Is Google Subject to the Hong Kong Court’s Defamation Jurisdiction?
International Business Articles
ONC Lawyers
Hong Kong
When the entertainment tycoon and the internet giant clash in court In Dr Yeung Sau Shing Albert v Google Inc [2014] 5 HKC 375, the Plaintiff (Yeung), a Hong Kong businessman most famous for his success in the entertainment industry, discovered that typing his Chinese and English names in the search box of the Defendant (Google)’s search engine automatically generated below the search box a list of search suggestions that associated Yeung with criminal activities and triad groups (the “Autocomplete” function). Further, on hitting the search button with his Chinese and English names in the search box, a list of related search results of similar nature was displayed at the bottom of the page (the “Related Search” function). His solicitors wrote to Google and its legal representatives to demand removal of the defamatory words that the two functions generated. As Google failed to comply with his request, he initiated legal proceedings against Google in Hong Kong.
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December 2014