Forum State Website Access Is Not Enough For Personal Jurisdiction
be2 LLC v. IVANOV (April 27, 2011)
be2 Holding is a German company that operates an Internet dating site at be2.com. The site has 14 million users in 36 countries. Its U.S. subsidiary, be2 LLC, is a Delaware company. The companies filed suit against Nikolay Ivanov, alleging, among other things, that Ivanov violated the Lanham Act by offering an Internet dating site at be2.net. Ivanov, a resident of New Jersey, did not appear or answer the complaint. Judge Shadur (N.D. Ill.) entered a default judgment. The plaintiff companies submitted several documents to support their damage claim. One document showed that be2.net had 20 registered users with Chicago addresses. Another described Ivanov as the CEO and co-founder of be2.net. A third document was Ivanov's LinkedIn profile, which also described him as the co-founder and CEO of be2.net. Ivanov moved to vacate the judgment for lack of personal jurisdiction. He submitted an affidavit asserting that: a) he was not the co-founder or CEO of be2.net, b) he was not compensated for any work he did for be2.net, c) most of his work consisted of translating web content, d) the CEO title stood for "Centralized Expert Operator," and e) he had never been to Illinois. The court found his affidavit not credible and denied the motion.
In their opinion, Judges Flaum, Wood, and Hamilton reversed and remanded. Personal jurisdiction over Ivanov depends on whether he has the minimum contacts with Illinois to satisfy Due Process. In the Internet arena, due process requires more than simply operating a website accessible in the forum state. The defendant must, in some fashion, target an audience in the forum state. Here, the record does not support that conclusion. The only evidence of the site’s contacts with Illinois is the document showing 20 Illinois users. Without some evidence that Ivanov targeted an Illinois market, personal jurisdiction was improper and the default judgment must be vacated and the complaint dismissed.
Michael Rigney practices in the law offices of GVC Ltd. in Chicago. In this blog, he reports on select