Kandola v Google LLC (No 2)

[2021] FCA 1412

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Kandola v Google LLC (No 2) [2021] FCA 1412  

File number(s):

NSD 865 of 2021

Judgment of:

CHEESEMAN J

Date of judgment:

12 November 2021

Catchwords:

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application for preliminary discovery pursuant to r 7.22 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) – preliminary discovery sought in aid of commencing defamation proceedings arising from allegedly defamatory comments made online – first prospective respondent served but did not appear – application granted.

Legislation:

Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth), rr 7.22(1), 10.42 and 10.43

Cases cited:

Kandola v Google LLC [2021] FCA 1262

Musicki v Google LLC [2021] FCA 1393

Division:

General Division

Registry:

New South Wales

National Practice Area:

Other Federal Jurisdiction

Number of paragraphs:

17

Date of hearing:

12 November 2021

Counsel for the Prospective Applicants:

Ms R Kandola appeared for the prospective applicants

ORDERS

NSD 865 of 2021

BETWEEN:

MR TEJINDER SINGH KANDOLA

First Prospective Applicant

MS RACHEL KANDOLA

Second Prospective Applicant

AND:

GOOGLE LLC

First Prospective Respondent

THRYV AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Second Prospective Respondent

ORDER MADE BY:	CHEESEMAN J
DATE OF ORDER:	12 NOVEMBER 2021

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1.As soon as is reasonably practicable and in any event within 15 days of being served with this order by email in accordance with order 2, the first prospective respondent, Google LLC, shall provide to the prospective applicants by email to [e-mail], the following information, to the extent that such information is available, in relation to the Google Search and Map reviews of Unicorn Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Pty Ltd linked with the Google Accounts:

(a)‘Frank H’ - align="left">(b)‘John S’  - subscriber information for the Accounts, including;

(i)the name of the users;

(ii)account creation information;

(iii)email addresses;

(iv)the IP addresses of logins;

(v)associated timestamps;

(vi)telephone numbers;

(vii)location metadata; and

(viii)other identifying details of other accounts originating from the same IP address, email address, and telephone number.

2.Pursuant to rr 10.42 and 10.43 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth), the prospective applicants be granted leave to serve this order, and the Court’s reasons for judgment once published (together, the Documents) upon Google in the United States of America in accordance with the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters done at the Hague on 15 November 1965, by sending the Documents using international registered post, with an acknowledgment of receipt to be provided by Google to the prospective applicants, addressed to:

(a)Google LLC

C/O Custodian of Records 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway

Mountain View, California 94043 United States of America

and by sending the Documents by email to Google at the following addresses:

(b)[e-mail]; and

(c)[e-mail]

3.No order as to the costs of the present application.

Note:  Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

(Revised from transcript)

CHEESEMAN J:

1. These proceedings concern an application for preliminary discovery by the prospective applicants, Ms Rachel Kandola and Mr Tejinder Singh Kandola, against Google LLC and…