Addressing issues of personal jurisdiction regarding copyright infringement on the internet, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court's ruling and found that a Tennessee website operator was subject to jurisdiction for copyright infringement of a Florida resident's works. Licciardello v. Lovelady, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 21376 (11th Cir., Oct. 10, 2008) (Hill, J.).
Plaintiff Carman Licciardello (Licciardello) has been a nationally-known Christian musician and entertainer for more than 25 years. From 2000 to 2001, Rendy Lovelady ("Lovelady") was employed by Licciardello as his personal manager; Lovelady also managed Licciardello's concert tour during that year. Licciardello alleges that in early 2006, Lovelady posted a website on the internet that was accessible to the public in Florida that promoted Lovelady as a personal manager for music artists. The website used Licciardello's trademarked name and his picture, implying that Licciardello endorsed Lovelady's skill as a personal manager. The website offered CDs for sale that provided management advice and other career assistance. Licciardello brought claims for trademark infringement in the District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The district court dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction because Lovelady is a Tennessee resident.
Licciardello argued that Lovelady's creation in Tennessee of a website containing an allegedly infringing and deceptive use of Licciardello's trademark is a tortious act "within this state" as contemplated by the statute because the injury from trademark infringement occurs where the holder of the mark resides—in this case, Florida. Lovelady maintained that he had no constitutionally significant contacts with Florida. He has no office, no agents, no employees and no property in Florida. His sporadic travel to Florida in connection with his management of Licciardello and other music groups, he argued, is both constitutionally insufficient and unrelated to this cause of action.
On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit found that the Florida's long-arm statute was satisfied because, although the website was created in Tennessee, the Florida long-arm statute is satisfied if the alleged trademark infringement on the website caused injury in Florida. In assessing whether the due process clause permitted the exercise of personal jurisdiction over Lovelady in Florida, the Eleventh Circuit considered whether the website operation was sufficient to establish the minimum contacts to exercise personal jurisdiction over Lovelady. The Court held that using the trademark and the musician's picture on a website accessible in Florida so as to imply an endorsement was an intentional tort and satisfied the Supreme Court's "effects" test of Calder v. Jones. The trademark use was expressly aimed at a specific individual in the forum and represented an intentional tort whose effects were suffered in the forum. The Eleventh Circuit, however, limited the rulings to the facts and did not create a blanket rule for personal jurisdiction over all internet websites. The court reversed the dismissal, holding personal jurisdiction permissible in Florida.
Practice Note: Website operators are advised to carefully curtail their geographic scope to avoid the exercise of personal jurisdiction in potential suits.
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