Albert Yeung, entertainment tycoon, was granted permission by a High Court in Hong Kong this week to continue forward with his lawsuit against Google. Yeung claims that search results in Google falsely suggest that Yeung is closely affiliated with organized crime.  

Yeung alleges that Google's autocomplete function has repeatedly linked him to Triad gangs and has now filed suit against the popular search engine for defamation.

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In addition to seeking a court order to have the alleged defamatory suggestions removed, Yeung is also seeking monetary damages.

Google has repeatedly rebuffed Yeung's claims, stating that no defamatory actions have occurred since their system uses an algorithm to yield search results.

These algorithms are based on the word combinations most often used by visitors to the search site. 

During the initial hearings, attorneys for Google argued that the algorithms were totally computer generated, thus making it impossible for any sort of defamation to occur.

However, Justice Marlene Ng May-ling ruled that a potential jury "may consider" a sizable monetary judgment for Yeung and her ruling will allow court proceedings to continue.

The judge mentioned that there is considerable risk involved with the use of this technology that may prove to be harmful to others.

"The advantages of having easy acces to a rich store of information...[come] at a price; any risk of misinformation can spread easily as users forage in the web. The art is to find the comfortable equilibrium," she said.

Google was also at the center of a controversial court hearing in the European Court of Justice which ruled against the corporation in a privacy lawsuit. Google was ordered to erase content at the request of individuals who wished to be "forgotten."

Lawyers for Google reportedly refused to comment on this week's ruling.  

Tagsalbert yeung, yeung sues google, google sued, google suit