File Swapper Eluding Pursuers
from the global-jurisdictions dept
We’ve been discussing issues involving jurisdiction when it comes to the internet, and this Washington Post story focusing on the difficulty in Hollywood getting Kazaa into court, highlights some of those issues. Kazaa is being sued in the US by Hollywood, but was written by programmers in Estonia, under contract by a company in the Netherlands, which has sold the technology to a company on the pacific island of Vanuatu, whose executives work in Australia. Who has the best claim on jurisdiction? It seems the courts have no idea. While a US judge said that the case can proceed in the US, an Estonian judge said the programmers have no obligation to respond.
