The legal battle started when Business a.m.’s owner, Bonnier,
sued Greg Lloyd Smith and his company, Kestrel Media, claiming that
their “internet activities” were infringing the newspaper’s
registered trade mark.
The court heard that Lloyd Smith had registered 20 domain names
similar to the trade mark. One of them was “businessam.com”, which
he had allegedly bought from a company in Colorado Springs, US, for
£7,500.
Business a.m. claimed that the domain names were registered
either so that Lloyd Smith and his company could pass themselves
off as Bonnier and use the company’s goodwill or to profit by
selling the domain names to Bonnier or other companies.
Lloyd Smith argued that the Scottish Court of Session did not
have jurisdiction over the case because he was resident and
domiciled in Greece, while the domicile of Kestrel was Mauritius.
They claimed that any legal action should have been brought to the
courts of those countries.
Lord Young, however, rejected this argument. He said that the
actions were clearly targeting Business a.m., and therefore they
were intended to have their main effect in Scotland. He ruled that,
under the Brussels Convention, the courts of one country can take
action against a wrong threatened within that country, without the
need to resort to foreign courts.
Lord Young said:
“The critical question for present purposes
is the location of a wrong that is said to have been committed by
way of the internet… In my opinion, the person who sets up the web
site can be regarded as potentially committing a [legal wrong] in
any country where the web site can be seen, in other words in any
country of the world.”
“[These] acts are clearly aimed at
[Bonnier’s] business. That business is centred in Scotland… I
accordingly conclude that the Scottish courts have
jurisdiction....”
