The hyperlink case – a licence to defame?
In Crookes v. Newman, Mr. Crookes sued Mr. Newman for online defamation because of hyperlinks that Mr. Newman had placed in articles he published online. The hyperlinks, when clicked, took the readers to websites that contained statements that Mr. Crookes claimed were defamatory of him. Mr. Crookes lost at trial and on appeal and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.