A DANISH radiologist speaks at a conference in Oxford and is sued by a US company; a British cardiologist, attending a conference in Washington, is quoted in a US online magazine and is taken to court in London by a Boston-based medical manufacturer.

With the ever-growing presence of the worldwide web comes increasing online exposure and an ever-growing risk of legal claims for defamation against critics, bloggers and even innocent publishers. Defamation could be about to go viral.

While the Human Rights Act has been enshrined in UK law for a number of years and provides the right to freedom of expression, this has always been subject to the competing and somewhat archaic laws of defamation.

Now there is an increasing rush to litigation based on online comments and opinions. This is a worrying trend for writers because the sole province of such litigation is the High Court, and the costs often run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This was highlighted in the recent case of Vaughan Jones, who wrote a series of unfavourable online reviews naming Chris McGrath, an online entrepreneur, as the author and self-publisher of The Attempted Murder of God: Hidden Science You Really Need to Know. Mr McGrath has brought libel proceedings against Mr Jones, who cannot afford representation and is defending himself alongside barristers acting on behalf of co- defendants Amazon and Richard Dawkins.

Such litigation is becoming more frequent as there are more forums where an author or blogger can post a comment, perhaps without thinking of the potential consequences of a few keystrokes. Indeed, England is increasingly considered one of the defamation hot-spots of the world, due to our civil procedure rules and somewhat outdated common law on defamation, which are considered to favour claimants. While there is a fundamental right to free speech and publication in this country, honest comment with no malice attached should always be a good defence.

However, in reality, a claimant with deep pockets can rapidly engage in costly litigation against someone they perceive as having damaged their reputation or, more worryingly, simply on the basis that they do not like their comments.

MICHAEL GREEN is commercial dispute resolution partner at Weightmans