NSW Judicial Commission ordered to provide information about complaints it received in relation to former magistrate Pat O’Shane … Original subpoena narrowed in another interlocutory wrangle with Harbour Radio and Alan Jones ... more
Year: 2014
Shift2Neutral Pty Ltd & Brett Goldsworthy v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd & Anor
Judgment for the defendant … Fairfax Media proves that carbon credit company Shift2Neutral was a fake and its founder a liar … Acting Justice Henric Nicholas upholds truth defence for all imputations ... more
Lange and the politics of election funding
Late last year the High Court once again considered Lange implied freedom of political communication, albeit in a non-media context. Media lawyer Graham Hryce examines the court’s not unsurprising finding ... more
Dr Stephen Prince v Dr John Malouf
Ear, nose and throat surgeons’ appeal and cross-appeal result in a victory for common law qualified privilege … Doctor-patient relationship key as damages are cut from $138,500 to $20,000 … more
Pressing for press accountability in Britain
The Impress Project is developing a form of independent self-regulation for the British press … In this article, its founding director Jonathan Heawood outlines how freedom of the press and a civil society could be made compatible ... more
Why New Zealand’s cyber-bullying bill is a good move
A bill dealing with cyber-bullying is currently before the New Zealand parliament … Barrister Steven Price argues that giving judges the power to issue take-down orders is the right response to online harassment ... more
IP news here, and there
Cisco settles with Innovatio after $13 million legal battle … Producers of Dallas Buyers Club sue 31 BitTorrent users … Twitter buys 900 IBM patents … Google sheds Motorola hardware division ... more
Anonymity and defamation
How is an anonymous plaintiff compatible with the public vindication of damage to reputation? ... And what is the nature of the evolving relationship between defamation and privacy? Media law academic Dr David Rolph reflects on two significant cases ... more
Susan Roberts-Smith v Michael Crawshaw
The antiquated law of spousal privilege rears its head in an interlocutory defamation judgment as former Anglican community school employees do defamation battle in the WA Supreme Court … Carmel Galati reports ... more
Privacy and the internet
A recent UK High Court decision determined that the misuse of private information is a tort … Sydney media law academic Dr David Rolph looks at the ramifications for the development of a privacy law in Australia ... more
James Dorsey v World Sports Group Pte Ltd
An usual decision in the Singapore Court of Appeal upholds the protection of journalists’ sources … In this case a journalist/blogger who made allegations of corruption against the World Sports Group … Peter Bartlett reports ... more
Keysar Trad v Harbour Radio Pty Ltd
Controversial Muslim community spokesman Keysar Trad loses a second appeal over allegations aired by 2GB … It is true that he is a dangerous and disgraceful individual who incites people to commit acts of violence and have racist attitudes ... more