One of Hong Kong's pioneer data communications companies, Asia On-Line, has set an off-line precedent for Internet litigation etiquette by excluding a rival Internet company from legal action launched in the Hong Kong Supreme Court last week.
Asia On-Line, its sister company Worldlink, and parent company Asia Communications Global, are seeking unspecified damages from a subscriber of Hong Kong SuperNet, who posted information on a SuperNet newsgroup last month, predicting that Asia On-Line would fold.
Joe Sweeney, managing director of Asia On-Line, said the group had been expanding rapidly and secured another 1,800 square feet of floor space last week.
Mr Sweeney said while he could not comment on the specifics of the action, SuperNet had been quite supportive but was keen to avoid the issue.
'We do not see any reason to bring SuperNet into the picture,' Mr Sweeney said.
The publisher of the Internet Law Update in the United States said courts in the US were still wrestling with the status of Internet Service Providers and their liability for hosting data that could be defamatory.