In a ruling handed down in British Columbia, Google was ordered to remove the infringing websites’ listings from its search results. Despite the fact that Google was not a part of litigation, and its protestations that the Canadian court had no jurisdiction over Google in the United States, the Judge targeted Google’s central database in the United States, providing the ruling with worldwide implications.
The judge noticed “That the effect of the injunction could reach beyond one state is a separate issue. Even an order mandating or enjoining conduct entirely within British Columbia may have such extraterritorial, or even worldwide effect.” To this regard the court reasoned that “For example, a non-party corporation that warehouses and ships goods for a defendant manufacturing company might be ordered on an interim injunction to freeze the defendants’ goods and refrain from shipping them. That injunction could affect orders received from customers around the world. Could it sensibly be argued that the Court could not grant the injunction because it would have effects worldwide?” According to the judge, “The impact of an injunction on strangers to the suit or the order itself is a valid consideration in deciding whether to exercise the Court’s jurisdiction to grant an injunction. It does not, however, affect the Court’s authority to make such an order” and so she explained that “to be effective, even within Canada, Google must block search results on all of its websites”. The decision is available at http://www.courts…