FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
MAVRIX PHOTO, INC., a Florida
corporation,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
BRAND TECHNOLOGIES, INC., an
Ohio corporation; BRAD MANDELL, No. 09-56134
an individual, D.C. No.
Defendants-Appellees, 2:09-cv-02729-PSG-
and JC
BRANDTECH, a business form OPINION
unknown; GOSSIPGIRLS.COM, a
business form unknown;
CELEBRITY-GOSSIP.NET, a business
form unknown,
Defendants.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Philip S. Gutierrez, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted
October 8, 2010—Pasadena, California
Filed August 8, 2011
Before: Kim McLane Wardlaw and William A. Fletcher,
Circuit Judges, and Barbara M. Lynn, District Judge.*
*The Honorable Barbara M. Lynn, United States District Judge for the
Northern District of Texas, sitting by designation.
10333
10334 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
Opinion by Judge William A. Fletcher
10336 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
COUNSEL
Peter Afrasiabi, Christopher Arledge, John Tehranian, One
LLP, Newport Beach, California, for the appellant.
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10337
Andres F. Quintana, Quintana Law Group, Calabasas, Cali-
fornia, for the appellees.
OPINION
W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:
Mavrix Photo, Inc. (“Mavrix”) sued Brand Technologies,
Inc. and its CEO, Brad Mandell (collectively, “Brand”), in
federal district court for the Central District of California,
alleging that Brand infringed Mavrix’s copyright by posting
its copyrighted photos on its website. Brand moved to dismiss
for lack of personal jurisdiction. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2).
The district court denied Mavrix’s motion for jurisdictional
discovery and granted Brand’s motion to dismiss. We reverse.
We hold that Brand is not subject to general personal jurisdic-
tion in California, but that its contacts with California are suf-
ficiently related to the dispute in this case that it is subject to
specific personal jurisdiction.
I. Background
Mavrix, a Florida corporation with its principal place of
business in Miami, is a celebrity photo agency. Mavrix pays
photographers for candid photos of celebrities. Its primary
business is licensing and selling those photos to purveyors of
celebrity news such as People and Us Weekly magazines.
Many of the celebrities whom Mavrix photographs live and
work in Southern California. Mavrix keeps a Los Angeles
office, employs Los Angeles-based photographers, has a reg-
istered agent for service of process in California, and pays
fees to the California Franchise Tax Board.
Brand, an Ohio corporation with its principal place of busi-
ness in Toledo, operates a website called celebrity-gossip.net.
As its name suggests, the website covers popular personalities
10338 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
in the entertainment industry and features photo galleries, vid-
eos, and short articles (for example, “Lindsay Lohan Stays
Sexy and Sober,” and “Shiloh Jolie-Pitt Named Most Influen-
tial Infant”). The website has several interactive features. Vis-
itors to the site may post comments on articles, vote in polls
(“Is Robert Pattinson the sexiest man on the planet?”), sub-
scribe to an email “Celebrity Newsletter,” join the “Gossip
Center” membership club, and submit news tips and photos of
celebrities. The website is very popular. When this litigation
began, Alexa.com, an Internet tracking service, ranked
celebrity-gossip.net as number 3,622 out of approximately
180 million websites worldwide based on traffic. By compari-
son, the national news website MSNBC.com was then ranked
number 2,521. In its marketing materials, Brand claims that
celebrity-gossip.net currently receives more than 12 million
unique U.S. visitors and 70 million U.S. page views per
month. Gossip Center Network, Media Kit, at 3, available at
http://cdn.gossipcenter.com/gossipgirls_cdn/GCN-MediaKit
.pdf (last visited July 21, 2011). The record does not reflect
how many of the website’s visitors are California residents.
Like any large media entity, celebrity-gossip.net courts a
national audience, not restricted to California. However, the
website has some specific ties to California. Brand makes
money from third-party advertisements for jobs, hotels, and
vacations in California. The website also features a “Ticket
Center,” which is a link to the website of a third-party vendor
that sells tickets to nationwide events. Some of these events
are in California. Brand has agreements with several Califor-
nia businesses. A California Internet advertising agency solic-
its buyers and places advertisements on celebrity-gossip.net.
A California wireless provider designed and hosts on its serv-
ers a version of celebrity-gossip.net accessible to mobile
phone users. A California firm designed the website and per-
forms site maintenance. Finally, Brand has entered a “link-
sharing” agreement with a California-based national news
site, according to which each site agrees to promote the
other’s top stories. However, Brand has no offices, real prop-
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10339
erty, or staff in California, is not licensed to do business in
California, and pays no California taxes.
In 2008, a photographer working for Mavrix shot thirty-
five pictures of Stacy Ferguson and Josh Duhamel while the
couple was bathing, sunning, and jet skiing in the Bahamas.
Ferguson, better known by her stage name Fergie, is a singer
in the hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas. The group has sold
some 56 million records in the last decade and has won
Grammy awards for such hit singles as “I Gotta Feeling” and
“My Humps.” See The Black Eyed Peas, Wikipedia, http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Eyed_Peas (last visited
July 21, 2011). Ferguson’s husband Duhamel is an actor who
has appeared, most notably, in the trilogy of Transformers
movies. See Josh Duhamel, The Internet Movie Database,
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0241049 (last visited July 21,
2011). Mavrix registered its copyright in the photos and
posted them on its website. Mavrix alleges that shortly there-
after Brand reposted the photos on celebrity-gossip.net in vio-
lation of Mavrix’s copyright. Mavrix alleges that in doing so
Brand destroyed the market value of the photos.
Mavrix sued in federal district court for the Central District
of California, alleging that Brand infringed Mavrix’s copy-
right in the photos. See 17 U.S.C. § 501. Mavrix sought an
injunction barring Brand from further disseminating the pho-
tos, as well as actual and statutory damages. See id. §§ 502,
504. Brand moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2). The district court denied
Mavrix’s request for leave to conduct jurisdictional discovery
and granted the motion to dismiss. Mavrix timely appealed.
II. Standard of Review
We review a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction de
novo. Boschetto v. Hansing, 539 F.3d 1011, 1015 (9th Cir.
2008). In opposing a defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack
of personal jurisdiction, the plaintiff bears the burden of
10340 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
establishing that jurisdiction is proper. Id. Where, as here, the
defendant’s motion is based on written materials rather than
an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff need only make a prima
facie showing of jurisdictional facts to withstand the motion
to dismiss. Brayton Purcell LLP v. Recordon & Recordon,
606 F.3d 1124, 1127 (9th Cir. 2010). The plaintiff cannot
“simply rest on the bare allegations of its complaint,” but
uncontroverted allegations in the complaint must be taken as
true. Schwarzenegger v. Fred Martin Motor Co., 374 F.3d
797, 800 (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting Amba Mktg. Sys., Inc. v.
Jobar Int’l, Inc., 551 F.2d 784, 787 (9th Cir. 1977)). “[W]e
may not assume the truth of allegations in a pleading which
are contradicted by affidavit,” Data Disc, Inc. v. Sys. Tech.
Assocs., Inc., 557 F.2d 1280, 1284 (9th Cir. 1977), but we
resolve factual disputes in the plaintiff’s favor, Pebble Beach
Co. v. Caddy, 453 F.3d 1151, 1154 (9th Cir. 2006).
Where, as here, no federal statute authorizes personal juris-
diction, the district court applies the law of the state in which
the court sits. Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(1)(A); Panavision Int’l,
L.P. v. Toeppen, 141 F.3d 1316, 1320 (9th Cir. 1998). Califor-
nia’s long-arm statute, Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 410.10, is coex-
tensive with federal due process requirements, so the
jurisdictional analyses under state law and federal due process
are the same. Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 800-01. For a
court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident
defendant consistent with due process, that defendant must
have “certain minimum contacts” with the relevant forum
“such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend ‘tradi-
tional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’ ” Interna-
tional Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945)
(quoting Milliken v. Meyer, 311 U.S. 457, 463 (1940)).
III. Discussion
A. General Jurisdiction
[1] Mavrix argues that Brand is subject to general jurisdic-
tion in California. “A court may assert general jurisdiction
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10341
over foreign (sister-state or foreign-country) corporations to
hear any and all claims against them when their affiliations
with the State are so ‘continuous and systematic’ as to render
them essentially at home in the forum State.” Goodyear Dun-
lop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, 131 S. Ct. 2846, 2851
(2011). For general jurisdiction to exist, a defendant must
engage in “continuous and systematic general business con-
tacts,” Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall,
466 U.S. 408, 416 (1984), that “approximate physical pres-
ence” in the forum state, Bancroft & Masters, Inc. v. Augusta
Nat’l, Inc., 223 F.3d 1082, 1086 (9th Cir. 2000). “The stan-
dard is met only by ‘continuous corporate operations within
a state [that are] thought so substantial and of such a nature
as to justify suit against [the defendant] on causes of action
arising from dealings entirely distinct from those activities.’ ”
King v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 632 F.3d 570, 579 (9th Cir.
2011) (alterations in original) (quoting International Shoe,
326 U.S. at 318)). To determine whether a nonresident defen-
dant’s contacts are sufficiently substantial, continuous, and
systematic, we consider their “[l]ongevity, continuity, vol-
ume, economic impact, physical presence, and integration into
the state’s regulatory or economic markets.” Tuazon v. R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co., 433 F.3d 1163, 1172 (9th Cir. 2006).
The standard for general jurisdiction “is an exacting standard,
as it should be, because a finding of general jurisdiction per-
mits a defendant to be haled into court in the forum state to
answer for any of its activities anywhere in the world.” Sch-
warzenegger, 374 F.3d at 801.
The Supreme Court has found general personal jurisdiction
over a non-resident defendant in only one case, although it did
not use the term “general jurisdiction” in its opinion. Perkins
v. Benguet Consol. Mining Co., 342 U.S. 437, 447-48 (1952).
The Court has recently described Perkins as the “textbook
case of general jurisdiction appropriately exercised over a for-
eign corporation that has not consented to suit in the forum.”
Goodyear, 131 S. Ct. at 2856 (citation and internal quotation
marks omitted). The facts of Perkins illustrate the nature and
10342 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
extent of the contacts required for general jurisdiction. The
defendant was a Philippine corporation whose mining opera-
tions were suspended while the Japanese occupied the Philip-
pines during World War II. 342 U.S. at 447. The
corporation’s president, who was also its general manager and
principal stockholder, returned to his home in Ohio, where he
ran a corporate office. Id. at 447-48. The president kept busi-
ness files in Ohio; handled corporate correspondence from
Ohio; drew employees’ salaries from accounts in Ohio banks
and distributed paychecks; held directors’ meetings while he
was in Ohio; and “carried on in Ohio a continuous and sys-
tematic supervision of the necessarily limited wartime activi-
ties of the company.” Id. at 448. Plaintiff’s “cause of action
. . . did not arise in Ohio and [did] not relate to the corpora-
tion’s activities there.” Id. at 438. But because of the nature
and extent of the corporation’s activities in the state, “Ohio
was the corporation’s principal, if temporary, place of busi-
ness.” Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770, 779
n.11 (1984) (describing facts of Perkins). The Court therefore
upheld the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the corpora-
tion in Ohio. Id.; see also, e.g., Tuazon, 433 F.3d at 1173-74
(finding general jurisdiction in Washington over North Caro-
lina cigarette company that had been licensed to do business
in the state for more than 60 years, had advertised in purely
local publications for more than 50 years, kept a permanent
office and workforce in-state, engaged in local political activ-
ity, and had made “hundreds of millions of dollars in annual
net sales in recent years”).
By contrast, both the Supreme Court and our court have
refused to permit the exercise of general jurisdiction based on
contacts that were not so substantial, continuous, or system-
atic. For example, in Goodyear, the Court held that foreign
subsidiaries of Goodyear USA, organized and operating in
Turkey, France and Luxembourg, were not subject to general
jurisdiction in North Carolina. Two North Carolina residents
had been killed in France when a tire manufactured by one of
the subsidiaries failed, causing a bus to overturn. 131 S. Ct.
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10343
at 2851. Between 2004 and 2007, tens of thousands of tires
made by the foreign subsidiaries, out of tens of millions of
tires manufactured made by them during this period, reached
North Carolina through the “stream of commerce.” Id. at
2852. However, the subsidiaries were not registered to do
business in North Carolina; had no places of business, no
employees, and no bank accounts in North Carolina; did not
design, manufacture, or advertise their tires in North Carolina;
did not solicit business in North Carolina; and did not them-
selves sell or ship tires to customers in North Carolina. Id.
In Helicopteros, the Court held that a Colombian corpora-
tion was not subject to general jurisdiction in Texas even
though the corporation sent its CEO to Texas to negotiate a
contract; spent more than $4 million to purchase approxi-
mately 80 percent of its fleet of aircraft, as well as spare parts
and accessories, from a Texas supplier; sent pilots for training
in Texas; sent management and maintenance personnel to
Texas for technical consultation; and received over $5 million
in contract payments from funds drawn on a Texas bank. 466
U.S. at 411, 417; see also, e.g., Keeton, 465 U.S. at 772, 779
n.11 (contrasting Perkins and denying general jurisdiction in
New Hampshire over Ohio corporation that circulated 10,000-
15,000 copies of its magazine per month in New Hampshire);
Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 801 (denying general jurisdic-
tion in California over Ohio automobile dealership that regu-
larly purchased automobiles imported by California importers
via contracts that included a choice-of-law provision specify-
ing California law; regularly retained the services of a Cali-
fornia marketing company; hired a California corporation for
consulting services; and maintained a website accessible in
California); Glencore Grain Rotterdam B.V. v. Shivnath Rai
Harnarain Co., 284 F.3d 1114, 1124-25 (9th Cir. 2002); Ban-
croft & Masters, 223 F.3d at 1086.
Mavrix argues that Brand is subject to general jurisdiction
in California on the basis of the following contacts: Brand
allows third parties to advertise jobs, hotels, and vacations in
10344 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
California on its website; sells, or allows a third-party vendor
to sell, tickets to California events on its website; employs a
California firm to design its website; has business relation-
ships with a California-based national news organization, an
Internet advertising agency, and a wireless provider; and
maintains a “highly interactive” website.
[2] These contacts fall well short of the requisite showing
for general jurisdiction. We reiterate that Brand has no offices
or staff in California, is not registered to do business in the
state, has no registered agent for service of process, and pays
no state taxes. See, e.g., Goodyear, 131 S. Ct. at 2852; Heli-
copteros, 466 U.S. at 411; Glencore Grain, 284 F.3d at 1124;
Bancroft & Masters, 223 F.3d at 1086. Third parties use
Brand’s website to advertise California jobs, hotels, and vaca-
tions. A substantial number of the website visitors to whom
these advertisements are directed are California residents. But
Brand does not “solicit[ ] . . . business in the state” by carry-
ing those advertisements. Bancroft & Masters, 223 F.3d at
1086. Instead, it allows other entities to solicit business by
taking advantage of Brand’s existing user base. Evidence that
a nonresident defendant advertises in a forum is significant
for general jurisdiction when the defendant markets its own
product by targeting forum residents, see, e.g., Tuazon, 433
F.3d at 1174; Congoleum Corp. v. DLW Akiengesellschaft,
729 F.2d 1240, 1242-43 (9th Cir. 1984), but has less signifi-
cance for general jurisdiction when other entities use the
defendant’s publication to promote their own businesses.
[3] The parties dispute the identity of the ticket vendor.
Brand’s CEO, Mandell, declares that Brand merely links to a
third party’s ticket service. Mavrix argues that Brand is the
true seller. Whether the ticket sales are attributable to Brand
or to a third-party vendor, Mandell declares and Mavrix does
not dispute that it has made only a single ticket sale through
its “Ticket Center,” and that Mavrix’s counsel was the buyer.
We have held that “occasional” sales to forum residents by a
nonresident defendant do not suffice to establish general juris-
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10345
diction. See Bancroft & Masters, 223 F.3d at 1086; Brand v.
Menlove Dodge, 796 F.2d 1070, 1073 (9th Cir. 1986). Indeed,
we have held that even the physical presence in the forum
state of a sales agent, see Glencore Grain, 284 F.3d at 1124-
25, or a “substantial sales force,” Congoleum, 729 F.2d at
1242, is insufficient to establish general jurisdiction.
[4] Brand’s relationship with its website designer is like-
wise insufficient. Brand’s CEO declares, and Mavrix does not
dispute, that the independent contractors who designed
celebrity-gossip.net were Canadian citizens who, after build-
ing celebrity-gossip.net, formed a California web design firm.
Although that firm continues to perform website maintenance
for Brand and sends bills to Brand from California, the con-
tractors do the work in Canada. That those contractors incor-
porated in California after building celebrity-gossip.net is a
“fortuitous circumstance” upon which jurisdiction cannot be
premised. See World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson,
444 U.S. 286, 295 (1980).
Brand’s business relationships with other California com-
panies constitute “doing business with California,” but not
necessarily “doing business in California.” See Schwarzeneg-
ger, 374 F.3d at 801; Bancroft & Masters, 223 F.3d at 1086.
In Schwarzenegger, we rejected a nonresident defendant’s
partnership with a forum-based advertising agency as a basis
for general jurisdiction. 374 F.3d at 801. And in Bancroft &
Masters, we rejected a nonresident defendant’s licensing
agreements with forum-based television networks and ven-
dors. 223 F.3d at 1086. There, we explained that “engaging in
commerce with residents of the forum state is not in and of
itself the kind of activity that approximates physical presence
within the state’s borders.” Id. (citing Helicopteros, 466 U.S.
at 418).
Finally, Brand’s operation of an interactive website — even
a “highly interactive” website — does not confer general
jurisdiction. Mavrix relies on Zippo Mfg. Co. v. Zippo Dot
10346 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
Com, Inc., 952 F. Supp. 1119 (W.D. Pa. 1997), but that reli-
ance, in the context of general jurisdiction, is misplaced. The
court in Zippo developed a “sliding scale” test to characterize
the “nature and quality of commercial activity that an entity
conducts over the Internet.” Id. at 1124. At one end of the
scale were active sites “where a defendant clearly does busi-
ness over the Internet” and “enters into contracts with resi-
dents of a foreign jurisdiction that involve the knowing and
repeated transmission of computer files over the Internet,”
which support jurisdiction. Id. At the other end were passive
sites “where a defendant has simply posted information on an
Internet Web site which is accessible to users in foreign juris-
dictions,” and which do not support jurisdiction. Id. Under the
Zippo analysis, the availability of jurisdiction is determined
by examining the “level of interactivity and commercial
nature of the exchange . . . that occurs on the Web site.” Id.
[5] We have followed Zippo. See, e.g., Cybersell, Inc. v.
Cybersell, Inc., 130 F.3d 414, 418-19 (9th Cir. 1997). But
Zippo’s sliding scale test was formulated in the context of a
specific jurisdiction inquiry. See id. at 1122. The level of
interactivity of a nonresident defendant’s website provides
limited help in answering the distinct question whether the
defendant’s forum contacts are sufficiently substantial, con-
tinuous, and systematic to justify general jurisdiction. See,
e.g., Lakin v. Prudential Sec., Inc., 348 F.3d 704, 712 (8th
Cir. 2003) (“Under the Zippo test, it is possible for a Web site
to be very interactive, but to have no quantity of contacts. In
other words, the contacts would be continuous, but not sub-
stantial. This is untenable in a general jurisdiction analysis.”);
Revell v. Lidov, 317 F.3d 467, 471 (5th Cir. 2002) (Zippo test
“is not well adapted to the general jurisdiction inquiry,
because even repeated contacts with forum residents by a for-
eign defendant may not constitute the requisite substantial,
continuous and systematic contacts required for a finding of
general jurisdiction”); accord 4A Charles Alan Wright &
Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 1073.1, at
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10347
331 (3d ed. 2002) (“[T]he Zippo case’s sliding scale approach
should be of little value in a general jurisdiction analysis.”).
[6] Many of the features on which Mavrix relies to show
Zippo interactivity — commenting, receiving email newslet-
ters, voting in polls, uploading user-generated content — are
standard attributes of many websites. Such features require a
minimal amount of engineering expense and effort on the part
of a site’s owner and do not signal a non-resident defendant’s
intent to “sit down and make itself at home” in the forum by
cultivating deep, persistent ties with forum residents. Tuazon,
433 F.3d at 1169 (internal quotation marks and alterations
omitted). To permit the exercise of general jurisdiction based
on the accessibility in the forum of a non-resident interactive
website would expose most large media entities to nationwide
general jurisdiction. That result would be inconsistent with
the constitutional requirement that “the continuous corporate
operations within a state” be “so substantial and of such a
nature as to justify suit against [the nonresident defendant] on
causes of action arising from dealings entirely distinct from
those activities.” International Shoe, 326 U.S. at 318. See
generally 4 Raymond T. Nimmer, The Law of Computer
Technology § 19:7, at 19-12 n.1 (4th ed. 2011) (collecting
cases).
[7] In sum, Brand’s contacts with California, even consid-
ered collectively, do not justify the exercise of general juris-
diction.
B. Specific Jurisdiction
In the alternative, Mavrix argues that Brand has sufficient
“minimum contacts” with California arising out of, or related
to, its actions in reposting the photos of Ferguson and Duha-
mel to justify the exercise of specific jurisdiction. We analyze
specific jurisdiction under a three-prong test:
(1) The non-resident defendant must purposefully
direct his activities or consummate some transaction
10348 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
with the forum or resident thereof; or perform some
act by which he purposefully avails himself of the
privilege of conducting activities in the forum,
thereby invoking the benefits and protections of its
laws; (2) the claim must be one which arises out of
or relates to the defendant’s forum-related activities;
and (3) the exercise of jurisdiction must comport
with fair play and substantial justice, i.e. it must be
reasonable.
Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at 802 (quoting Lake v. Lake, 817
F.2d 1416, 1421 (9th Cir. 1987) (emphases added)). Mavrix
bears the burden of satisfying the first two prongs. Sher v.
Johnson, 911 F.2d 1357, 1361 (9th Cir. 1990). If Mavrix does
so, the burden then shifts to Brand to set forth a “compelling
case” that the exercise of jurisdiction would not be reason-
able. Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 476-78
(1985).
Only the first prong is at issue here. As to the second prong,
Mavrix’s claim of copyright infringement arises out of
Brand’s publication of the photos on a website accessible to
users in the forum state. As to the third prong, Brand does not
argue that the exercise of jurisdiction would be unreasonable
on the basis of any of the factors listed in Burger King.
[8] The first prong of the specific jurisdiction test refers to
both purposeful direction and purposeful availment. We have
explained that in cases involving tortious conduct, we most
often employ a purposeful direction analysis. Schwarzeneg-
ger, 374 F.3d at 802. “In tort cases, we typically inquire
whether a defendant ‘purposefully direct[s] his activities’ at
the forum state, applying an ‘effects’ test that focuses on the
forum in which the defendant’s actions were felt, whether or
not the actions themselves occurred within the forum.”
Yahoo! Inc. v. La Ligue Contre le Racisme, 433 F.3d 1199,
1206 (9th Cir. 2006) (en banc) (quoting Schwarzenegger, 374
F.3d at 803 (alterations in original)). The “effects” test, which
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10349
is based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Calder v. Jones,
465 U.S. 783 (1984), requires that “the defendant allegedly
must have (1) committed an intentional act, (2) expressly
aimed at the forum state, (3) causing harm that the defendant
knows is likely to be suffered in the forum state.” Brayton
Purcell, 606 F.3d at 1128 (quoting Yahoo!, 433 F.3d at 1206).
Because Mavrix has alleged copyright infringement, a tort-
like cause of action, purposeful direction “is the proper ana-
lytical framework.” Id. (citing Schwarzenegger, 374 F.3d at
802).
We believe that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in J.
McIntyre Machinery, Ltd., v. Nicastro, 131 S. Ct. 2780
(2011), is consistent with the line of cases finding specific
jurisdiction when there has been purposeful direction. J.
McIntyre Machinery was a product liability case. The ques-
tion was whether suit could be brought in New Jersey state
court against a manufacturer headquartered in the United
Kingdom based on an injury caused by an allegedly defective
product made in the U.K. In performing a purposeful avail-
ment (rather than a purposeful direction) analysis, the plural-
ity wrote:
As a general rule, the exercise of judicial power is
not lawful unless the defendant “purposefully avails
itself of the privilege of conducting activities within
the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and pro-
tections of its laws.” Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S.
235, 253 (1958). There may be exceptions, say, for
instance, in cases involving an intentional tort. But
the general rule is applicable in this products-
liability case, and the so-called “stream-of-
commerce” doctrine cannot displace it.
J. McIntyre Mach., 131 S. Ct. at 2785 (plurality op. of Ken-
nedy, J.); see also id. at 2787 (distinguishing intentional tort
cases from cases governed by this “general rule”). We there-
10350 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
fore address the three requirements of the Calder “effects”
test in turn.
[9] First, we conclude that Brand “committed an inten-
tional act.” There is no question that it acted intentionally
reposting the allegedly infringing photos of Ferguson and
Duhamel.
Second, we conclude that Brand “expressly aimed at the
forum state.” In prior cases, we have struggled with the ques-
tion whether tortious conduct on a nationally accessible web-
site is expressly aimed at any, or all, of the forums in which
the website can be viewed. See, e.g., Brayton Purcell, 606
F.3d at 1129-31; Pebble Beach, 453 F.3d at 1156-58; Rio
Props., Inc. v. Rio Int’l Interlink, 284 F.3d 1007, 1019-21 (9th
Cir. 2002); Panavision Int’l, L.P. v. Toeppen, 141 F.3d 1316,
1321-22 (9th Cir. 1998); Cybersell, 130 F.3d at 417. On the
one hand, we have made clear that “maintenance of a passive
website alone cannot satisfy the express aiming prong.” Bray-
ton Purcell, 606 F.3d at 1129. On the other, we have held that
“operating even a passive website in conjunction with ‘some-
thing more’ — conduct directly targeting the forum — is suf-
ficient.” Rio Props., 284 F.3d at 1020. In determining whether
a nonresident defendant has done “something more,” we have
considered several factors, including the interactivity of the
defendant’s website, e.g., Pebble Beach, 453 F.3d at 1153-54,
1158; Cybersell, 130 F.3d at 417-20; the geographic scope of
the defendant’s commercial ambitions, e.g., Pebble Beach,
453 F.3d at 1156-58; Rio Props., 284 F.3d at 1020-21; and
whether the defendant “individually targeted” a plaintiff
known to be a forum resident, e.g., Brayton Purcell, 606 F.3d
at 1129; Pebble Beach, 453 F.3d at 1156-57; Panavision, 141
F.3d at 1321-22.
[10] In this case, we find most salient the fact that Brand
used Mavrix’s copyrighted photos as part of its exploitation
of the California market for its own commercial gain. The
Court’s decision in Keeton is directly relevant. See Schwar-
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10351
zenegger, 374 F.3d at 803 (describing Keeton as a purposeful
direction case). The plaintiff in Keeton was a New York resi-
dent. She sued Hustler magazine, an Ohio corporation, for
libel in New Hampshire based on the circulation in New
Hampshire of copies of the magazine that contained the alleg-
edly libelous material. 465 U.S. at 772. The plaintiff sued in
New Hampshire in order to take advantage of the state’s
unusually long statute of limitations, even though she had vir-
tually no connection with the forum. Id. at 772 n.1, 780. Hus-
tler had a circulation of 10,000-15,000 copies per month in
New Hampshire, but no other contacts with the forum. Id. at
772. The Court concluded that Hustler’s
regular circulation of magazines in the forum State
is sufficient to support an exercise of jurisdiction in
a libel action based on the contents of the magazine
. . . . Such regular monthly sales of thousands of
magazines cannot by any stretch of the imagination
be characterized as random, isolated, or fortuitous. It
is, therefore, unquestionable that New Hampshire
jurisdiction over a complaint based on those contacts
would ordinarily satisfy the requirement of the Due
Process Clause that a State’s assertion of personal
jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant be predi-
cated on ‘minimum contacts’ between the defendant
and the State.
Id. at 773-74. The Court acknowledged that New Hampshire
accounted for a share of Hustler’s overall business that was
too small to support the exercise of general jurisdiction, but
noted that Hustler was “carrying on a ‘part of its general busi-
ness’ in New Hampshire, and that is sufficient to support
jurisdiction when the cause of action arises out of the very
activity being conducted, in part, in New Hampshire.” Id. at
779-80 (quoting Perkins, 342 U.S at 438). Finally, the Court
specified that because Hustler
has continuously and deliberately exploited the New
Hampshire market, it must reasonably anticipate
10352 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
being haled into court there in a libel action based on
the contents of its magazine . . . . [Hustler] produces
a national publication aimed at a nationwide audi-
ence. There is no unfairness in calling it to answer
for the contents of that publication wherever a sub-
stantial number of copies are regularly sold and dis-
tributed.
Id. at 781.
[11] As did Hustler in distributing its magazine in New
Hampshire, Brand “continuously and deliberately exploited”
the California market for its website. Brand makes money by
selling advertising space on its website to third-party advertis-
ers: the more visitors there are to the site, the more hits that
are made on the advertisements; the more hits that are made
on the advertisements, the more money that is paid by the
advertisers to Brand. A substantial number of hits to Brand’s
website came from California residents. One of the ways we
know this is that some of the third-party advertisers on
Brand’s website had advertisements directed to Californians.
In this context, it is immaterial whether the third-party adver-
tisers or Brand targeted California residents. The fact that the
advertisements targeted California residents indicates that
Brand knows — either actually or constructively — about its
California user base, and that it exploits that base for commer-
cial gain by selling space on its website for advertisements.
Compare, e.g., Brayton Purcell, 606 F.3d at 1130 (nonresi-
dent defendant subject to specific jurisdiction “had every rea-
son to believe prospective clients in [the forum] would see the
website — indeed, attracting new business was the point”)
with Cybersell, 130 F.3d at 419 (nonresident defendant not
subject to specific jurisdiction because “there is no evidence
that any part of its business (let alone a continuous part of its
business) was sought or achieved” in forum).
[12] The record does not show that Brand marketed its
website in California local media. Cf. Rio Props., 284 F.3d at
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10353
1020. But it is clear from the record that Brand operated a
very popular website with a specific focus on the California-
centered celebrity and entertainment industries. Based on the
website’s subject matter, as well as the size and commercial
value of the California market, we conclude that Brand antici-
pated, desired, and achieved a substantial California viewer
base. This audience is an integral component of Brand’s busi-
ness model and its profitability. As in Keeton, it does not vio-
late due process to hold Brand answerable in a California
court for the contents of a website whose economic value
turns, in significant measure, on its appeal to Californians.
[13] The applicability of Keeton to this case depends on
two similarities between celebrity-gossip.net and Hustler
magazine. First, both were large publications that sought and
attracted nationwide audiences. Both publications could count
on reaching consumers in all fifty states. Second, both publi-
cations cultivated their nationwide audiences for commercial
gain. Accordingly, neither could characterize the consumption
of its products in any state as “random,” “fortuitous,” or “at-
tenuated.” Burger King, 471 U.S. at 486. Rather, consumption
was a predictable consequence of their business models. See
Goodyear, 131 S. Ct. at 2855 (“[W]here ‘the sale of a product
. . . arises from the efforts of the manufacturer or distributor
to serve . . . the market for its product in [several] States, it
is not unreasonable to subject it to suit in one of those states
if its allegedly defective merchandise has there been the
source of injury to its owner or to others.” (quoting World-
Wide Volkswagen, 444 U.S. at 297 (emphasis and second
alteration added by Goodyear))); Mattel, Inc. v. MCA
Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894, 899 (9th Cir. 2002); Plant Food
Co-op v. Wolfkill Feed & Fertilizer Corp., 633 F.2d 155, 158-
60 (9th Cir. 1980). The same would not necessarily be true,
for example, of a local newspaper, an individual, or an unpaid
blogger who posted an allegedly actionable comment or photo
to a website accessible in all fifty states, but who could not
be as certain as Brand or Hustler that his actions would be so
widely observed and who did not seek commercial gain from
10354 MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES
users outside his locality. Not all material placed on the Inter-
net is, solely by virtue of its universal accessibility, expressly
aimed at every state in which it is accessed. But where, as
here, a website with national viewership and scope appeals to,
and profits from, an audience in a particular state, the site’s
operators can be said to have “expressly aimed” at that state.
We acknowledge the burden that our conclusion may
impose on some popular commercial websites. But we note
that the alternative proposed by Brand’s counsel at oral argu-
ment — that Mavrix can sue Brand only in Ohio or Florida
— would substantially undermine the “interests . . . of the
plaintiff in proceeding with the cause in the plaintiff’s forum
of choice.” Kulko v. Superior Court of Cal., 436 U.S. 84, 92
(1978). Brand’s theory of jurisdiction would allow corpora-
tions whose websites exploit a national market to defeat juris-
diction in states where those websites generate substantial
profits from local consumers. See Burger King, 471 U.S. at
473-74 (“[W]here individuals ‘purposefully derive benefit’
from their interstate activities, it may well be unfair to allow
them to escape having to account in other States for conse-
quences that arise predictably from such activities; the Due
Process Clause may not readily be wielded as a territorial
shield to avoid interstate obligations that have been voluntar-
ily assumed.” (quoting Kulko, 436 U.S. at 96)). We also note
that the “expressly aimed” requirement is a necessary but not
sufficient condition for jurisdiction. In order to establish spe-
cific jurisdiction, a plaintiff must also show that jurisdiction-
ally significant harm was suffered in the forum state.
[14] We therefore turn to the question of harm, the third
element of the Calder effects test. We conclude that Brand
has “caus[ed] harm that [it] knows is likely to be suffered in
the forum state.” In determining the situs of a corporation’s
injury, “[o]ur precedents recognize that in appropriate circum-
stances a corporation can suffer economic harm both where
the bad acts occurred and where the corporation has its princi-
pal place of business.” Dole Food Co., Inc. v. Watts, 303 F.3d
MAVRIX PHOTO v. BRAND TECHNOLOGIES 10355
1104, 1113 (9th Cir. 2002). “[J]urisdictionally sufficient harm
may be suffered in multiple forums.” Id. (citing Core-Vent
Corp. v. Nobel Indus. AB, 11 F.3d 1482, 1486 (9th Cir.
1993)). Mavrix alleges that, by republishing the photos of
Ferguson and Duhamel, Brand interfered with Mavrix’s
exclusive ownership of the photos and destroyed their market
value. The economic loss caused by the intentional infringe-
ment of a plaintiff’s copyright is foreseeable. See Brayton
Purcell, 606 F.3d at 1131. It was foreseeable that this eco-
nomic loss would be inflicted not only in Florida, Mavrix’s
principal place of business, but also in California. A substan-
tial part of the photos’ value was based on the fact that a sig-
nificant number of Californians would have bought
publications such as People and Us Weekly in order to see the
photos. Because Brand’s actions destroyed this California-
based value, a jurisdictionally significant amount of Mavrix’s
economic harm took place in California.
[15] In sum, we conclude that Mavrix has presented a
prima facie case of purposeful direction by Brand sufficient
to survive a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdic-
tion.
Conclusion
We conclude that Brand is subject to specific personal
jurisdiction, but not general personal jurisdiction, in Califor-
nia. We therefore reverse the district court’s dismissal of
Mavrix’s complaint and remand for further proceedings con-
sistent with this opinion.
REVERSED and REMANDED.