Jurisdiction over Ubiquitous Copyright Infringements: Should Right-Holders Be Allowed to Sue at Home?
The Internet, and more recently cloud computing, has transformed the technological, economic, social, and cultural conditions under which intellectual property rights are exploited. These developments also challenge traditional rules of private international law, particularly rules governing international jurisdiction. This paper examines when courts should assert jurisdiction over cross-border copyright disputes arising in cloud-based environments. It focuses on the risks faced by right holders and digital intermediaries when allegedly infringing content is stored, transmitted, or accessed across multiple states. The paper first explains how cloud computing changes the exploitation of intellectual property assets and complicates the identification of territorial connecting factors. It then analyzes the main jurisdictional principles applied by courts in common law and civil law systems, with particular attention to subject-matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and infringement-based jurisdiction. The paper argues that the territorial fragmentation of copyright law sits uneasily with the realities of ubiquitous online infringement. It therefore asks whether existing jurisdictional doctrines remain suitable for cloud-related disputes and whether, in some circumstances, right holders should be permitted to sue before the courts of their home state or center of economic interests. The paper concludes by discussing related work undertaken by a special committee of the International Law Association on intellectual property and private international law.