Google and sixthseal.com sued by Jothy's Fish Head Curry restaurant for RM6mil

Suing Google for defamation because Google listed links that relates to bad reviews on your company? Sue you may but it's none of Google problem.

In the western countries, if there were bad reviews, the owner would contact the reviewers and offer them free complements. That is their effort to prove the reviewer wrong. In the case that the reviews is true, the owner would improve and he or she will get the reviewers to try their improve products or services.

A popular Indian cuisine restaurant in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia that is recommended by travel guide Lonely Planet, is suing a blogger (who operates sixthseal.com) and Google for defamation.

Jothy's Fish Head Curry restaurant director Tharumaraj Sivaperumal filed a RM6mil civil suit at the Kota Kinabalu High Court here Monday, naming blogger Poh Huai Bin as first defendant and California-based Google Inc as second defendant.

The suit is arising from some allegedly defamatory statements about Jothy's Fish Head Curry restaurant posted in May last year by Poh, originally from Sibu in Sarawak and now residing in Kuala Lumpur.

Jothy's, represented by counsel Marcel Jude Joseph, is seeking exemplary or punitive damages to deter them from making similar statements in future and an order to restrain Poh from defaming the restaurant on the Internet.

Jothy's is also seeking an order from the court to remove the offending articles from Google and other popular search engines used on the Internet.

The company claimed that the alleged defamatory statements published by both the defendants tended to prejudice against the plaintiff in the conduct of its business and deter others from dealing with it and were injurious to the business.

As a result of the defendants' action, the plaintiff claimed it had suffered loss and damage, and its reputation had been affected both locally and internationally.

The plaintiff claimed that the good reputation of the restaurant, in operation since 1987, was known globally and reported as a well-known destination in Kota Kinabalu and Sabah, in the global television and book series Lonely Planet, referred to as an authority for tourists throughout the world.

The plaintiff also claimed that the posting and articles of the first defendant were available and read by Internet users throughout Sabah and Malaysia, adding that the second defendant conducted business within the jurisdiction of Malaysian courts because its search engine was used regularly by Internet users in the country.

via TheStar

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