Lawyers for Google will appear before the High Court on Tuesday to argue the case that the internet search engine is incapable of defaming people.
In 2016, the Victorian Court of Appeal found in favour of Google after Milorad "Michael" Trkulja claimed Google had defamed him by publishing photos of him linked to hardened criminals of Melbourne's underworld.
He sued the internet giant, arguing when search terms such as "Melbourne criminal underworld photos" and "Melbourne underworld criminals" were entered, images of him showed up.
However, the appeals court found Google could not be held to be the "publisher" of the allegedly defamatory material because the search results were produced by an automated web search.
They also found the material on which Mr Trkulja sued was not capable of conveying any defamatory meanings.
If search engines were to have immunity from liability for defamation, it should come from the parliament rather than the courts, the appeals court said.
Mr Trkulja's lawyers will argue in the High Court the appeals court erred in saying he had no prospect of success in proving Google was a publisher.
They will reject Google's assertion that an "ordinary reasonable user of a search engine" is not the same as an "ordinary reasonable viewer or reader" which forms the basis of media defamation cases.
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