Spacey v. Burgar

207 F. Supp. 2d 1037, 2001 WL 1869857
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedMay 16, 2002
Docket01CV3848
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 207 F. Supp. 2d 1037 (Spacey v. Burgar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spacey v. Burgar, 207 F. Supp. 2d 1037, 2001 WL 1869857 (C.D. Cal. 2002).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

FEESS, District Judge.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The present case presents complex issues involving the right of a celebrity to bring suit in United States District Court for the alleged misappropriation of his name by a foreign internet website operator. However, in this order, the Court does not reach these issues because Defendants raise a novel threshold question regarding the exercise of personal jurisdiction where the Defendants’ “contacts” with the forum have occurred in cyberspace. The Court therefore takes up that issue first.

Kevin Spacey, the well-known movie actor, claims Defendant Jeffrey Burgar mis *1039 appropriated Spacers name by registering and using the internet website address “kevinspacey.com” without Spacey’s authorization. Responding that he needn’t obtain authorization, Burgar admits to having registered the address, and to having used the address from 1996 to the present. The undisputed facts establish that from 1996 to about December 2000, those who attempted to access “kevinspacey.com” were routed to Burgar’s “Celebrity 1000” website; since then, those typing “kevin-spacey.com” into their web browsers have been directed to the “Unofficial Kevin Spacey Website,” also operated by Burgar through one of his companies. According to Spacey, Burgar’s unauthorized use of Spacey’s name in an internet address falsely implies Spacey’s endorsement of Burgar’s websites, which causes a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public resulting in harm to Spacey’s reputation and goodwill. In the pending complaint, Spacey sets forth several claims against Burgar and Kevin Spacey Club (a dba for one of Burgar’s corporations), which assert Spacey’s intellectual property rights under federal and state statutes, and common law doctrines.

Burgar and Defendant Kevin Spacey Club, now move to dismiss the case under Rule 12(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, claiming that this Court lacks personal jurisdiction over him and his company. Burgar contends that he has never purposefully availed himself of the privilege of doing business in California, and that his actions in operating his website were not directed at and caused no “effects” in California. Because such minimum contacts are allegedly missing, Bur-gar argues that the Court’s exercise of jurisdiction in this case would violate the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. Spacey disagrees. He contends that Bur-gar’s website focuses on the entertainment industry, much of which is located in the Los Angeles area, where Spacey spends a substantial amount of time working as a movie actor. Because of his involvement in and connection to the entertainment industry, Spacey argues that Burgar knew or should have known that the harm resulting from the unauthorized use of Spacey’s name would occur in California. Finally, Spacey, contends that Burgar has purposefully availed himself of the privilege of doing business in California by including “banner ads” on his website that focus on the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. For all of these reasons, Spacey argues that the Court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction in this case would comply with the due process requirements of the United States Constitution.

Having read and considered the moving, opposition and reply papers, the authorities cited therein, the supporting affidavits submitted by each of the parties, and the argument of the parties at the hearing on the present motion, the Court concludes that the Due Process Clause of the Constitution precludes the exercise of personal jurisdiction .over both nonresident Defendants in the instant action. Although Bur-gar’s website contains information about the entertainment industry and those who work in it, the site is no more aimed at California than at the remaining 49 states, where avid fans seek information regarding their favorite celebrities. The Ninth Circuit’s decision in Cybersell, Inc. v. Cy-bersell, Inc., 130 F.3d 414, 419-20 (9th Cir.1997) teaches that, without more, the use of an allegedly misappropriated domain name, in connection with a website generally accessible to anyone on the internet, _ will not support the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the name owner’s state of residence. The “something more” is not present in this case, in which the evidence negates any claim that Burgar attempted to sell the domain name to Plaintiffs and fails to establish that Burgar engaged in any significant business with California persons or companies. Accord *1040 ingly, the Court concludes that Defendants’ motion should be GRANTED.

II.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

A. Spacey’s Residence and Occupation

Plaintiff Kevin Spacey, whose primary residence is in New York, is a well-known professional actor who has performed in a number of successful motion pictures. (Spacey Decl. ¶¶ 1 and 2; Lee Decl. Ex. N). Spacey claims to have been a California resident in 1999 and 2000, and for approximately half of 1998. (Spacey Decl. ¶ 3). Spacey owns a California corporation, M. Proffit Productions, Inc., which negotiates with movie production companies for his services. As Spacey puts it, “In other words, M. Profitt is the entity that enters into a contract with the producer of a particular film to provide my personal acting services on productions.” (Spacey Decl. ¶4). M. Profitt maintains offices on Wilshire Boulevard in the West-wood Village area of Los Angeles.

B. Burgar’s Corporation Registers “Kevinspacey.com”

Defendant Jeffrey Burgar resides in Alberta, Canada, where he is the President and principal shareholder of Defendant 641271 Alberta, Ltd., d/b/a Kevin Spacey Club (referenced herein as “Kevin Spacey Club”), a corporation formed and headquartered in Alberta, Canada. (Burgar Aff. ¶¶ 5 and 7; Burgar Supp. Decl. ¶ 6). On November 6, 1996, Kevin Spacey Club registered the internet domain name “kev-inspacey.com” and has owned the ’domain name since that date. (Burgar Aff. ¶ 7). Burgar caused the name to be registered through Network Solutions, Inc., a Virginia corporation, which has since been acquired by Verisign, Inc. (Burgar Aff. ¶ 14; Burgar Supp. Decl. H1FT7-18). 1 Recently, Kevin Spacey Club changed the registrar/service provider for kevinspacey.com to Mediafusion, a company headquartered in Montreal, Canada. (Burgar Aff. ¶¶ 14 and 41; Burgar Supp. Decl. ¶¶ 17-18).

C. Burgar Licenses “Kevinspacey.com” to a Second Corporation

Once having registered the domain name, Burgar caused Kevin Spacey Club to enter into a licensing agreement with another of his companies, 831651 Alberta, Ltd., d/b/a Celebrity 1000 (referenced herein as “Celebrity 1000”), under which Kevin Spacey Club authorized Celebrity 1000 to use kevinspacey.com for addressing purposes in its publication of website materials. (Burgar Aff. ¶ 8; Burgar Supp. Decl. ¶ 4). This agreement allowed Celebrity 1000 to divert those attempting to access kevinspacey.com to its address at “celebrityl000.com.” (Fryhling Decl. ¶¶ 2-4 and Ex. K).

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Bluebook (online)
207 F. Supp. 2d 1037, 2001 WL 1869857, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spacey-v-burgar-cacd-2002.