Scenario in HK

Cases

Investasia Ltd. & Another v. Kodansha Co. Ltd. & Another
The central issue of the case was about the "appropriate forum" for proceedings in relation to the publication of defamatory material on the Internet. In that case, the plaintiffs, Investasia Ltd (the first plaintiff) and Seiichi Wada (the second plaintiff) issued a writ against the defendants, Kodansha Co Ltd. (the first defendant) and Hirotoshi Ito (the second defendant) on 20 November 1997. The statement of claims alleged that the plaintiffs were libelled by two articles written in Japanese language by the second defendant and published by the first defendant. Both defendants were in Japan. The first plaintiff was a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and carried on business in Hong Kong and elsewhere. The second plaintiff said he was a businessman with business in Hong Kong , Japan and elsewhere and was the controlling hand of the first plaintiff. One of the subject articles was published on the Internet and the other one was published on a magazine which had 157 copies distributed in Hong Kong out of its some 500,000 copies published.

It was concluded that the tort was committed and the damages was sustained in Hong Kong. In coming to the decision, the court has considered and relied on some principles which I think these worth attention to either local or overseas, online or offline publishers. In my interpretation, these are:

Scale of publication
It was no doubt that the number of copies being distributed within the jurisdiction was insignificant as compared to the total number. But the judge's consideration did reflect that we should not rely on such a comparative number, instead, we should consider whether the absolute number of copies concerned is sufficient to determine a complaint about the publication is one of substance. I agree that if there are evidence in any particular case that a person has a reputation in the country to be defamed, or is known there, or traded there, or had a professional or social connections, it may be that the circulation of even a very few copies may cause him very serious harm.