Hy Cite Corp. v. Badbusinessbureau.com, L.L.C.
United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
297 F. Supp. 2d 1154 (W.D. Wis. 2004)
Hy Cite Corporation (Hy), a Wisconsin company (plaintiff), sued Badbusinessbureau.com (BBB.com), a West Indies-based company that runs a customer-complaint website (defendant), for trademark infringement and false advertising after customers posted complaints about Hy's products; BBB.com had offered Hy a paid customer-advocacy program (which Hy declined). BBB.com had no offices, property, or solicited business in Wisconsin, and none of its various website features — complaint postings, rebuttals, book sales, class-action coordination, advertising, or advocacy-program enrollment — targeted Wisconsin specifically; its only actual Wisconsin contacts were a single book sale and the advocacy-program communications Hy itself had initiated. BBB.com moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Whether a state court may exercise personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state business based solely on maintaining an interactive website accessible within the state, absent other purposeful contacts directed at that state.