This article focuses on choice of law in the context of Internet defamation with reference to a recent Australian High Court decision, Dow Jones v. Gutnick. The case raised a myriad of issues ranging from comparative defamation laws (and values systems) of the United States versus Australia, the meaning of "publication" and the need for Internet-specific legal reforms. These issues interact with and have an impact upon the choice of law problem. This article discusses the various alternatives for resolving the choice of law problem. It concludes by tentatively recommending some choice of law rules in the context of Internet defamation.

This article essentially examines the question as to whether there is any basis, in principle, for the existence and application of an extra-statutory defence based on the general public interest in the law of copyright in Singapore. The article begins by tracing the history of the defence of public interest that is sometimes raised by defendants in actions for copyright infringement in England. It looks at how the defence at common law- and whether correctly or not- found its way into the U.K. Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 and examines the interpretation accorded to it by the English courts. Adopting a comparative approach, the article then examines the issue from the Australian perspective and concludes by asking how Singapore should approach the question of public interest in our domestic law of copyright.

There has been much judicial and academic debate over the proper scope of and rationale underlying the principle in ex parte James, and in particular its conferral of de facto insolvency priority on the successful claimant. This article attempts to review the principle's operation in the context of the function and principles of insolvency law, determine the actual role that it plays in dealing with post-insolvency claims and accordingly identify the justifications that can be offered for this role. It argues that the principle is better seen as an application of the liquidation expenses principle or the fair treatment of certain post-insolvency claims.