A reasonable person wouldn't assume people whose photos appear in an image search for underworld figures are criminals, lawyers for Google have told the High Court.
But Milorad "Michael" Trkulja, who is one of those people pictured, has taken his battle to Australia's top court to argue otherwise.
In 2016, the Victorian Court of Appeal found in favour of the search engine giant against the Melbourne man's claim Google defamed him by publishing photos of him linked to hardened criminals of Melbourne's underworld.
Guy Reynolds told the High Court on Tuesday that his client's image appeared alongside the likes of Carl Williams, Mario Condello, and Mark and Jason Moran while autocomplete searches include the options "is a former hitman", "criminal" and "underworld".
But Google's lawyer Neil Young said an ordinary person, using general knowledge and experience, would know the images were not connected with the search terms, just that the images are on a webpage where those words appear.
Among its arguments, Google says other images in the search results would tell people that not everyone pictured is a criminal.
Examples include former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, actor Marlon Brando and journalist-turned-senator Derryn Hinch.
But Mr Reynolds said Brando was depicted in his role as The Godfather and it was widely known Senator Hinch has criminal convictions and has served time in prison, both points which would support his case, not Google's.
Five High Court judges are considering the appeal, including Justice Michelle Gordon.
She suggested if Mr Young's point was that images results are not connected to the search term, "your submission renders the search meaningless".
Australian Associated Press