OTTAWA—In a 7-2 ruling that has broad implications for freedom of expression, the reach of courts to protect intellectual property, and for the operations of Internet-based businesses, the country’s top court upheld a sweeping injunction against Google’s ability to display commercial content that was at the heart of a court battle.Google is barred from displaying anywhere in the world the websites of a company accused of counterfeiting a Canadian technology company’s products, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled.It ruled the worldwide search engine may not be the one causing the direct harm to a small B.C. tech company, but it was not a bystander. Rather Google is a key actor or player, said the court.Google, which controls 70-75 per cent of all global searches on the Internet, facilitated harm to Equustek Solutions Inc. because Google searches linked to the company’s competitor, which is accused of stealing its trade secrets. So the high court upheld the power of a Canadian superior court to make an order, even reaching beyond Canadian borders, to stop that harm.“When non-parties are so involved in the wrongful acts of others that they facilitate the harm, even if they themselves are not guilty of wrongdoing, they can be subject to interlocutory injunctions,” the court said.Where necessary, a Canadian court can grant an injunction to prohibit “conduct anywhere in the world,” the judges wrote. “The problem, in this case, is occurring online and globally. The Internet has no borders; its natural habitat is global.”The case drew interventions by 30 different advocates of free expression and intellectual property rights, as well as the attorneys general of Canada and Ontario.But the high court was unpersuaded that an injunction against Google would trample the rights of freedom of expression. Rather, it said there was a serious issue — theft of intellectual property — at st ...
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