Washington Shoe v. A-Z Sporting Goods

Summarized by:

  • Court: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Archives
  • Area(s) of Law: Civil Procedure
  • Date Filed: 12-17-2012
  • Case #: 11-35166; 11-35206
  • Judge(s)/Court Below: Circuit Judge Bybee for the Court; Circuit Judges Hawkins and Bea
  • Full Text Opinion

Under the Calder test, personal jurisdiction is established against a non-resident defendant where the defendant knowingly engaged in copyright infringement knowing that the harm would impact a plaintiff in Washington State.

Washington Shoe, a Washington corporation, was doing business with A-Z Sporting Goods, an Arkansas corporation. A-Z operated a single sporting goods store in the state of Arkansas. During a visit to A-Z, a representative of Washington Shoe noticed two styles of rain boots in the store, the copyrights of which were owned by Washington Shoe, but the representative knew A-Z had never purchased those styles from Washington Shoe. Rather, A-Z purchased the boots from China and, upon obtaining this information, Washington Shoe sent two cease and desist letters to A-Z informing them of the copyright infringement. A-Z then removed the boots from its shelves but sold all the remaining boots to a local thrift store. Washington Shoe brought this action and the district court dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. Upon appeal, the Circuit Court applied a three-part test to determine if A-Z has sufficient minimum contacts necessary to be subject to personal jurisdiction in Washington. The only prong at issue in this case required Washington Shoe to show A-Z purposefully directed its activities or consummated some transaction with the forum or a resident thereof. To satisfy this prong, the Court applied the test from Calder v. Jones requiring (1) an intentional act, (2) expressly aimed at the forum state, (3) causing harm A-Z knew was likely to be suffered in Washington. The Ninth Circuit found that A-Z intentionally purchased knock-off boots and, after being informed of the infringement, intentionally sold those boots. A-Z knew that Washington Shoe was incorporated in Washington. A-Z knew the harm caused by selling the boots would be suffered by Washington Shoe. Therefore, the Court held that the district court erred in dismissing the action. REVERSED and REMANDED.

Advanced Search


Back to Top