EFF filed this lawsuit against Global Equity Management (SA) Pty Ltd (GEMSA), an Australian company that sought to use foreign law to censor us from expressing our opinion about its patent. We asked the court to rule that any foreign order censoring EFF would be unenforceable in the United States under the First Amendment and the Securing the Protection of Our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act (SPEECH Act).

Although it was litigating patent suits in the same U.S. federal court, GEMSA never appeared in this suit to defend itself. On November 17, 2017, Judge Tigar found that the court had jurisdiction over GEMSA and issued an order granting a default judgment to EFF. Judge Tigar concluded that "EFF would not have been found liable for defamation under U.S. and California law" and ruled that EFF's speech was fully protected by the First Amendment.