By Edward P. Belobaba, [email protected]
Published 4/1/00
Introduction
One of the most contentious issues in lawsuits involving the Internet is the question of personal jurisdiction. Under what circumstances can a court take jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant because of injuries caused by information posted on websites that are accessible virtually anywhere in the world? Can a Texas court, for example, take jurisdiction over a Canadian defendant simply because he posted disparaging and allegedly defamatory comments about a publicly-traded company on an investors bulletin board that were then downloaded and read by shareholders living in Texas?
Braintech v. Kostiuk
This is essentially what happened in Braintech Inc. v. Kostiuk, a recent decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. The defendant, John Kostiuk, lives in Vancouver, B.C. Braintech, a publicly-traded computer software company is also headquartered in B.C., but has a small R&D facility in Austin,
