(RTTNews) -  Internet and search engine giant Google Inc. (GOOG: News ) won a ruling in a defamation case in the U.K. brought in by an online education provider, after a judge ruled that Google is not responsible for allegedly defamatory online comments that appeared in its Internet search results.

In a ruling made last week, Justice Eady said that Google's automated search engine trawls the Web and indexes content without any human input. Google cannot "be regarded as a publisher of the words complained of," the judge said.

The case was initiated by Luton, England-based Metropolitan International Schools Ltd., an online trading company that operates Train2Game computer games courses. The company sued Google over comments posted on Web forums that had accused it of running a scam, an allegation that was denied by Metropolitan International, according to the judgment.

Metropolitan International Schools sued Google for publicizing the claims through its search results, although the Web forums did not belong to Google. In its defense, Google argued it should not be held responsible for the content of the 39 billion Web pages available on the Internet.

Justice Eady noted that Google is merely a conduit to the information and not a publisher in its own right. He ruled that Google's Internet search engine is not considered a publisher under defamation law, and therefore is not responsible for the content of the short descriptions of Web sites that appear in Google searches. He also ruled that there is "no reasonable prospect of success" and dismissed the suit.
The decision, the first of its kind in Britain, is seen as consistent with court decisions in several other European countries. In the United States, search engines are protected from liability for the contents of the results they turn up.

Following the ruling, Google said in a statement, "We are pleased with this result, which reinforces the principle that search engines aren't responsible for content that is published on third party websites. Mr. Justice Eady made clear if someone feels they have been defamed by material on a Web site then they should address their complaint to the person who actually wrote and published the material, and not a search engine, which simply provides a searchable index of content on the Internet."

GOOG closed Monday's regular trading session on the Nasdaq at $430.17, down $0.08 or 0.02% on a volume of 3.15 million shares.

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by RTT Staff Writer

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