Volume I

Issue : 5: September 4, 2003

• U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Cir.) Asserts Jurisdiction over Online Retailer
• Court Limits Extraterritoriality of the U.S. Copyright Act
• Amazon.com Launches Lawsuits in U.S. and Canada to Stop Spoofing
• Property and Trade Secret Rights Outrank Free Speech Rights in DVD Copying Code Case
• Parties To Litigation Do Not Hold Copyrights Over Examination for Discovery Transcripts
• U.S. Court of Appeals Upholds Statutory Damages for Domain Registered Prior to the Enactment of ACPA
• Major U.S. ISP EarthLink Sues John Doe Spammers in B .C. and Alabama
• Defence of Misuse Extended to Suppression of Criticism in Copyright
• Online Broadcasters Sue Recording Industry (RIAA)
• Sixth Circuit Court Strikes Down Michigan Wine Law as Unconstitutional
• Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Upholds Criminal Conviction For Online Marketing Scheme
• U.S. First - North Dakota Prosecutes a Man for Gambling on the Internet
• U.S. Appeals Court (9th Cir.) Rules Massively Overbroad Subpoena For E-Mails Led to Privacy Violation

Home > Volume I > Issue 5: September 4, 2003 > U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Cir.) Asserts Jurisdiction over Online Retailer

U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Cir.) Asserts Jurisdiction over Online Retailer

The U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) found that personal jurisdiction over an out of state defendant may be based upon its operation of an ecommerce website.

L.L. Bean is a corporation based in the state of Maine that sells clothing and outdoor equipment over the Internet. In the past few years, it has sold millions of dollars worth of products in California. Gator.com is a Delaware corporation with its principal business in California, which distributes adware called the "Gator Program", which is a program that once installed on a computer, recognizes certain pre-selected URLs that a user visits on the Internet, it displays a pop-up window offering a coupon for that website's competitor. In this case, website users who visited L.L. Bean's website were offered coupons for a competitor, Eddie Bauer.

On March 16, 2001, L.L. Bean asked Gator to stop its pop-up windows from appearing on its website stating that such activity "unlawfully appropriated" its goodwill associated with its trademark and created confusion. Gator responded by filing a complaint in the U.S. District Court against L.L. Bean seeking declaratory relief that the Gator program does not violate L.L. Bean's trademark or other rights. L.L. Bean sought to dismiss the claim for lack of personal jurisdiction and was successful at the District Court level.

However, the Appeals Court reversed the District Court's decision holding that L.L. Bean's substantial or continuous and systematic contacts with California, through its e commerce activities, was sufficient to support a finding of general jurisdiction. The Court added that "businesses who structure their activities to take full advantage of the opportunities that virtual commerce offers can reasonably anticipate that these same activities will potentially subject them to suit in the locales that hey have targeted".

For a copy of the decision, visit:

http://makeashorterlink.com/