Re: DEC vs AltaVista

Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 30 May 1997, John Noble <jnoble[_at_]dgsys.com> wrote:
> >
> > What I think it says is that when you use an infringing trademark
> > on the "world wide web" you are committing a tort in each
> > jurisdiction in which it is in fact displayed, and that is
> > sufficient to establish jurisdiction.
> >
> > When you put your business on the web you are, it seems to me,
> > "purposely availing" yourself of the opportunity to do business
> > everywhere
>
> So, with your appealingly simple brightline rule, a case like
> Bensusan would come out the other way. Thus, a local club owner
> in the Midwest, who is quite clearly not attempting to do business
> everywhere, would be liable to a New York club owner simply because
> of the possibility of a New Yorker accessing the web site. It seems
> that businesses, especially small ones, would have to think twice
> about using the web as a vehicle in their communities. Doesn't that
> strike you, as a matter of policy let alone doctrine, as going too
> far?
>
> One of the problems with web advertising is the medium makes no
> distinction between local, regional, national, or international.
> If the Missouri club owner wanted to advertise locally on a medium
> other than the web, he could easily restrict himself to local rags
> or local TV broadcasts, and no one would even think he was
> attempting to advertise to NYers. But because he uses the web, a
> possibly more convenient forum for some local recipients, he must
> now think about being haled into court in any jurisdiction in the
> world, even though he did not intentionally direct his advertising
> to that jurisdiction. Seems Draconian to me.
>
> (I am putting aside the annoying difficulty of proving that
> something is "in fact displayed" in a particular jurisdiction and by
> whom. I am also not saying that Bensusan and Digital are the same.)

   I would have to say an advertiser on the web knows what kind of limited group of people they are attracting. The should use the locals to get the majority of the community. Charles

Charles Correa
<correa[_at_]citrus.infi.net> Received on Wed Jun 11 1997 - 01:12:47 GMT