1 KIEFEL CJ, BELL, KEANE, NETTLE AND GORDON JJ. This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Ashley, Ferguson and McLeish JJA)1, on appeal from an order of the primary judge (McDonald J)2. McDonald J ordered that an application by the respondent, Google Inc (now Google LLC ("Google")), to set aside a defamation proceeding brought by the appellant, Mr Trkulja, against Google, and its service out of the jurisdiction on Google, be dismissed. McDonald J rejected Google's contention that the proceeding has no real prospect of success3. In allowing the appeal, the Court of Appeal held, to the contrary, that the proceeding has no real prospect of success4. 2 For the reasons which follow, McDonald J was correct to refuse to set aside the proceeding and, therefore, the appeal to this Court should be allowed. Mr Trkulja's claim 3 Mr Trkulja's holograph amended statement of claim ("the Amended Statement of Claim") is not an elegant pleading. It is, however, sufficiently comprehensible to convey that Mr Trkulja alleges that Google defamed him by publishing images which convey imputations that he "is a hardened and serious criminal in Melbourne", in the same league as figures such as "convicted murderer" Carl Williams, "underworld killer" Andrew "Benji" Veniamin, "notorious murderer" Tony Mokbel and "Mafia Boss" Mario Rocco Condello; an associate of Veniamin, Williams and Mokbel; and "such a significant figure in the Melbourne criminal underworld that events involving him are recorded on a website that chronicles crime in [the] Melbourne criminal underworld". 4 The pleading alleges that Google published the defamatory images between 1 December 2012 and 3 March 2014 to persons in Victoria, including several named persons, upon those persons accessing the Google website, searching for Mr Trkulja's name or alias (Michael Trkulja and Milorad Trkulja), and then viewing and perceiving the images presented on-screen in response to the search. 1 Google Inc v Trkulja (2016) 342 ALR 504. 2 Trkulja v Google Inc [2015] VSC 635. 3 Trkulja v Google Inc [2015] VSC 635 at [77]. 4 Google Inc v Trkulja (2016) 342 ALR 504 at 506 [5], 507 [9].