COS 491: Information Technology and the Law

Spring 2004

Essay 1 (due in class on February 23)

Zapster is a web site run from servers on a small, independent Caribbean island. The site provides for download, at no charge and without authorization, MP3 copies of copyrighted musical recordings. The Zapster site makes money by putting banner ads on its pages.

More than 99% of the material on Zapster's site is copyrighted, and the copyrights are owned by various record companies. Less than 1% of the material on the site is non-copyrighted.

Zapster has not singled out any particular record company in building and promoting its site. Zapster has behaved the same toward all record companies.

Zapster's pages are written in English, and its ads are for products that are available throughout the English-speaking world. Zapster has no other business relationship with any person or company in the United States.

More than half of Zapster's customers live in New Jersey. Zapster knows this, but there is no evidence that Zapster has especially sought customers in New Jersey.

Princeton Records, a small record company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, has sued Zapster in Federal Court for the District of New Jersey, claiming that Zapster is infringing its copyrights. Zapster argues that the suit should be dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction.

Write an essay of no more than two pages, saying whether the suit should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, and justifying your position.

(If you have other questions about the facts of this hypothetical case, please ask Prof. Felten.)