Cases

Crookes v Newton

Facts

The Defendant published an article entitled "Free Speech in Canada" on a website which he owned and operated. The article contained hyperlinks to other websites, two of which contained allegedly defamatory material about the Claimant. The Claimant sued in defamation claiming that by including the hyperlinks in his article the Defendant was publishing the allegedly defamatory material and was therefore liable for it.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia found for the Defendant. The trial judge decided that hyperlinks were analogous to footnotes and since they only refer to material rather than repeating it there is no publication. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision. The majority also adopted the footnote analogy, finding that while some words in an article might constitute an encouragement or invitation to view the site linked to so as to incorporate the allegedly defamatory material, there were no grounds for such a finding in this case. The matter was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

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