31 October 2012 Last updated at 08:45 ET
Google loses Australia 'gangland' defamation lawsuit
The jury indicated that Google should have removed the
content after it received Mr Trkulja's complaint
A jury in Australia has found Google liable for damages
after a complaint that its search results had linked a local man to gangland
crime.
Milorad Trkulja had alleged that the US firm's image and
web results had caused harm to his reputation.
The 62-year-old had said the site had refused to remove
the material when asked. He had previously won a related case against Yahoo.
Google has not commented on the verdict and might still
appeal.
The judge is expected to set the level of damages owed
within a fortnight.
'False innuendos'
Mr Trkulja moved to Australia in the early 1970s after
leaving Yugoslavia. He subsequently became a prominent member of the migrant
community, hosting the Yugoslav-themed "Micky's Folkfest" television
show in the 1990s.
In 2004 he was shot in the back by a man wearing a
balaclava while at a restaurant. The crime was never solved, but a report by
the Herald Sun newspaper later said that police did not link the attack to
Melbourne's underworld.
As a result of the attack Mr Trkulja said that entering
his name into Google Images brought up images of other people beneath which his
name appeared.
He said some of these figures were allegedly murderers
and one a drug trafficker. In addition the caption "Melbourne Crime"
appeared beneath several of the photos, including one of Mr Trkulja himself,
which he had alleged might lead users to believe he was a criminal.
"Melbourne Crime", in fact, referred to the
source of the images - a now defunct website going by that name.
Mr Trkulja had also complained that the first result
brought up by a web search of his name showed the words "Michael Trkulja -
Melbourne Crime - Underworld - Ganglands", beneath which appeared the
sentence: "Former music promoter Michael Trkulja was shot in the back by a
hitman wearing a balaclava while dining at a St Albans restaurant in June
2004."
He said this created a "false innuendo"
suggesting he had been involved in crime and his rivals had hired a hitman to
murder him.
He added that couples had refused to sit at the same
table as him at a wedding as a consequence, and that others had deliberately
avoided him in public.
In 2009 Mr Trkulja's lawyers contacted Google to ask it
to amend its results, and subsequently filed a lawsuit.
Google argued that its results had been based on
automated software processes and that, since it was not a publisher itself, put
forward the defence of "innocent dissemination".
The jury at the Supreme Court of Victoria agreed that
this was a reasonable argument, but only up to the point that Google had
received the complaint about its picture results.
It indicated that the content should have been removed at
that point, and as a result the search firm was liable for defamation.
However, the jury found that Google was not liable for
the web search results since Mr Trkulja had incorrectly filled out a complaint
form, missing out the web address of the content to which he had objected.
Mr Trkulja later told journalists he felt vindicated by
the ruling.
"I've lived in Australia 41 years," he told
News Limited Network. "This case is not about the money, it's about
protecting my family, my children and my reputation."
Search complaints
Mr Trkulja had previously won a lawsuit against Yahoo
after its Yahoo7 news service had also linked to a defamatory content on the
Melbourne Crime site.
Yahoo's lawyers acknowledged that this amounted to
"publishing" the content and was subsequently ordered to pay more
than A$241,000 ($250,000; £155,000) in damages.
The verdicts follow another ruling in Japan in which the
Google was ordered to disable part of its auto-complete function after
allegations it linked a local man to crimes he was not involved in.
The firm also faces legal action by Bettina Wulff, wife
of the former German president, over complaints that typing her name into its
engine brings up the suggested search terms "prostitute" and
"red light district".
Comments
Post a Comment