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Internet Jurisdiction

The next class is Internet jurisdiction. In addition to the notes in the Study Guide, please read the following:

Sliding Scale Test:

Zippo case

Effects Test:

Calder v. Jones (US Supreme Court)

Application of Effects Test:


Weather Underground case (and complete court file for this case if interested)


Australian approach:

Dow Jones v. Gutnick (High Court of Australia)

[Defamation - including Internet cases - background information if interested]


Queensland Police information

Could two courts come to an inconsistent result in the same case:
See The Secret litigation
See also prior posts if interested, for example.

2 comments:

Hamid said...

After reading the cases of Ubid V Godaddy and Weather Underground, Inc. v. Navigation Catalyst Systems, Inc., E.D. Mich, it raises the complexity of jurisdiction. These cases highlight important information for online jurisdictions and clearly show the way that "jurisdiction" can be manipulated by different courts. The terms "personal jurisdiction", "general jurisdiction" and "specific jurisdiction" are terms that I think we will become more familiar with especially as more law suits relating to online activities are filed.

Unknown said...

It appears that the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission will be looking to rely on the HCA case of Dow Jones v Gutnick to establish that Australia has jurisdiction to hear a case regarding offensive material about Aborigines being posted on the internet by a US citizen. See - http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/1028037/encyclopedia-dramatica-owner-could-face-charges

If the matter goes to trial, it will be interesting to see what type of relief will be sought by the HREOC - for example damages or an order that the article be removed from the website, or an injunction from publishing on the internet future defamatory statements. The concern is, if they are looking for equitable relief (eg an injunction) or for the article to be removed from the website, they would need to commence proceedings in America to enforce the judgment. Unfortunately there is no uniform rule or certainty as to whether a certain US district will have jurisdiction to hear/enforce the order.

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