Supreme Court Decision Saps Power from Mighty Google, Sets Precedent

The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a provincial court’s ruling that ordered Silicon Valley giant Google to remove the website of a company from its search results.

Network technology manufacturer Equustek Solutions, based in Vancouver, saw its products being illegally resold by another firm. That firm left the province after Equustek sued it, and Google removed its websites from Canadian search results—but not global ones.

Google dismissed the power of the BC court, a global injunction would violate freedom of expression, but Canada’s top court has decided the search result removal should have global reach, even if the order is issued by a provincial system.

“The appeal is dismissed and the worldwide interlocutory injunction against Google is upheld,” stated the court in its decision this week. “We have not, to date, accepted that freedom of expression requires the facilitation of the unlawful sale of goods.”

Google says that it has not yet decided whether it will continue fighting the case.

Equustek’s was ecstatic with the decision, noting that oftentimes companies like Google seem so large and influential, they are almost immune to the rules by which everyone else must play.

Should Google not appeal the decision, the Supreme Court’s ruling could set a worldwide precedent moving forward.