Mark Emlick, founder of Dunedin, wins his defamation case in the High Court of London
23 July 2009
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The High Court of London has delivered judgment in a libel claim brought by our client, Mark Emlick, founder and Chairman of Dunedin Independent plc and Strategic Investment Management Limited and other property companies operating in Dubai, against the publishers of Gulf News, considered one of the most widely read newspapers in the United Arab Emirates.
The judgment upheld that statements made in an article, which alleged that our client defrauded investors both in the UAE and overseas, were highly defamatory and damaging to Mr Emlick’s reputation in England and Wales.
In a statement Mr Emlick said: “This judgment has allowed me to uphold a business reputation which I have built up over the last 25 years. Anyone in business will tell you that your reputation is your most important asset, so to have that called into question was deeply concerning. I’m fortunate that I was able to bring a case to the High Court, but there are many people who wouldhave been left high and dry, with their reputation in tatters.”
Judge Maloney considered the impact of the internet in damaging reputations and referred to the “pernicious operation of the internet”. Judge Moloney observed that when typing in the name of the Claimant on Google, the search engine automatically directs the searcher to the website containing the defamatory article, even if this is not what the searcher is looking for. He stated that there is a certain magnetism or gravitational pull which can bring internet libels to the attention of those who are not even searching for it and it is very different to book or newspaper libels in this respect.
In light of this, Judge Moloney concluded that there was substantial publication and the majority of the publication in England and Wales would have been through the internet.
Judge Moloney also considered third party republications, and whether it mattered if the republishers had not copied their material from a publication in England and Wales, and not publications elsewhere in the World. In determining the issue, he held that when publishing anything on the internet, it is eminently foreseeable that other websites or bloggers will take advantage of the ease with which this material can be republished. Judge Moloney was satisfied that it is proper to treat the Defendant as the tortfeasor for the third party websites, without imposing an additional hurdle on the Claimant of showing that the third party websites were based on publication in England and Wales.
Simon Smith, Partner at Schillings, said: "The Courts in the UK continue to entertain libel actions brought against overseas publishers who place their articles on a website which can be read in the UK in circumstances where, as a result, harm is done to the reputation of a claimant who or which enjoys a reputation in the UK".
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