Transactions and Cases

Canadian Civil Liberties Association to intervene in Supreme Court of Canada case concerning hyperlinks and defamation

Torys is representing the Canadian Civil Liberties Association with a team that includes Wendy Matheson, Andrew Bernstein and Molly Reynolds.

On September 20, 2010, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association was granted leave to intervene by the Supreme Court of Canada in Crookes v. Newton.

In Crookes, the Supreme Court will consider to what extent providing an Internet hyperlink gives rise to liability for defamation in relation to the material to which the link leads. For example:

What happens when a web page that is hyperlinked to contains content that is defamatory to the reputation of a person or a corporation – is the linker as responsible for the defamatory content as the original publisher of the web page?

What if the linker did not know, when creating the hyperlink, that the defamatory content existed?

What if the original publisher posted the defamatory content only after the hyperlink was created?

What if the defamatory content existed on another page of the same website?

Further information about the case is found on Canadian Civil Liberties Association's website.

Case Team

Wendy Matheson Andrew Bernstein Molly Reynolds

Related Areas and Groups

Litigation and Dispute Resolution Media and Defamation Pro Bono Technology Litigation

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