In article {4n61nf$hn1@staff.cs.su.oz.au}, danny@cs.su.oz.au says... >Some of you may remember Rindos vs Hardwick, the first Australian
>defamation case based on Usenet posts. Well, it looks like Dr Rindos'
>long-running case (for unfair dismissal) against the University of
>Western Australia has them running scared. They're now threatening to
>sue *him* for defamation based on the contents of a Web site.
>The URL for the site is
> http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~hjarvis/rindos.html
>-- visit it before the lawyers censor it!
>
>Danny Yee.

There is a long road to travel before a defamation action by an Australian against an American ever gets into court.

The matter of where jurisdiction lies is amongst the questions that have to be answered before ever action can result.

No one has yet said what "action" the WA University has commenced.

For my two bits worth I'd say it doesn't have a hope in hell of succeding and the Uni is making flack in the hope the article will be withdrawn.

A Successful Defamation action has to be able (in WA) to prove what was said was a lie or that it was not in the public interest for the information to be released/told. Public figures have even less chance of succeeding at this than government ministers!

Doug Smith