Use of Otherwise "Passive" Website to Provide Customer-Tailored Demonstration May Subject E-Commerce Business to Personal Jurisdiction in Customer’s Home Forum

In dismissing a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado considered the defendant’s use of its otherwise "passive" website to provide "specifically tailored promotional demonstrations" to the plaintiff in Colorado as a fact, among others, which demonstrated that the defendant had "purposefully availed itself" of the privileged of doing business in the forum state. See EagleDirect Marketing Solutions, Inc. v. Engenus NA LLC, 2006 WL 2988952 (D.Co. October 18, 2006).

For more analysis of personal jurisdiction in the context of e-commerce business transactions, see Common Issues Facing E-Commerce Businesses - Issue #4:  The Potential for Universal Jurisdiction and Jonathan D. Frieden & Sean P. Roche, E-Commerce: Legal Issues of the Online Retailer in Virginia, 14 Rich. J.L. & Tech. (forthcoming Fall 2006).

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