Woman 'beats the bastards' by winning a $100,000 defamation case against Google

Janice Duffy wins compensation from tech giant four years after filing case

The new Google logo is displayed at the Google headquarters (Getty)

A woman from Australia has been awarded $100,000 in compensation after suing Google for defamation.

Janice Duffy took the internet search giant to court after claiming articles published on the “Ripoff Report” website defamed her.

After bringing the articles to their attention, Google denied the 59-year-old’s request to remove the webpages, despite her claims that prospective employers could chance upon the material.

Ms Duffy also claimed the auto-complete search terms suggested by Google were harmful, due to them directing users to the “Ripoff Report” site.

Since filing the case in 2011, Google has taken the material down from its Australian site, although the case is still ongoing after the judge moved it onto the South Australian Supreme Court.

In the 144-page judgement, Justice Malcolm Blue ruled that Google did publish defamatory material about Ms Duffy and ordered Google to pay her $100,000 in compensation.

Ms Duffy told local paper The Advertiser: "I wish it hadn't happened, but I beat the bastards.

"I'm glad I stood up to them."

The ruling comes after Google was ordered by the European Court of Justice to introduce the "right to be forgotten", which means old, inaccurate or irrelevant data must be ommitted from search results if a person involved requests it.