Mavrix Photo, Inc. v. Brand Technologies, Inc.
Mavrix Photo, Inc. v. Brand Technologies, Inc., 647 F.3d 1218 (9th Cir. 2011), is a case in American intellectual property law involving personal jurisdiction in the context of internet contacts. This case had three significant holdings. First, the defendant, Brand Technologies, Inc., lacked sufficient contacts with California for exercise of general jurisdiction. Second, the defendant's alleged copyright infringement on its website was expressly aimed at California enough to find specific jurisdiction. Finally, the defendant's alleged copyright infringement caused harm that it recognized was likely to be suffered in California enough to find specific jurisdiction. Facts In April 2008, photographers for Mavrix Photo, Inc., a Florida corporation whose principal business was in Miami, took "candid" photos of a hip-hop pop singer Fergie and her husband during their vacation in the Bahamas. Mavrix registered copyright of those photographs for its business to exclusively license them to celebrity news outlets. However, shortly thereafter, Mavrix found that Brand Technologies, Inc., an Ohio corporation, had put those photographs on to its website (www.celebrity-gossip.net), allegedly without Mavrix's permission. This website has several interactive features, and was ranked as number 3,622 out of approximately 180 million websites worldwide based on traffic by Alexa.com, an Internet tracking service. It was a prominently popular website. Mavrix sued Brand Technologies, Inc. and its CEO, Brad Mandell (collectively, "Brand") in the Central District of California for infringement of copyright of its photographs. Many of the celebrities whom Mavrix took photos of worked in Southern California and Mavrix kept a Los Angeles base, employed Los Angeles-based photographers, and had a registered agent in California. In addition, it paid fees to the California Franchise Tax Board. Brand moved to dismiss the action on several grounds, including lack of personal jurisdiction. Judicial history Mavrix brought lawsuit against Brand in federal district court for the Central District of California, contending that Brand infringed Mavrix's copyright under 17 U.S.C. §§ 501, 502, and 504 by posting its copyrighted photos on its website. Brand moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction (see Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2)). The district court denied Mavrix's motion for jurisdictional discovery and granted Brand's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit remanded and reversed. The Supreme Court of the United States denied the petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Jan. 17, 2012. Opinion The Ninth Circuit, firstly, stated that the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing that the jurisdiction is proper. General jurisdiction Facts Brand (1) allowed third parties to advertise businesses, such as jobs, in California on its website; (2) sells, or allows a third-party vendors to sell, tickets to California events on its website; (3) employs a California firm to design its website; (4) has business relationships with California-based national news organization, an Internet advertising agency and a wireless provider; and (5) maintained a "highly interactive" website which had features of commenting, receiving email newsletters, voting