An injunction has been issued to Google requiring them to hand over the account details and the IP address of a user that a Victorian Labor candidate claims defamed them in an email.
In the state election the year before, Nurul Khan was recommended to run for the Labor party. On November 9, however, an email filled with claims against him was distributed to ministers and press organizations.
After that, the Western Metropolitan region’s upper house candidate endorsement committee decided not to support him in the run-up to the election on November 26.
Khan has taken Google to federal court in an effort to discover the identity of the originator of the anonymous message so that he can file a defamation lawsuit against that individual.
On Tuesday, his attorney, Justin Castelan, argued in court that the contents of the email were “absolutely defamatory.” He did so by reading aloud a number of the sender’s allegations.
The email stated that Khan was required to pay fines for his unethical behavior and that he had been accused of bribery and other forms of corruption.
On Tuesday, Google’s legal team did not make an appearance in the federal court in Melbourne but instead submitted a suggested order.
On or around November 9, Justice Catherine Button issued an order mandating that the tech giant produce the subscriber registration information found in the Google account, in addition to the IP logins associated with the email address.
The company has 20 days to comply from the service of the order.
Khan has requested another hearing for the month of August in order to determine whether or not he can proceed with his defamation action.
