Google Defeated in Landmark Right to be Forgotten Case

Last week, the High Court found in favour of a businessman ("Mr X") who had issued proceedings against Google, as a result of Google failing to break links to articles which he said were outdated. The identity of Mr X was protected by the court.

Mr X spent six months in jail 10 years ago, for the offence of conspiring to intercept communications. After he made an application for the right to be forgotten, Google refused to remove links to articles concerning his conviction and Mr X took the matter to the High Court, who found in his favour.

It seems to have been key to the High Court's decision that Mr X had shown remorse for what he had done. A distinction was made between Mr X and another man whose case was heard at the same time, who the Judge said had continued to mislead the public. 

Judith Thompson, Partner at Samuels Solicitors with a specialisation in dealing with right to be forgotten applications, and reputation management issues, said: “This is an extremely important ruling by the High Court, for anyone seeking to clean up their reputation online. It is clear that Google will not only have to consider the original offence itself, but how applicants for the right to be forgotten have conducted themselves since their conviction. The High Court has set a precedent with this case, meaning that where internet search results have a disproportionate impact upon an individual they should be removed.”

At Samuels Solicitors we have many years of experience of dealing with Right to be Forgotten applications on behalf of clients in relation to Google and other internet search engines. 

We carry out our work for a competitive fixed fee so there are no nasty surprises later on. Once you have instructed us, we will usually have a result from the internet search engine within a couple of weeks.

Contact us today for a no obligation discussion about how we can help.