Introduction

This Cyber Libel Cases section is a listing of Canadian court decisions involving the publication of allegedly defamation expression via the Internet.

This list is not exhaustive: (a) court rulings are not always reduced to writing; (b) the law reports and electronic databases do not contain all written court rulings; and (c) jury verdicts are not published in the law reports or in electronic legal databases.

The Canadian Internet defamation decisions are currently indexed under the following topic headings:

Jurisdiction
Notice of Intended Action
Limitations Defences
Defamation Damage Awards
Substantive Defences
Pre-Trial Injunctions
Anonymous Defendants
Miscellaneous Cyber Libel Issues

As new Canadian Court rulings are pronounced and listed on this page, new topic headings may be added.

Under each topic heading, the Canadian decisions are listed in reverse chronological order (i.e. the most recent decision is listed first).

Wherever possible, a hypertext link is provided to the full text of a Canadian decision. A link will in most cases lead to a free, publicly-accessible website.

In a few instances, the link is not to another website but to an Adobe Acrobat version of the judgment stored on this website.

A number of decisions have no link. Most are from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice which does not display its decisions on its website.

Most of the Canadian decisions which pre-date April 1, 2004 are discussed in Roger D. McConchie and David A. Potts, Canadian Libel and Slander Actions (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2004). References to relevant pages in the book are given below.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

McConchie Law Corporation makes this list available to clients, friends of the firm, legal researchers, and others interested in Internet law with the caveat that nothing on this website constitutes legal advice. Potential Internet defamation litigants should ensure that they obtain appropriate legal advice tailored to their specific circumstances.

McConchie Law Corporation can not accept any responsibility for keeping information on this list up-to-date although it strives to do so. Cases of interest should be carefully up-dated before any reliance is placed on them.

McConchie Law Corporation does not express any view concerning the validity of the findings of fact made by the courts whose decisions are listed below. Findings of fact may be discussed, however, to the extent necessary to provide context for a court’s decision.