Legal Research

Facebook, Disputes, and Jurisdiction

By scott

The always insightful Eric Goldman comments on jurisdiction in a case between Daniel Miller, the creator of online flash game ‘Boomshine’ and Facebook. Miller ? a Facebook user ? has gone after Facebook - in addition to Yao Wei Yeo who he accuses of producing a game / Facebook app ChainRxn, that violates his “look and feel” copyright in Boomshine - for its role in providing access to the app.

Miller wanted the case heard in Georgia, the Court instead agreed to Facebook’s request that it be heard in California, as asserted under the terms and conditions of the Facebook user agreement.
As Goldman points out, what makes this interesting is that the Judge decided that Miller’s complaint about another app ? which is nothing to do with his use of the service - is covered by Facebook’s general forum selection clause, which purports to govern “any dispute about or involving the Web site and/or the Service.” As Goldman says, “Read literally, this court seems to be saying that all 350M Facebook users are required to sue Facebook in Facebook’s home court for any claim they may have that relates to Facebook.com.”

Full post as published by Information Overload on January 25, 2010 (boomark / email).