View source for CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{one source|date=December 2012}}
{{Infobox court case
|name             = ''CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson''
|court            = [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]]
|image            =
|imagesize        =
|caption          =
|full name        =
|date decided     = {{Start date|1996|07|22}}
|citations        = 89 F.3d 1257
|transcripts      =
|judges           = [[Bailey Brown]], [[Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy]], [[Harry W. Wellford]]
|prior actions    = The [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio|District court]] granted the defendant's motion for dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction
|opinions         = The order granting Patterson's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction was reversed because Patterson had sufficient contacts with Ohio through storing his software and utilizing CompuServe's advertisement network to grant personal jurisdiction.
|keywords         = [[Personal jurisdiction in internet cases in the United States]] [[Personal jurisdiction]]
|decision by      = [[Bailey Brown]]
|number of judges = 3
|appealed from    = [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio]]
}}
'''''CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson'''''<ref name="CompuservevPatterson">{{Cite court | litigants=CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson | vol=89 | reporter=F.3d | opinion=1257 | pinpoint= | court=6th Cir. | date=1996 | url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10194377843321069819 CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson | accessdate=14122012 }}</ref> was a court case heard before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals which held that contacts and contracts negotiated through the [[Internet]] with a party in a different state were sufficient to grant personal jurisdiction in that state.
In particular, the court held that Patterson's use of storage, electronic transmission of files, and advertisement through CompuServe's network in Ohio were sufficient to grant Ohio [[personal jurisdiction]] over Patterson.
==Background==
Richard Patterson, a resident of [[Texas]], subscribed to [[CompuServe|CompuServe, Inc.]], an [[Internet service provider]] with its headquarters in [[Ohio]].<ref name="CompuservevPatterson"/>
Under the business moniker FlashPoint Development, Patterson developed a software product designed to help people navigate around the Internet.
In 1991, from Texas, Patterson entered into an agreement with CompuServe in which Patterson could store, transmit, and advertise [[shareware]] files through CompuServe.
Other CompuServe subscribers could purchase Patterson's software through CompuServe, and CompuServe would collect a 15% fee and pay Patterson the remaining balance.
In 1993, CompuServe started marketing a software product similar to that of Patterson's with similar markings and names.<ref name="CompuservevPatterson"/>
In December 1993, Patterson informed CompuServe that he believed CompuServe's marketing of their product infringed his [[common law]] [[trademarks]].
While CompuServe changed its program's name, Patterson continued to complain.
When Patterson demanded $100,000 to settle his claim, CompuServe filed a lawsuit seeking [[declaratory judgment]] in Ohio District Court.
==Legal proceedings==
===Trial court proceedings===
Patterson responded to CompuServe's suit with a [[motion to dismiss]], arguing that the Ohio court lacked personal jurisdiction.<ref name="CompuservevPatterson"/>
He supported this claim with an affidavit, stating that he had never visited Ohio, along with other facts that weighed against granting personal jurisdiction.
CompuServe filed a memorandum in opposition along with supporting exhibits.
Based on these filings, the District Court granted Patterson's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, in what Judge Bailey would later deem "a thorough and thoughtful opinion."<ref name="CompuservevPatterson"/>  The trial court felt that the connection between Patterson in Texas and CompuServe in Ohio was "too tenuous to support the exercise of personal jurisdiction."  CompuServe appealed.
===Appellate court proceedings===
Patterson filed no [[Brief (law)|brief]] on appeal and did not appear at [[Oral argument in the United States|oral argument]] for the appellate hearing.<ref name="CompuservevPatterson"/>
The court noted that individually, Patterson's sale of software in Ohio and entering into a contract with an Ohio company would be questionable grounds for exercising personal jurisdiction.
The court then considered whether Ohio had the right to exercise jurisdiction under Ohio's [[Long-arm jurisdiction|long-arm statute]], which uses a three-pronged [[Test (law)|test]] to determine if it is reasonable to exercise personal jurisdiction:
# The defendant must have [[Purposeful availment|purposefully availed]] himself of the privilege of acting in the state
# The legal action must have arisen from defendant's activities there
# The acts of the defendant or consequences of his actions must have a sufficiently substantial connection to the state
The court ruled that all three prongs were satisfied, since Patterson had contracted with CompuServe and repeatedly sent his computer software to CompuServe in Ohio and advertised through CompuServe's network.  As such, they reversed the district court's dismissal and [[Remand (court procedure)|remanded]] for further proceedings.
==Impact==
The applicability of jurisdiction in cases involving activities over the Internet is significant because an out-of-state resident can very easily cause an impact in the state in question. This, in turn, raises questions regarding the necessary scale of impact that must be demonstrated to enable a state court to constitutionally exercise jurisdiction.<ref name="jurisdictionviaemail">Tyler, David D.  ''Personal Jurisdiction via E-Mail: Has Personal Jurisdiction Changed in the Wake of '''CompuServe, Inc. v. Patterson?''''' 51 Ark. L. Rev. 429 (1998)</ref>
This was one of the first court cases dealing with personal jurisdiction as it applied to use of the Internet.<ref name="analysis">"Important Court Cases Dealing with Internet and Censorship" retrieved from [http://kwc.org/memorylane/tjhsst/fapage/cases.html]</ref>  As a result, it set an influential precedent which later cases would reference in their reasons, including ''[[Zippo Manufacturing Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc.]]''<ref name="lawoftheinternet">George B. Delta, Jeffrey H. Matsuura.  ''Law of the Internet, Volume 2.'' §3.03[A]</ref>
==See also==
* [[Personal jurisdiction in Internet cases in the United States]]
* [[Personal jurisdiction]]
* [[Zippo Manufacturing Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc.]]
* [[Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc.]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:United States computer case law]]
[[Category:United States Internet case law]]
[[Category:United States contract case law]]
[[Category:1996 in United States case law]]
[[Category:United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit cases]]
[[Category:CompuServe]]