Plaintiff sued a California corporation in federal court in Utah. Defendant moved to dismiss, asserting, among other things, lack of personal jurisdiction. The court denied the motion.
The court found that it had specific personal jurisdiction over defendant. Plaintiff provided evidence that defendant ran a number of highly interactive websites, including at least two online stores. Defendant provided visitors with a shopping cart feature that allowed them to select multiple products for purchase. Visitors to defendants’ sites could purchase items over the website using Google checkout or a number of major credit cards. Defendant offered to sell products into Utah through its multiple internet stores. In short, defendant purposefully used its website to reach a large number of potential buyers, including those in Utah, and benefited from that exposure.
Citing to Dedvukaj v. Maloney, 447 F.Supp.2d 813 (E.D.Mich. 2006), the court observed that “[s]ellers cannot expect to avail themselves of the benefits of the internet-created world market that they purposefully exploit and profit from without accepting the concomitant legal responsibilities that such an expanded market may bring with it.”
A.L. Enterprises Inc. v. Sebron, 2008 WL 4356958 (D. Utah, September 17, 2008)