IP: Re: AOL Subscribers Can Be Sued in Virginia, Judge Rules

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

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> Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 23:56:31 -0700
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: "James S. Tyre" <j.s.tyre () cyberpass net>
> Subject: Re: IP: AOL Subscribers Can Be Sued in Virginia, Judge Rules 
>
> Dave:
>
> A couple of quick notes about the case (and I have read the court decision
> itself, not just the news reports).
>
> First, it is arguably in line with the Supreme Court's 1984 decision in
> Calder v. Jones, obviously not a net libel case.  I happen to think that
> Calder was wrongly decided, but the USSC does not often listen to my idle
> musings.
>
> Second, there was another defendant, in New Mexico, who did *not* have an
> AOL account who also was adversely affected by the court's ruling.  The VA
> court asserted jurisdiction over him because he had a webpage offering
> commercial services which was (of course) accessible in VA, even though his
> commercial services had no relation to his usenet post.
>
> Third (yada yada, I know I said two), one should perhaps expect weird
> results where the usenet postings were to alt.conspiracy.jfk.  ;-)
>
> Last, the Plaintiff is in VA, and the defendants allegedly knew this.  The
> case does not stand for the proposition that non-VA Plaintiffs can use VA
> courts.  Small solace.
>
> -Jim
>
> At 09:15 AM 6/12/99 -0400, Dave Farber wrote:
> > Reply-To: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com> 
> > From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com> 
> > Subject: AOL Subscribers Can Be Sued in Virginia, Judge Rules 
> > Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 16:04:40 -0400
> >
> > Suppose you are engaged in a vicious online debate with an opponent in 
> > Virginia. Imagine, too, that you have just written an insulting 
> > message about your foe while hunched over your home computer in 
> > another state.
> > With the help of your America Online account, you post the message to 
> > a typical no-holds-barred Usenet newsgroup, a kind of electronic 
> > bulletin board that can be read by Internet users all over the 
> > world. Soon after, your opponent reads the message and decides that 
> > you have crossed the line and libeled him.
> > http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/06/cyber/cyberlaw/11law.html
> > Ruling Has AOL Members On Alert June 11, 1999
> > Patricia Fusco, InternetNews.com Assistant Editor ISP News Archives
> > Virginia's long-arm of the law has reached out and grabbed the 
> > attention of America Online Inc.'s members nationwide.
> > Late last month, a federal district court in Alexandria, Va., ruled 
> > that AOL members can be hauled into a Virginia court to answer for 
> > lawsuits, no matter where they live.
> > http://www.internetnews.com/isp-news/article/0,1087,8_136521,00.html
>
>
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