Case referral

Folks,

A client's photograph was published without permission on the cover of a book. Bad guy book publisher asserts the photographer has no remedy in the US because the publisher does not sell the book in the U.S. (the US publishing rights are owned by another who sells in the US but does not use the client's photograph). Bad guy book publisher acknowledges it sells to third parties (Amazon) who do sell in the US but that these third party sales are insufficient to subject the publisher to suit in the US.

The client is a critically acclaimed, full-time photographer. I like the idea of filing suit in the US and asserting jurisdiction under -- at least -- the stream of commerce theory (i.e., the infringer knew the infringing work would find its way into the foreign jurisdiction and, therefore, the infringer is subject to suit in that jurisdiction).

Instead of fighting this jurisdictional battle in the US, however, for economic reasons we're exploring the idea of filing suit in Canada where jurisdiction is not contested. The defendants would be the Canadian and UK versions of Penguin Books.

Two questions: does anyone have any insights on the personal jurisdiction stream of commerce theory in copyright cases and does anyone have a referral to a Canadian-licensed attorney who may be interested in discussing and/or taking over the case?

Dan

Daniel N. Ballard, Esq.
McDonough, Holland & Allen PC
555 Capitol Mall, 9th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
phone: 916-444-3900
fax: 916-444-3249
http://www.mhalaw.com   Received on Wed Nov 02 2005 - 02:30:00 GMT