In October 2000, Barron’s published an article entitled "Unholy Gains," portraying Australian mining magnate Joseph Gutnick as a schemer, stock scammer, money launderer and fraud. Mr. Gutnick, a resident of Victoria, Australia, in the Supreme Court of Victoria filed a libel suit against Dow Jones claiming damages for defamation.
The High Court of Australia rejected Dow Jones's contention that the article’s publication occurred in New Jersey and found that the impugned statements were published in the State of Victoria when downloaded by Dow Jones subscribers from the Web rejecting Dow Jones’ argument and appeal that it was preferable that the publisher of Internet material be able to govern its conduct according only to the law of the place where it maintains its web servers, unless that place is merely adventitious or opportunistic.
Australia’s highest court focused on the tort of defamation and ruled that publication is a bilateral act requiring comments to be made and comments to be received. In the case of the Internet, it is where a person downloads the material that damage to reputation may be done, and that is the place where the tort is committed. This ruling (at the end of 2002), predict Legal experts, will have a significant impact on publishers/websites all over the the world.