Scenario in HK

Cases



Connections and reputation
Although the first plaintiff was a British Virgin Island company and the second plaintiff did not have a HK Identity card, the considerations should be focused on whether they had a reputation there merits protection. As the Judge considered in that case following the UK case of Berezovsky v. Michaels & Others, the degree to which the plaintiffs had connections and/or a reputation in the subject country was relevant.

The nature of the publication
In that case, one of the considerations taken into by the judge was the nature of publication. As said, if the alleged defamatory material was what one might describe as sensational and juicy, a much smaller size of publication would be sufficient. In my opinion, the consideration is logical but in practice, it may be too subjective.

The recent cases
So far, not many cases about defamation in relation to the Internet are heard. I am not sure why but I do believe there should be various content or messages carried on the website or transmitted via email are subject to defamation. For instance, an email was sent out by a lady resided in Hong Kong which was considered defamatory respecting Fancl, a Japanese brand of cosmetics and nutrients food. It was said that most of the Fancl shops in Japan was closed because of its poor business. As publicized, Hong Kong office of Fancl has taken immediate action against the lady upon notice of the alleged libellous material.

Another case happened in March or April 2003 when every citizen in Hong Kong is worrying about the outbreak of SARs, an email was disseminated widely saying a group of clinical doctors have contracted the deadly virus, SARs. Because of the email, some influenced doctors have reported a financial loss because patients were scared away, and considered taking an action for the alleged email message.

Although we still don't know whether legal actions are eventually taken and the decisions, these happenings do warn us the improvement on the law of defamation with clearer guidelines not only to the ISPs or other online service providers, but also to the netizens of Hong Kong before the situation get worst