Abstract: AS MORE companies explore commercial opportunities in cyberspace, litigation over cyberdeals and cybertorts is becoming more prevalent. One of the first issues a court must consider in such a case is whether it has personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Recent decisions have addressed the question of whether activities on the Internet are sufficient to confer jurisdiction over a defendant not otherwise present in the forum state. Applying standard jurisdictional tests, courts have reached conflicting results on whether a commercial page on the World Wide Web is, in and of itself, a sufficient contact to create personal jurisdiction. Courts have also found that persons conducting electronic commerce over the Internet are subject to jurisdiction in a forum in which buyers of the products or services are located, notwithstanding the fact that the transactions occur in cyberspace. In tort cases, courts have applied an test, finding jurisdiction over nonresident defendants if the effects of their electronic torts are felt in the forum. Internet Advertising In cases in which the courts have treated Internet advertising as the equivalent of advertising in such traditional mediums as print and radio, courts have not been inclined to find jurisdiction based solely upon the fact that a commercial Web site is accessible to Internet users in the forum state. In McDonough v. Fallon McElligott, Inc., a federal district court in California dismissed a claim by a California resident against a Minnesota advertising agency that allegedly used a photograph taken by the plaintiff in one of its publications without permission. The plaintiff claimed that the court had general jurisdiction over the defendant because, among other things, the defendant maintained a website accessible in California, although the website was not otherwise involved in the dispute between the parties. The court rejected the plaintiff's claim, reasoning as follows: Because the Web enables easy world-wide access, allowing computer interaction via the web to supply sufficient contacts to establish jurisdiction would eviscerate the personal jurisdiction requirement as it currently exists . . . Thus, the fact that [the defendant] has a website used by Californians cannot establish jurisdiction by itself.12 A contrary result, however, has been reached by those courts that have concluded that Internet advertising is qualitatively different from advertising through more traditional means. In Inset Systems Inc. v. Instruction Set Inc.,'3 a case for trademark infringement, the federal district court found that a company that solicited business via a website on the Internet was subject to personal jurisdiction in a forum in which the website could be accessed. Noting that there were 10,000 Internet-connected computer users in Connecticut, the court characterized the defendant company's website as a continuous advertisement in Connecticut. Although the defendant had no employees or offices in Connecticut, did not conduct business in on a regular basis and there was no evidence of any sales to residents, the court concluded that the defendant company had purposefully availed itself of the privilege of doing business within Connecticut by directing its business activities toward this state on a continuing basis.''14 Net-based commerce In Compuserve Inc. v. Patterson 15 CompuServe, which is headquartered in Ohio, sued Patterson, a Texas resident, in Ohio seeking a declaration that it had not infringed on Patterson's common law copyright relating to certain that Patterson placed on CompuServe's system for the purpose of offering it to other CompuServe customers. Patterson claimed never to have visited Ohio and pointed out that he placed his shareware on CompuServe's system from his home computer in Texas. From his home computer, Patterson also entered into a shareware registration agreement that incorporated two other documents available on the Compuserve Information Service, both of which contained Ohio choice of law clauses. …
Publication Year: 1997
Publication Date: 1997-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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