Theory of International Law and the Non-Enforcement of Foreign Public Laws’ [1995] AUYrBkIntLaw 8; (1995) 16 Australian Year Book of International Law 311; Brian Fitzgerald, ‘Trade-Based Constitutionalisms: The Framework for Universalizing Substantive International Law?’ (1996–7) 5 University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review 111, 113–30.

[103] See generally Philip Jessup, Transnational Law (1956); Henry Steiner, Detlev Vagts and Harold Koh, Transnational Legal Problems: Materials and Text (4th ed, 1994); Andreas Lowenfeld, International Litigation and Arbitration (2nd ed, 2002).

[104] In this regard it will be interesting to follow the complaint now being taken by William Alpert — the writer of ‘Unholy Gains’ — to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva arguing that, as a result of the Gutnick decision, Australian law violates the guarantee of freedom of opinion and expression in art 19 of the ICCPR. In this instance we see an individual using existing international treaties to try to shape a transnational constitutionalism for cyberspace.

[105] See Hague Conference on Private International Law <http://www.hcch.net/e/workprog/

jdgm.html>. See also Dan Svantesson, ‘Jurisdictional Issues in Cyberspace: At the Crossroads — The Proposed Hague Convention and the Future of Internet Defamation’ (2002) 18 Computer Law & Security Report 191.

[106] Graeme Dinwoodie, ‘A New Copyright Order: Why National Courts Should Create Global Norms’ (2000) 149 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 469; Trotter Hardy, ‘The Proper Legal Regime for “Cyberspace”’ (1994) 55 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 993.

[107] Anne-Marie Burley, ‘Toward an Age of Liberal Nations’ (1992) 33 Harvard International Law Journal 393; Anne-Marie Burley, ‘Law among Liberal States: Liberal Internationalism and the Act of State Doctrine’ (1992) 92 Columbia Law Review 1907; Anne-Marie Slaughter Burley, ‘International Law and International Relations Theory: A Dual Agenda’ (1993) 87 American Journal of International Law 205; Anne-Marie Slaughter, ‘Judicial Globalization’ (2002) 40 Virginia Journal of International Law 1103; Anne-Marie Slaughter, ‘A Global Community of Courts’ (2003) 44 Harvard International Law Journal 191. See also Gutnick (2002) 194 ALR 433, 462–3 (Kirby J).

[108] See Minister of State for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Teoh [1995] HCA 20; (1995) 183 CLR 273; Applicant A v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1997) 190 CLR 225; Kruger v Commonwealth [1997] HCA 27; (1997) 190 CLR 1; Horta v Commonwealth [1994] HCA 32; (1994) 181 CLR 183; Newcrest Mining (WA) Ltd v Commonwealth [1997] HCA 38; (1997) 190 CLR 513; Kartinyeri v Commonwealth [1998] HCA 22; (1998) 195 CLR 337. See also Bryan Horrigan and Brian Fitzgerald, ‘International and Transnational Influences on Law and Policy Affecting Government’ in Bryan Horrigan (ed), Government Law and Policy: Commercial Aspects (1998) 2; Brian Fitzgerald, ‘International Human Rights and the High Court of Australia’ (1994) 1 James Cook University Law Review 78.

[109] In argument before the High Court, Geoffrey Robertson QC remarked that ‘[e]very advanced country will or seems to treat aspects of speech as precious’: Transcript of Proceedings, Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick (High Court of Australia, Geoffrey Robertson QC, 28 May 2002).

[110] This was highlighted during argument by Gaudron J who, in response to the proposition that comity should see actions judged by the law at the point of origin or upload, said: ‘But comity surely, Mr Robertson, cannot just be restricted to the countries whose legal system we respect’: Transcript of Proceedings, Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick (High Court of Australia, Gaudron J, 28 May 2002).

[111] On this term, see Lessig, above n 3, 506 fn 15.

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