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Jeske V. Fenmore District Court for the Central District of California, 2008

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Submitted By sushmarajuri
Words 286
Pages 2
Facts - Susan Jeske is a resident of Costa Mesa, California, she owns a registered trademark MS. AMERICA and has a website www.msamericapageant.com. Jeske conducts beauty pageants. Raven Fenmore also conducts beauty pageants and has a website www.ms-america.org, established in 2006. Fenmore's pageant Ms. Cont'l has a number of titles related to California. Participants can apply for the pageant through the website and pay through it. Fenmore's pageant are performed in Connecticut. Jeske is not sure if Fenmore solicited California residents to participate in the 2006 and 2007 Ms. Cont'l America pageant.

Issue - Jeske sued Fenmore in California for trademark infringement. Fenmore asked the court to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Should the court consider Fenmore's motion to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction?

Holding from the court - No
The court denies Fenmore's motion to dismiss the case on grounds of lack of personal jurisdiction.

Rationale - The court agrees that Fenmore's website was interactive and commercial. Interactive and commercial because it allowed the participants could download the form from the website and make payments in order to enroll. The site was definitely used for commercial operations. Whether these commercial operations were directed towards California was proved, as the pageant Ms. Cont'l had titles like Ms. Golden State and Ms. California Coast, which only California residents could participate in. Although the pageants occurred in Connecticut and Fenmore has not entered California, the defendant has directed commercial activities to the forum state, which is a purposeful availment. Lack of personal jurisdiction in this case is unreasonable. Ultimate determinant of purposeful availment is if the defendant clearly intended to do business with or have effect on the individuals in the state.

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