Confronting Issues of Personal Jurisdiction and Interactive Web Sites in Patent Litigation

Questions of personal jurisdiction, especially with respect to forum contacts arising out of Internet-related activities, have been litigated now for nearly a decade. During that time, courts have had occasion to analyze and rule upon all sorts of activities through the constitutional lenses of 'minimum contacts' and 'purposeful availment.' While most circuits appear to have developed relatively robust lines of authority to analyze whether personal jurisdiction exists where the type and nature of the contacts remain grounded in Internet-related activities, the jurisprudence of the Federal Circuit in this area is of relatively recent vintage. At least one district court appears to have concluded that the Federal Circuit's jurisprudence concerning personal jurisdiction and Web site interactivity remains unsettled. A district court sitting in Indiana noted that, '[t]he Supreme Court and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals have provided very little guidance regarding the concept of personal jurisdiction established through a party's Internet activities.' <i>Aero Industries, Inc. v. Demonte Fabricating, Ltd.</i>, 396 F. Supp. 2d 961, 967 (S.D. Ind. 2005). This article examines recent patent cases by district courts where Internet-related forum contacts appeared to be present or significant to the courts' rulings on personal jurisdiction grounds.