Personal_jurisdiction_in_internet_cases

Local courts can sometimes exercise personal jurisdiction over foreign defendants who maintain a website that can be accessed in the forum.

When determining the jurisdiction of an Internet company, courts have used the "purposeful availment" test to determine whether a company can be sued in a specific jurisdiction. Specifically, courts have looked at 3 factors: availment of a company to another jurisdiction, whether an act was done in another jurisdiction, and whether the jurisdiction is reasonable for the defendant to expect to defend himself there.

One of the first United States district courts to examine personal jurisdiction arising from websites concluded that interactivity could be evaluated on a "sliding scale" to determine purposeful availment. Zippo Manufacturing v. Zippo.com, 952 F. Supp. 1119 (W.D. Pa. 1995) (where the court looked at the nature of the website and held that sending out a newsgroup email to 3,000 Pennsylvanian residents was enough availment to be subject jurisdiction in Pennsylvania). Highly interactive sites could represent an affirmative effort by defendants to avail themselves of the benefits of an out-of-state forum. A similar test was later adopted by several circuit courts, beginning with Cybersell v. Cybersell, 130 F. 3d 414 (9th. Cir. 1997) (where the court held a Florida company had no jurisdiction in Arizona for a Trademark infringement/dilution claim as the Cybersell (Fla) website merely displayed information).

Intentional defamation of a foreign resident on the internet will sometimes give rise to personal jurisdiction in the foreign forum, as the High Court of Australia found in Dow Jones & Co. Inc. v Gutnick, [2002] HCA 56 (where the court held that the WSJ who defamed Gutnick was subject to jurisdiction in Gutnick\'s country of Australia, as the WSJ availed themselves to Australian law by defaming a resident there).

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