Research Network Infringement Cases Geographical Jurisdiction Issues

Since the Internet began to develop rapidly at late20s, the research on territorial jurisdiction of internet infringement cases has never stopped though none suggestions were agreed by all or most of the scholars. In theory, scholars have different views and understandings about the jurisdiction bases, some of them even controversial. In judicial practice, related regulations are just some principles and the judges'understandings about them differ a lot, so the cognizance of internet infringement is not unified. How to determine territorial jurisdiction of internet infringement needs to be solved as soon as possible.The determinability and relevancy of connecting points is used as the standard to examine whether the defendant's residence and locus delicti and the plaintiff's residence are still applicable on internet cases and how to apply. The thesis will introduce lots of domestic and foreign cases and researches for solution by a view from comparative law. The thesis will elaborate the feasibility of each connecting point used on internet infringement cases both in jurisprudential and technical ways. Finally, the valuable conclusions and viewpoints will be reachedThe thesis is divided into four parts.The first part reveals the problem. The characteristics of cyberspace and the types of internet infringement be first introduced and then the thesis will discuss how the application of the traditional theory of jurisdiction to internet cases won't work.The second part analyzes the problem by describing the status quo. It's mainly about the current regulations and judicial practices as well as their deficiency by introducing lots of cases. This part demonstrates the necessity and urgency of improving related legislation.The third part researches for solutions from comparative law. This part introduces the related legal practices in American, which is known as "minimum contact". The standard of "purposeful availment" can be used as a reference to determine the place where the results of infringement take placeThe fourth part resolves the problem. This part is the core of the thesis, which is about the improvement of determining territorial jurisdiction of internet infringement. At first, the principles of determining territorial jurisdiction of internet infringement will be clear, which include efficiency of resolving disputes, technology and tool considered as the nature of internet. Then, the thesis focuses on analyzing the determinability and relevance of the defendant's residence, locus delicti and the plaintiff's residence. At last the conclusion is well reached that the defendant's residence can still be used and the plaintiff's residence can be used with limits and though IP address the place where an infringing act is committed can be determined and through "purposeful availment" the place where the results of infringement take place can be narrowed down and determined.