Study On U.S. Courts' Rules And Standards On Cyber-jurisdiction

Use of the Internet is rising exponentially, and the advent of global computer networks has made geographical boundaries virtually obsolete. The expansive growth of the Internet has created significant ramifications in the legal field. Among the hottest legal issues to roll off the information superhighway is the question of jurisdiction over Internet users.United States has taken the leading position in the areas concerning exploitation and utilization of cyberspace. United States is also the first country to grant patents to business methods. So U.S. courts get more opportunities to hear the cases involving the infringement over Internet. U.S. courts have applied the traditional jurisdictional theories to these cases, and created the new rules and standards to deal with the question of jurisdiction.For recent years, U.S. courts have explained and developed the principles of "minimum contact" and "Due Process Clause". U.S. courts also apply these principles into the cases involving Internet activities, and establish a new framework of " sliding scale" to gauge the intent and type of Internet activities found on a firm's web site(i.e.,active, interactive, or passive). The sliding scale allows a court to categorize Internet activities to help it decide whether to exercise jurisdiction over a nonresident individual or business. On the base of this study, this article also discusses the applicability of the rules and standards on jurisdiction with respect to disputes arising out of infringement of business method patents in cyberspace, and the use for reference of this theory to the innovation of cyber-jurisdiction in our country.