Swiss Bank Drops Wikileaks Lawsuit

Case of posted documents raised free-speech issues
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 6, 2008 3:32 PM CST
Swiss Bank Drops Wikileaks Lawsuit
Swiss Bank Julius Baer has moved to withdraw its suit against Wikileaks.org, which raised questions of First Amendment rights.   (Shutterstock.com)

The Swiss bank that sued over private documents posted on Wikileaks.org has withdrawn the motion, the AP reports. Bank Julius Baer did not say why it pulled the case, but the cease-fire brings an end to a case that raised First Amendment questions when a judge ordered the site to remove the documents. Those questions later prompted the judge to revoke the injunction.

The bank says it could pursue the issue elsewhere, but experts doubt it, reports the New York Times. “I frankly find it hard to think that they are actually going to try to do that, at least in the United States,” says an analyst. Either way, the case has left its mark: judges will be much slower to issue similar orders in the future, says a lawyer. (More WikiLeaks stories.)

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